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Sunk costs of exporting and the role of experience in international trade

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  • Philipp Meinen

Abstract

This paper estimates the importance of destination‐specific sunk costs of exporting and investigates the role of firms' previous experience in international trade for the decision to export to a market. While destination‐specific sunk costs are important, firms' experience in international trade can help to overcome these costs more easily. In particular, import experience from a market is found to facilitate exporting to this country and export experience from other markets can increase the probability of exporting to a country. This latter effect turns out to be conditional on the characteristics and number of markets served by a firm. Les coûts irrécupérables pour exporter et le rôle de l'expérience dans le commerce international. Ce texte évalue l'importance des coûts irrécupérables pour exporter vers des destinations spécifiques, et le rôle de l'expérience de la firme dans le commerce international dans la décision d'exporter dans un marché particulier. Les coûts irrécupérables sont importants mais l'expérience de la firme peut aider à supporter ces coûts plus facilement. En particulier, l'expérience d'importation en provenance d'un marché peut faciliter l'exportation vers ce marché, et l'expérience d'exportation vers d'autres marchés peut accroître la probabilité d'exporter vers un pays particulier. Ce dernier effet dépend des caractéristiques et du nombre de marchés servis par une firme.

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  • Philipp Meinen, 2015. "Sunk costs of exporting and the role of experience in international trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(1), pages 335-367, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:48:y:2015:i:1:p:335-367
    DOI: 10.1111/caje.12127
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    4. Díaz-Mora, Carmen & Córcoles, David & Gandoy, Rosario, 2015. "Exit from exporting: Does being a two-way trader matter?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-27.
    5. Eliane Choquette, 2019. "Import-based market experience and firms’ exit from export markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(3), pages 423-449, April.
    6. Pushan Dutt & Ana Maria Santacreu & Daniel A. Traça, 2022. "The gravity of experience," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 213-248, February.
    7. Leticia Blázquez & Carmen Díaz-Mora & Belén González-Díaz, 2020. "The role of services content for manufacturing competitiveness: A network analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Siewers, Samuel & Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Baghdadi, Leila, 2024. "Global value chains and firms’ environmental performance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Bose, Udichibarna & Mallick, Sushanta & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2020. "Does easing access to foreign financing matter for firm performance?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. M. Padmaja & Subash Sasidharan, 2017. "Sunk Costs, Firm Heterogeneity, Export Market Entry and Exit: Evidence from India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 15(2), pages 367-393, June.
    11. Sugandha Huria & Kriti Sharma & Neha Jain & Ashley Jose, 2022. "Digitalization and Exports: A case of Indian Manufacturing MSMEs," Working Papers 2261, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
    12. Carmen Díaz-Mora & Rosario Gandoy & Belén González-Díaz, 2018. "Looking into global value chains: influence of foreign services on export performance," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(4), pages 785-814, November.
    13. Jeong, Jaehoon & Yang, Jae-Suk, 2023. "Why do some firms stop exporting?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    14. Stephen Esaku, 2022. "Which firms drive employment growth in Sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Kenya," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 383-396, June.

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