Strategy types of exporting firms: a view on the basis of competitive advantage

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine types of exporting firms featuring strategy orientations and profitability of differential emphasis.Design/methodology/approachTo answer the questions the paper raises, data of 82 exporting firms established in Greece are analysed with the help of factor analysis, cluster analysis and cross‐tabulation.FindingsThe findings reveal three types of firms pursuing different strategy orientations for dealing with competition in export markets (i.e. the marketing‐based strategists, the hybridists and the non‐strategists). Furthermore, they suggest that export profitability is dependent on these strategy types.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralisation of the research results should be made with caution. A fruitful direction of further research is to replicate the principal features of the study with other samples of firms in Greece or in comparable national contexts, especially within the European Union.Practical implicationsThe empirical results highlight the discussion of more vs less profitable forms of competitive advantage pursued by firms operating in foreign markets. A message of utmost importance for practitioners is that the hybrid form of competitive advantage, although dominant, does not offer the most profitable strategic choice.Originality/valueThe study focuses on strategy types of firms competing in the international arena to offer a view on the basis of competitive advantage. By excluding the well‐known pure and stuck‐in‐the‐middle alternatives, the evidence highlights either no‐strategy or combined choices of strategy orientations, which differ in terms of export profitability. As such, the study sheds some light on the relation of strategy to export performance, which is under‐researched outside the USA.