IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v108y2020icp324-336.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the exporting-downsizing link: Does the type of export strategy and firm efficiency in foreign markets matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Campos-García, Irene
  • Muñoz-Bullón, Fernando
  • Sanchez-Bueno, Maria J.
  • Zúñiga-Vicente, José Angel

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between exporting strategies, firm efficiency, and downsizing. Drawing on the resource-based view, we first test whether there is a link between export intensity and the propensity of a firm to downsize. Next, we examine the impact of direct/indirect exporting strategies as well as the interactive effects of efficiency and each exporting strategy on the propensity to downsize. We use a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms between 1993 and 2016. Our findings reveal a negative effect of a firm’s level of involvement in foreign markets via exports on the propensity to downsize. Our results also show that the propensity to downsize is lower in firms using a direct export strategy and in more efficient firms opting for this strategy. However, no support for a significant association between the propensity to downsize and the use of an indirect export strategy and efficiency is observed.

Suggested Citation

  • Campos-García, Irene & Muñoz-Bullón, Fernando & Sanchez-Bueno, Maria J. & Zúñiga-Vicente, José Angel, 2020. "Exploring the exporting-downsizing link: Does the type of export strategy and firm efficiency in foreign markets matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 324-336.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:108:y:2020:i:c:p:324-336
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319306691
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.074?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "Exports and Productivity: A Survey of the Evidence from Firm Level Data," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 1, pages 3-41, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. M Krishna Erramilli & Sanjeev Agarwal & Chekitan S Dev, 2002. "Choice Between Non-Equity Entry Modes: An Organizational Capability Perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 223-242, June.
    3. Javalgi, Rajshekhar (Raj) G. & Todd, Patricia R., 2011. "Entrepreneurial orientation, management commitment, and human capital: The internationalization of SMEs in India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1004-1010, September.
    4. Jolanda Hessels & Siri Terjesen, 2010. "Resource dependency and institutional theory perspectives on direct and indirect export choices," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 203-220, February.
    5. Kazunobu Hayakawa & Tomohiro Machikita & Fukunari Kimura, 2012. "Globalization And Productivity: A Survey Of Firm‐Level Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 332-350, April.
    6. Irene Brambilla & Daniel Lederman & Guido Porto, 2012. "Exports, Export Destinations, and Skills," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3406-3438, December.
    7. Thorsten Schank & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2016. "Do Exporters Really Pay Higher Wages? First Evidence from German Linked Employer–Employee Data," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 5, pages 177-213, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Robert Salomon & Byungchae Jin, 2010. "Do leading or lagging firms learn more from exporting?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(10), pages 1088-1113, October.
    9. Yigang Pan & David K Tse, 2000. "The Hierarchical Model of Market Entry Modes," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(4), pages 535-554, December.
    10. Li, Min & He, Xinming & Sousa, Carlos M.P., 2017. "A review of the empirical research on export channel selection between 1979 and 2015," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 303-323.
    11. Aida Caldera, 2010. "Innovation and exporting: evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(4), pages 657-689, December.
    12. Bernard, Andrew B. & Bradford Jensen, J., 1999. "Exceptional exporter performance: cause, effect, or both?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-25, February.
    13. Michele Bernini & Jun Du & James H. Love, 2016. "Explaining intermittent exporting: Exit and conditional re-entry in export markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1058-1076, December.
    14. Joachim Wagner, 2012. "Average wage, qualification of the workforce and export performance in German enterprises: evidence from KombiFiD data [Durchschnittslohn, Belegschaftsqualifikation und Exporttätigkeit in deutschen," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 45(2), pages 161-170, July.
    15. Daniele Cerrato & Mariacristina Piva, 2012. "The internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises: the effect of family management, human capital and foreign ownership," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(4), pages 617-644, November.
    16. Kristien Coucke & Enrico Pennings & Leo Sleuwaegen, 2007. "Employee layoff under different modes of restructuring: exit, downsizing or relocation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(2), pages 161-182, April.
    17. Art Budros, 1999. "A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Why Organizations Downsize," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(1), pages 69-82, February.
    18. Aw, B. -Y. & Hwang, A. R., 1995. "Productivity and the export market: A firm-level analysis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 313-332, August.
    19. Sarah J. Freeman & Kim S. Cameron, 1993. "Organizational Downsizing: A Convergence and Reorientation Framework," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(1), pages 10-29, February.
    20. Fang Wu & Rudolf R Sinkovics & S Tamer Cavusgil & Anthony S Roath, 2007. "Overcoming export manufacturers’ dilemma in international expansion," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(2), pages 283-302, March.
    21. Mike W Peng & Anne S York, 2001. "Behind Intermediary Performance in Export Trade: Transactions, Agents, and Resources," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(2), pages 327-346, June.
    22. Westhead, Paul & Wright, Mike & Ucbasaran, Deniz, 2001. "The internationalization of new and small firms: A resource-based view," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 333-358, July.
    23. Jane W. Lu & Paul W. Beamish, 2001. "The internationalization and performance of SMEs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 565-586, June.
    24. Bernard, Andrew B. & Jensen, J. Bradford, 1997. "Exporters, skill upgrading, and the wage gap," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 3-31, February.
    25. Benito-Osorio, Diana & Colino, Alberto & Guerras-Martín, Luis Ángel & Zúñiga-Vicente, José Ángel, 2016. "The international diversification-performance link in Spain: Does firm size really matter?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 548-558.
    26. Zorn, Michelle L. & Norman, Patricia M. & Butler, Frank C. & Bhussar, Manjot S., 2017. "Cure or curse: Does downsizing increase the likelihood of bankruptcy?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 24-33.
    27. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 2010. "Analysing Foreign Market Entry Strategies: Extending the Internalisation Approach," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Multinational Enterprise Revisited, chapter 8, pages 177-204, Palgrave Macmillan.
    28. Kamel Mellahi & Adrian Wilkinson, 2010. "A Study of the Association between Level of Slack Reduction Following Downsizing and Innovation Output," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 483-508, May.
    29. James P. Guthrie & Deepak K. Datta, 2008. "Dumb and Dumber: The Impact of Downsizing on Firm Performance as Moderated by Industry Conditions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 108-123, February.
    30. Dominguez, Noémie & Mayrhofer, Ulrike, 2017. "Internationalization stages of traditional SMEs: Increasing, decreasing and re-increasing commitment to foreign markets," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1051-1063.
    31. Bai, Xue & Krishna, Kala & Ma, Hong, 2017. "How you export matters: Export mode, learning and productivity in China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 122-137.
    32. José Campa & Mauro F. Guillén, 1999. "The Internalization of Exports: Firm- and Location-Specific Factors in a Middle-Income Country," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(11), pages 1463-1478, November.
    33. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2015. "Export status and firm growth of European SMEs," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(2), pages 1330-1338.
    34. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    35. Hessels, Jolanda & Parker, Simon C., 2013. "Constraints, internationalization and growth: A cross-country analysis of European SMEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 137-148.
    36. Ann‐Christine Schulz & Margarethe F. Wiersema, 2018. "The impact of earnings expectations on corporate downsizing," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(10), pages 2691-2702, October.
    37. Noémie Dominguez & Ulrike Mayrhofer, 2017. "Internationalization stages of traditional SMEs: Increasing, decreasing and re-increasing commitment to foreign markets," Post-Print hal-01599209, HAL.
    38. Harald Trabold, 2002. "Export Intermediation: An Empirical Test of Peng and Ilinitch," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 327-344, June.
    39. Morschett, Dirk & Schramm-Klein, Hanna & Swoboda, Bernhard, 2010. "Decades of research on market entry modes: What do we really know about external antecedents of entry mode choice?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 60-77, March.
    40. A Rebecca Reuber & Eileen Fischer, 1997. "The Influence of the Management Team’s International Experience on the Internationalization Behaviors of SMES," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 28(4), pages 807-825, December.
    41. Michele Bernini & Jun Du & James H. Love, 2016. "Explaining intermittent exporting: Exit and conditional re-entry in export markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1151-1151, December.
    42. José David Vicente‐Lorente & José Ángel Zúñiga‐Vicente, 2012. "Effects of process and product‐oriented innovations on employee downsizing," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 383-403, July.
    43. Matthias Brauer & Tomi Laamanen, 2014. "Workforce Downsizing and Firm Performance: An Organizational Routine Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(8), pages 1311-1333, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Olan, Femi & Nyuur, Richard Benon-be-isan & Paul, Salima & Nguyen, Ha Thanh Truc, 2023. "The effect of government support on Bureaucracy, COVID-19 resilience and export intensity: Evidence from North Africa," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Pyper, Keith & Marie Doherty, Anne & Gounaris, Spiros & Wilson, Alan, 2022. "A contingency-based approach to the nexus between international strategic brand management and export performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 472-488.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cirillo, Alessandro & Muñoz-Bullón, Fernando & Sánchez-Bueno, María J. & Sciascia, Salvatore, 2022. "Employee downsizing and sales internationalization strategy in family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2).
    2. Morais, Flávio & Ferreira, João J., 2020. "SME internationalisation process: Key issues and contributions, existing gaps and the future research agenda," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 62-77.
    3. Marianne Matthee & Neil Rankin & Carli Bezuidenhout, 2017. "Labour demand and the distribution of wages in South African manufacturing exporters," WIDER Working Paper Series 011, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Marianne Matthee & Neil Rankin & Carli Bezuidenhout, 2017. "Labour demand and the distribution of wages in South African manufacturing exporters," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-11, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Onkelinx, Jonas & Manolova, Tatiana S. & Edelman, Linda F., 2016. "The human factor: Investments in employee human capital, productivity, and SME internationalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 351-364.
    6. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2011. "R&D, Innovation and Exporting," SERC Discussion Papers 0073, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Carole Couper & A. Rebecca Reuber & Shameen Prashantham, 2020. "Lost that lovin’ feeling: The erosion of trust between small, high-distance partners," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(3), pages 326-352, April.
    8. Mercè Sala-Ríos & Mariona Farré-Perdiguer & Teresa Torres-Solé, 2020. "Exporting and Firms’ Performance—What about Cooperatives? Evidence from Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-22, October.
    9. Adriana Peluffo & Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso & Ernesto Silva, 2020. "New stuff or better ways: what matters to access international markets?," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 656-678, January.
    10. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "International Trade and Firm Performance: A Survey of Empirical Studies since 2006," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 2, pages 43-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Echeverria, Rodrigo & Gopinath, Munisamy, 2006. "Productivity, Geography, and the Export Decision of Chilean Farms," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25687, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. BOERMANS, Martijn Adriaan, 2013. "LEARNING-BY-EXPORTING AND DESTINATION EFFECTS: EVIDENCE FROM AFRICAN SMEs," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(2), pages 149-168.
    13. Irene Brambilla & Nicolas Depetris Chauvin & Guido Porto, 2015. "Wage and Employment Gains from Exports: Evidence from Developing Countries," Working Papers 2015-28, CEPII research center.
    14. Massini, Silvia & Piscitello, Lucia & Shevtsova, Yevgeniya, 2023. "The complementarity effect of exporting, importing and R&D on the productivity of Ukrainian MNEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3).
    15. Irene Brambilla & Nicolas Depetris Chauvin & Guido Porto, 2017. "Examining the Export Wage Premium in Developing Countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 447-475, August.
    16. Emanuele Brancati & Raffaele Brancati & Dario Guarascio & Andrea Maresca & Manuel Romagnoli & Antonello Zanfei, 2018. "Firm-level Drivers of Export Performance and External Competitiveness in Italy," European Economy - Discussion Papers 087, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    17. Cebeci, Tolga, 2014. "Impact of export destinations on firm performance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6743, The World Bank.
    18. Alberto Bertello & Alberto Ferraris & Stefano Bresciani & Paola Bernardi, 2021. "Big data analytics (BDA) and degree of internationalization: the interplay between governance of BDA infrastructure and BDA capabilities," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(4), pages 1035-1055, December.
    19. Golovko, Elena & Lopes-Bento, Cindy & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2022. "Marketing learning by exporting – how export-induced marketing expenditures improve firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 194-207.
    20. Maldea, Radu-Andrei, 2023. "Winning when Going Global – On the Role of Heritage and Strategic Moves for Internationalization Endeavors of Start-ups," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(2), pages 532-568.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:108:y:2020:i:c:p:324-336. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.