Regional and global exporting in SMEs: An investigation of ownership and outside managers

Using data from a large sample of 2,988 Italian manufacturing SMEs we tested the effects of ownership and managerial characteristics on firms’ export performance on both regional and global markets. Distinguishing between regional and global export sales allowed us to refine the generic concept of export performance and shed new light on the effects of governance variables. We argue that previous SME exporting studies have failed to take into account the burden of the liability of inter-regional foreignness, thus producing ambiguous results. Our research shows that the ownership and managerial influences on SME export performance vary according to the geographic scope of exporting. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.