Resources, capabilities, export performance and the moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation in the context of SMEs

Export activities of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in small economies with limited domestic markets. This paper investigates critical resources and capabilities of SMEs for export performance and their contingency upon entrepreneurial orientation. The proposed model builds on the theories of the resource-based view, the dynamic capability view and entrepreneurship to select relevant antecedents and argue their performance impact. The hypotheses were tested with cross-industry data collected from 102 Slovenian SMEs using structural equation modelling. Our results support that human resources, brand and entrepreneurial orientation positively affect SMEs’ export performance, while management experience, market and innovation capabilities only increase performance in the face of high entrepreneurial orientation. Further results and implications are discussed.