Critical success factors
Closely related to the issues discussed in the previous section is the question of
“critical success factors” in SME internationalization. Numerous empirical
studies have compared the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful SME
exporters in order to identify the factors influencing export performance (see
earlier list of references). The overall conclusion emerging from this work is that
there is no such thing as an absolute success factor in the sense of guaranteeing
good performance abroad since the factors influencing export success are
complex and varied (Aaby and Slater, 1989; Styles and Ambler, 1996). However,
there is sufficient empirical evidence to arrive at some general conclusions
concerning the importance of agency/distributor choice; effective management
of the agency/distributor relationship; strong management commitment to
exporting; international awareness, knowledge and orientation; selectivity in
market choice; adopting a strategic, long term perspective and so on.