EXPORT INITIATION IN SMALL LOCALLY-OWNED FIRMS FROM EMERGING ECONOMIES: THE ROLE OF PERSONAL FACTORS
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of personal factors in the decision of small, locally-owned firms from an emerging economy to enter into exporting. It drew on the logistic regression model to analyze the probability of a firm entering into exporting given its founder/owner possesses certain personal attributes. The results reveal personal attributes such as international job experience and foreign travel experience are the most critical in determining whether or not the firm exports. These results demonstrate demographic factors such as age and education level of the owner are less important and behavioral factors are more significant. Public policymakers interested in getting more firms to export can use these results as a guide to develop training centers that will encourage specific entrepreneurial behaviors germane to export initiation in small firms.
