Export strategic orientation–performance relationship: Examination of its enabling and disenabling boundary conditions

This study finds that the form of relationship between export strategies – entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and export market orientation (MO) – and export sales performance is curvilinear and dependent on levels of intra-firm resource coordination capabilities. Findings from primary data drawn from new international ventures reveal that increased changes in combined EO and MO strategies lead to decreases in export sales performance. Results further indicate that when levels of resource coordination flexibility and MO are higher the effect of EO on performance is strengthened. However, when levels of MO increase in magnitude along with higher levels of resource coordination flexibility, the levels of sales performance decrease. A natural conclusion to draw is that new international ventures that develop their MO resources and align these with their intra-firm resource coordination competencies will fully realize the export sales benefits of their EO activities.