Important export skills comparison in different export stage. An empirical study of Chinese firms
| Published date | 05 October 2010 |
| Date | 05 October 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17544401011084299 |
| Pages | 204-220 |
| Author | Zhou Ting,Ling Guijun,Leng Bojun |
| Subject Matter | Economics |
JCEFTS
3,3
204
Journal of Chinese Economic and
Foreign Trade Studies
Vol. 3 No. 3, 2010
pp. 204-220
#Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1754-4408
DOI 10.1108/17544401011084299
Important export skills
comparison in different
export stage
An empirical study of Chinese firms
Zhou Ting, Ling Guijun and Leng Bojun
School of International Trade and Economics,
University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build a theoretical framework that identifies the
important skills for successful export from different business areas and make an empirical ranking of
their importance.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey containing 88 practical export skills, selected from the
existing literature, was sent to 800 Chinese exporting companies in major Easter n regions of China.
With the factor analysis, eight skill categories were identified and 56 skills were found more
important.
Findings – The results of the study show that in the higher export stage, skills in international
marketing and international trade logistics were viewed as being more important. However, a firm
in an early export stage showed more concerns on international trade policy and regulations,
international finance and international trade research. Firms with rich export experience viewed
strategic management in international trade as being mo re important than those with less export
experience. International payment terms were considered to be very impo rtant by firms across all
export stages. However, only these firms which were exploring the availability of export business
viewed international trade practice as being somewhat important.
Research limitations/implications – First, the export skills pool should be extended and
examined according to the firms’ characteristics. Second, the study is cross-sectional and there should
be specific analysis of different exporting firms. Third, supplement of the study with more samples
from other regions should provide more generalizable implications. Finally, another future work
should be to examine how export skills affect financial performance of those Chinese exporting firms.
Practical implications – This paper can serve as useful infor mation for the exporting fir ms to
improve their existing skill training programs. The skills importance rankings can also be used to
guide the resource allocations.
Originality/value – This study builds a theoretical framework that identifies the important skills
for successful export from different business areas and makes an empirical ranking of their
importance based on the data of Chinese exporting fir ms.
Keywords International business, International marketing, China, Exports, Organizational skills
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
According to official statistics, the nationaleconomy has grown tremendouslysince 1979
and in most of the years at double digit rate – a record level for the country since the
founding of the PRC. Now China is the second largest economy in the world. The
per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 is RMB22,698 yuan, while in 1978, it
was RMB381yuan. Inrelatively richer coastal area,per capital GDP reached RMB37,213
yuan. During the year 2008, even with the world financial crisis, the GDP growth rate
reached 9.0 percent.Furthermore, China’s foreign trade has developed considerably since
the reform and opening up. While in 1978,the total value of import and export was only
USD20.64 billion,it increased to USD2,563.26 billion in 2008. Proportion of total value of
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Important
export skills
comparison
205
imports and exports to GDP in year 2008 is 59.8percent, which was 9.7 percent in 1978,
39.6 percent in 2000. And now China is the third largest trading nation in the world.
China’s major trading partners include the USA, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Germany,
Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan and so on[1]. However, in the
midst of this rapid transformation, China’s labor market is facing serious skills
shortage[2].
Practical skills to successful exporting, along with comp etitive resources in
exporting, are positively related to firm’s export perfo rmance (Piercy et al., 1998). The
work by Ross and Whalen (1999) confirmed that knowing which pra ctical skills were
important for successful exporting of Canadian agri-products could lead to enhanced
export performance. Some educato rs (Steir, 1990; Ball and McClulloch, 1993; Beamish
and Calof, 1989) have called for a shift in international business ed ucation to
incorporate more experiential and practical knowle dge.
However, despite the high awareness of export skills’ importance, the lack of expor t
knowledge and market info rmation was observed for firms in many countries as
documented by Hendrych (1994), Reid (1994), Fitzgerald (1995), Gancel (1995), Valos
and Baker (1996). Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) in their study of the level of the export-
related expertise of exporting manufacturers in a midwester n state of the USA, found
that no matter how successful the firm was, it did not feel confident enough about the
procedural expertise.
The concern about the lack of skills had led international business educa tors to look
for a set of practical skills that have been identified as being important to export
success. Past research has defined and ranked the important export skills in broad
terms (Kedia and Chhokar, 1986; Kaynak, 1992; Ross and Whalen, 1999; Li and
Ogunmokun, 2001; Li, 2004; Ko
¨ksal, 2006). Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) set up five-stage
model and studied the important export skills in different export stage. This study was
for US based firms.
Unfortunately, no research exists attempting to identify and rank fully the practical
skill requirements of the Chinese exporting firms in different export stages. Therefore,
this study will address the question of ‘‘which practical skills are important to Chinese
exporters in different export stages based on the five-stage model?’’ This study firstly
aims at building a theoretical framework that identifies the important skills for
successful exportfrom different businessareas and making an empirical rankingof their
importance. Second, it can serve as useful information for the exporting firms and
government trade promotion agencies to improve their existing skilltraining programs.
The skills importancerankings can also be used to guidethe resource allocations.
Literature review
A systematic evaluation of export promotion studies mandates the identification of
firms’ stages of export involvement and their needs of export skills for improvement.
In fact, these studies are originated from the model of internationalization process.
Export skills in the internationalization process
By virtue of seeking opportunities for growth and expansion or facing threats of
greater competitive pressures at home, com panies begin to look across borders to
expand their activities and to leverage their competitive advantages (Kotabe and
Czinkota, 1992; Karamally, 1998). It calls for concerns about the internationalization
process of firms. Internationalization process is one of the most important models,
described as a process in which the firms gradually increase their international
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