An investigation into the overseas market servicing strategies of Queen’s Award for Export winners: revisiting the concentration versus spreading debate

Although a body of knowledge exists on the areas of both export strategy and competitiveness, empirical data have tended to relate to general industrial surveys rather than concentrating on higher‐performing firms. Existing studies have provided mixed results concerning the merits of managers adopting particular international growth strategies. This paper reports on findings from a postal survey of winners of the Queen’s Award for Export, arguably the premier award for export achievement in the UK. Multivariate quantitative analysis of survey data and subsequent findings from interviews indicate that limited statistical differences exist between the performance and competitiveness of two groups drawn from the sample of “successful” firms. The two groups are those that employ as a growth strategy an approach which concentrates on key overseas markets compared with those that spread their efforts over a number of markets.