Export performance of Brazilian SMEs: identification of variables affecting its improvement

• Grant number: 14/07400-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Business Administration
• Principal Investigator: Silvia Novaes Zilber Turri
• Grantee: Silvia Novaes Zilber Turri
• Host Institution: Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE). Campus Memorial. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Despite the importance of exports to the economy of the countries, data from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade indicate the reduced growth of the Brazilian participation in world exports. On the other hand, data also show an untapped potential in the SMEs segment, which could increase Brazil's insertion in global sales, bearing in mind that, although this segment represents approximately 50.70% of the Brazilian exporters, their share in the total value exported by Brazil is just over 4% (MDIC, 2013). In contrast to the Brazilian reality, Chinese SMEs account for more than half of the exports of its country (CARDOSA et al., 2013), which is indicative of the importance of small firms to the economy of this emerging country, currently the world's largest exporter (MDIC, 2013). From the theoretical point of view, it appears that both the innovation capacity and the international experience could improve the export performance of Brazilian SMEs, but there is no consensus on how to measure these constructs, or which one of them would be more relevant. Thus, this project aims to understand the impact of innovation capacity and international experience on the export performance of Brazilian SMEs, through a quantitative survey of SMEs in the state of São Paulo. At the end of the project, among other contributions, it is expected to propose a theoretical model that reflects the exporter context of an emerging country, applying it and testing it in a meaningful and representative sample of SMEs. It is also intended to contribute to the identification of variables that may ensure that the export performance is improved. The contribution of this research is also based on recommendations that could be sent to the formulators of public policies on exports that deal with improving the competitiveness of the SME segment, suggesting effective actions to improve its export performance, recommended from the results found. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

OURA, MAURICIO MASSAO; ZILBER, SILVIA NOVAES; LOPES, EVANDRO LUIZ. Innovation capacity, international experience and export performance of SMEs in Brazil. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW, v. 25, n. 4, p. 921-932, AUG 2016. (14/07400-7)