Customer Orientation and Sme export performance: Insights from Italian manufacturing firms

Simone Novello, Jorge Lengler and Pilar Murias Fernandez

Micro & Macro Marketing, 2013, issue 3, 453-470

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to advance knowledge of export literatureon Italian Smes. Given the striking changes that the process of globalizationhas brought to international markets, scholarly research hashighlighted that Italian Smes should adopt a customer orientation strategyin order to increase their competitiveness. To date, very few studieshave tested whether those strategies viewed as success factors are actuallybeneficial for the Italian Smes. A sample of senior managers ofsmall and medium-sized exporting firms in Italy is used to test the hypotheses.Whilst confirming that customer orientation has a direct impacton strategic performance, we show that customer orientation hasa negative effect on firms' financial performance. Our study shows thattechnology intensity of products does not have a significant impact onfinancial performance, but this link is mediated by strategic performance.Finally, our results confirm that experienced managers of Smesconsider customer orientation a central element of their firm's exportstrategy. Implications of these findings along with the limitations of thestudy are discussed.

Keywords: export performance; customer orientation; resource-based view; Italian Smes. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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