ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH EXPORT ACTIVITY

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Abstract
Can various organizational and manager characteristics be empirically related to the level of export activity in the firm? This article attempts to provide an answer to this question using data obtained from a mail‐survey of exporting firms. A comprehensive review of the literature is presented first, in order to identify the relevant organizational characteristics hypothesized to be related to export activity. Then, a set of ten characteristics are statistically related to level of export activity (percent of sales exported) using Multiple Classification Analysis and Automatic Interaction Detector technique. The multiple classification analysis reveals five significant correlates of export activity. The automatic interaction detector analysis produced seven distinct exporter types ranging from least active to most active exporter, as well as generating some insights into the nature of interactions among the correlates of export activity. Implications of the findings for public policy, management, and education are discussed last in the article.