IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/ibrjnl/v10y2017i9p60-72.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants and Consequences of Product Differentiation Strategy: Evidence from Chinese Indigenous Exporters

Author

Listed:
  • Xuenan Ju
  • Lili Tong
  • Zuohao Hu
  • Baowen Sun

Abstract

Focusing on Chinese indigenous exporters, this research investigates the antecedents of the product differentiation strategy (PDS), and its impacts on export performance with the moderating role of export target markets. Drawing from the contingency theory and strategy management framework, the authors adopt structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the survey data collected from 195 Chinese indigenous exporters. The empirical results suggest that the PDS positively affects Chinese exporters’ performance. Firms are more likely to adopt the PDS when innovation and marketing capabilities are high and when they export to turbulent markets. The positive impact of the PDS on export performance is stronger when firms export to developed (vs. other emerging) markets. With the unique perspective from emerging markets, the authors theoretically discuss and empirically examine the antecedents-PDS-performance link. This research suggests that Chinese export firms rationally adopt the PDS and actively cultivate technology and innovation capability and international marketing competence on export businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuenan Ju & Lili Tong & Zuohao Hu & Baowen Sun, 2017. "Determinants and Consequences of Product Differentiation Strategy: Evidence from Chinese Indigenous Exporters," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(9), pages 60-72, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:ibrjnl:v:10:y:2017:i:9:p:60-72
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ibr/article/view/68915/38127
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ibr/article/view/68915
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert G Cooper & Elko J Kleinschmidt, 1985. "The Impact of Export Strategy on Export Sales Performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 16(1), pages 37-55, March.
    2. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Lance Eliot Brouthers & Kefeng Xu, 2002. "Product Stereotypes, Strategy and Performance Satisfaction: The Case of Chinese Exporters," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(4), pages 657-677, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sousa, Carlos M.P. & Bradley, Frank, 2008. "Antecedents of international pricing adaptation and export performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 307-320, July.
    2. Dirk Boehe & Luciano Barin Cruz, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Product Differentiation Strategy and Export Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 325-346, February.
    3. Xuenan Ju & Yuan Cheng & Zuohao Hu & Mengyuan Lv & Xi Chen, 2015. "Determinants and consequences of price-leadership strategy: Evidence from Chinese manufacturer exporters," Transnational Marketing Journal, Oxbridge Publishing House, UK, vol. 3(2), pages 81-111, October.
    4. Beleska-Spasova, Elena & Glaister, Keith W. & Stride, Chris, 2012. "Resource determinants of strategy and performance: The case of British exporters," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 635-647.
    5. BOEHE, Dirk Michael, 2009. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Product Differentiation Strategy and Export Performance," Insper Working Papers wpe_186, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    6. Ýrem Eren-Erdoðmuþ & A. Müge Yalçýn & Aichurek Bopieva, 2012. "Revisiting Relationship Marketing in Emerging Markets: The Case of Turkish Exportes," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 26(1), pages 81-101.
    7. Alteren, Gro & Tudoran, Ana Alina, 2016. "Enhancing export performance: Betting on customer orientation, behavioral commitment, and communication," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 370-381.
    8. Hollender, Lina & Zapkau, Florian B. & Schwens, Christian, 2017. "SME foreign market entry mode choice and foreign venture performance: The moderating effect of international experience and product adaptation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 250-263.
    9. Luis Filipe Lages & Cristiana Raquel Lages & Carmen Lages, 2004. "The APEV scale: a measure of annual performance of an export venture," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp458, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    10. Luis Filipe Lages & Ana Catarina Leal, 2004. "Determinants of expected short-term export performance improvement: an empirical study of industrial exporters," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp463, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    11. Dosoglu-Guner, Berrin, 2001. "Can organizational behavior explain the export intention of firms? The effects of organizational culture and ownership type," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 71-89, February.
    12. Man Zhang & Qian Gao & Hyuk-Soo Cho, 2017. "The effect of sub-national institutions and international entrepreneurial capability on international performance of export-focused SMEs: Evidence from China and South Korea," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 85-110, March.
    13. Lance Eliot Brouthers & Edward O'Donnell & John Hadjimarcou, 2005. "Generic Product Strategies for Emerging Market Exports into Triad Nation Markets: A Mimetic Isomorphism Approach," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 225-245, January.
    14. S. Arunachalam & Sridhar N. Ramaswami & Pol Herrmann & Doug Walker, 2018. "Innovation pathway to profitability: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 744-766, July.
    15. Yoon, Junghyun & Lee, Hee Yong & Dinwoodie, John, 2015. "Competitiveness of container terminal operating companies in South Korea and the industry–university–government network," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-14.
    16. Son K. Lam & Thomas E. DeCarlo & Ashish Sharma, 2019. "Salesperson ambidexterity in customer engagement: do customer base characteristics matter?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 659-680, July.
    17. Danilo Soares‐Silva & Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes & Alexandre Cappellozza & Cristiano Morini, 2020. "Explaining library user loyalty through perceived service quality: What is wrong?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(8), pages 954-967, August.
    18. Van Wijk, Raymond & Nadolska, Anna, 2020. "Making more of alliance portfolios: The role of alliance portfolio coordination," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 388-399.
    19. Jarle Aarstad & Olav Andreas Kvitastein & Stig-Erik Jakobsen, 2019. "What Drives Enterprise Product Innovation? Assessing How Regional, National, And International Inter-Firm Collaboration Complement Or Substitute For R&D Investments," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(05), pages 1-25, June.
    20. Jonathan H. Reed, 2022. "Operational and strategic change during temporary turbulence: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 589-608, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product Differentiation Strategy (PDS); emerging markets; export performance; marketing strategy; target markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ibn:ibrjnl:v:10:y:2017:i:9:p:60-72. 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: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    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.