Exporting is the most common strategy used by firms that begin to enter new markets. The
firm produces the products in the home country and then exports them to a foreign market.
Cavusgil et al (2009) observes that this trade mode is the first natural step for foreign
expansion in international business. Exporting is a relatively low risk entry strategy because it
involves little investment (Hitt, 2009).
Terpstra & Sarathy (1997) classify exporting into direct and indirect export with different
degrees of involvement. In indirect exporting the firm does not need to undertake the export
operations such as documentation and freighting within its organization, instead they rely on
domestic based intermediaries. The main advantage of indirect exporting is that a firm can
access a foreign market without much complexity (Doole & Lowe, 2001). Direct exporting is
where a firm performs the export task by itself rather than delegating it to others. The
company has complete control of its export in the new market (Johansson, 1997)