International Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance Outcomes in Export Markets

International Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance Outcomes in Export Markets

SOZUER, Aytug
ALTUNTAS, Gultekin
SEMERCIOZ, Fatih

Global economic integration with the diffusion of information and communication technologies forces many business enterprises to internationalize. This evolution brings opportunities and threats to business management, as well opens up new fields for academic research. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of firms’ international entrepreneurial orientation on their export market performances. Based on the literature, which implies entrepreneurial orientation is critical for market success; this research intends to evaluate the phenomenon for Turkish exporter firms. From year 2000 to 2011, Turkey increased its world share in outward foreign direct investment stock by 146% (UNCTAD, 2012). Besides, Turkey’s total merchandise import and export volume is around USD 400 billions, which constituted 1% of world trade in 2011 (World Trade Organization, 2012). In respect to the emergence of Turkish enterprises in world business, it is assumed that their international entrepreneurial orientation would be remarkable to investigate. International entrepreneurship, being considered as the subset of international business and entrepreneurship areas, is defined as “the discovery, enactment, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities – across national borders- to create future goods and services” (Oviatt and McDougall, 2005). The study of international entrepreneurship is gaining momentum since 1990s. Prestigious academic journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (1996), Academy of Management Journal (2000), International Business Review (2005), and European Management Journal (2008) published special issues on the subject. So, it is evident that international entrepreneurship is an establishing and a wellreceived field of interest in management science. While studies on international entrepreneurship seem increasing, there is still a need to develop measures for this construct. Dimitratos et al. (2012) operationalized international entrepreneurship based on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) research. They developed a scale labeled “international entrepreneurial culture” (IEC) that is composed of six dimensions: (i) international market orientation, (ii) international learning orientation, (iii) international innovation propensity, (iv) international risk attitude, (v) international networking orientation, and (vi) international motivation. This study intends to take this IEC scale for measuring international entrepreneurial orientation as the independent variable. The dependent variable of the research is export market performance. Deriving from the valid scales developed by Zou, et al. (1998), Lages and Lages (2004), Diamantopoulos and Kakkos (2007); export market performance will be measured by firms’ sales revenue, increase of sales, profitability, market share, and new product penetration in the export markets. On the other hand, firms’ international business experience, size, and industry would be evaluated as the control variables. Within this framework, the scope of the research is exporting companies in Turkey. By purposive sampling, a total of 660 members of export association boards under Turkish Exporters Assembly would be inquired. Retrieved data will be analyzed with Spearman and Pearson correlations, as well with multiple linear regressions. As a matter of fact, this abstract is submitted to the International Conference on Economic and Social Studies 2013. The research is at early stage and in case of its acceptance to the Conference; it will indeed advance through further discussions by peer scholars in management. Keywords: International Entrepreneurship, Export Performance, Turkey.

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2303-4564

International Burch University

2013-05-10

1495