Learning from Exporting: New Insights, New Perspectives

by Robert Salomon

Overview

This book explores the relationship between exports and productivity. Whilst a body of research indicates that exporters have superior productivity to non-exporters, received wisdom suggests that this is because productive firms became exporters. Robert Salomon approaches this issue from a different angle. He argues that exporters can access diverse knowledge inputs that are not available in the domestic market, and that this knowledge can spill back to the focal firm and, through learning, can foster increased innovation. Therefore, exporting can also make firms more productive.

This book examines how exporters derive such advantages by analyzing the relationship between exporting strategies and innovation, with empirical evidence from a representative sample of manufacturing firms. In contrast to existing findings, this book presents evidence consistent with learning by exporting - albeit in dimensions not previously examined in the literature. Furthermore, the results suggest that exporting strategies influence innovative productivity in complex ways, with important implications for research in international business, strategy, and innovation.

Questioning whether firms actually learn from exporting experiences and how they do so, this unique study will prove a fascinating read for academics, researchers, and government and economic policy makers with an interest in business and management, international business, and of course, exporting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845425814
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	02/21/2007
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Robert Salomon, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations and Research Affiliate, Global Business Institute, Leonard Stern School of Business, New York University, US

Table of Contents

Contents: Part I: Background and Literature Review 1. Introduction 2. Innovation 3. Market Contact and Knowledge Sourcing 4. Exporting Part II: Analyses of the Learning-by-Exporting Phenomenon 5. Data and Methods 6. Learning by Exporting 7. Export Strategy and Innovation 8. Industry Heterogeneity in Learning by Exporting 9. Summary and Conclusion References Index

Editorial Reviews

'Robert Salomon's book is a genuinely important and original study of the complex relationship between exporting - explicated here as a truly strategic activity - and innovation. It carefully and convincingly examines how and when exporting products is a means of importing market and technical knowledge, or otherwise fostering product and technological progress. Learning from Exporting also demonstrates how subtle is the relationship between firms, international stances and their innovative performance. It will be critical reading for those who seek to truly understand the corporate, geographic and technological dimensions of international trade and competition.'

Xavier Martin

'This important study breaks new ground in our understanding of international business strategy. The author introduces a novel theoretical framework and subjects it to systematic econometric scrutiny to provide compelling findings that exports constitute a key business strategy for learning and innovating, which ultimately bestows competitive advantage in international business. This book opens the door to viewing exports not just as merely transactions across international borders but, more importantly, as providing a key platform facilitating firm learning and innovation.'

David B. Audretsch

'The statistical analysis is presented very clearly and the results discussed in considerable detail, which ensures that readers having limited statistical knowledge will have no problem with this volume.'

Economic Outlook and Business Review