Export promotion programmes as export performance catalysts for SMEs: insights from an emerging economy

The purpose of the study is to analyse the joint impact of external factors of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), such as export promotion programmes (EPPs), which encompass trade mobility-, information-, education-, and training-related programmes, and internal factors of SMEs, which encompass export-related resources, preceding-year export performance, and its impact on current-period export performance. The study tests their relationship with structural equation modelling using a random sample of 95 exporting SMEs in an emerging economy, Peru. The results indicate that experiential knowledge provided by trade mobility-related programmes and export performance of the preceding year positively influence the resources of SMEs oriented towards export activity as well as current export performance. Moreover, the results highlight the need to review the efficacy and design of EPPs, acknowledging the available resources of SMEs as well as the internationalisation theories of the firm, in order to enhance their influence on the international development and export performance of SMEs. Finally, the study has extended the knowledge about emerging economies by showing the role EPPs play in SMEs’ export performance.