Abstract
We investigate how the characteristics and experience of the entrepreneurial founding team (EFT) affect the export orientation and subsequent performance of the businesses they establish, while allowing for the mutually reinforcing relationship between exporting and productivity. Using a sample of UK technology-based firms, we hypothesise and confirm that the set of EFT human capital needed for entering export markets is different from that required for succeeding in export markets. Commercial and managerial experience helps firms become exporters, but once over the exporting hurdle it is education, both general and specific, that has a substantially positive effect. The overall pattern of human capital effects on productivity is similar to those for export propensity. We also find evidence that productive firms are more likely both to enter export markets and to be export intensive, and that exporting boosts subsequent firm productivity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 693-718 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Journal of International Business Studies |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2012 |
Bibliographical note
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of international business studies. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Ganotakis, P., & Love, J. H. (2012). Export propensity, export intensity and firm performance: The role of the entrepreneurial founding team. Journal of international business studies, 43(8), 693-718 is available online at http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v43/n8/full/jibs201216a.htmlKeywords
- exporting
- export intensity
- entrepreneurial founding team
- human capital
- productivity