Factors Affecting Non-exporting Small and Medium Enterprises’ Intention to Export: Resource Based Approach

Due to globalization, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly taking into consideration the international market as SMEs have a strong role in enhancing the countries’ employment and socio economic development. Most studies focused on factors stimulating current exporters’ initiation, development or sustainment of exports, largely neglecting the effect of stimulating factors on non-exporters behaviour that do not export at all and remain inactive. Empirical results indicate that the influential factors to determine the intention of non-exporting SMEs to export are the firms’ specific intangible resources. The paper analyzes four factors that play role on export intention of non-exporting SMEs in developing countries namely human capital, organizational capital, technological capital, and social capital. By adopting the RBV framework, it extends the current export marketing literature and simultaneously it also offers useful guidelines to encourage the non-exporters especially among the small and medium firms to internationalize.