When Quality Management Helps Agri-food Firms to Export

This article examines the impact of firms' quality policies on export performance. Using French administrative data at the employee and firm level, we assess the level of firms' commitment to issues related to product reliability and safety through the presence of quality management personnel. We merge these data with French customs data, which provide the value and quantity of exports for each firm by product and destination. We show that firms with quality management employees have better market penetration, export higher volumes and have longer trade relationships, especially in markets with high standards requirements (higher number of sanitary and phytosanitary or technical measures). Overall, our paper highlights the role of agri-food firms' "quality investment" in export performance and emphasizes that product quality is not limited to product differentiation perceived by the final consumer. Product traceability and reliability are essential factors for firms' competitiveness, especially in the context of global value chains.