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Information interests and exporting: The Spanish natural stone industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

María-Valle Santos-Álvarez  and
María-Teresa García-Merino
María-Valle Santos-Álvarez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Organización de Empresas y CIM, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
María-Teresa García-Merino
Affiliation:
Departamento de Organización de Empresas y CIM, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
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Abstract

Export decisions depend on a wide variety of information stimuli. The current research focuses on the attention that international entrepreneurs (IEs) dedicate to different information stimuli relating to how the firm operates internationally, and examines whether the IE's attention varies in function of their experience and knowledge. For their empirical analysis, the authors study the information interests of the IEs in the Spanish natural stone industry. They identify three centres of interest: the strategic attractiveness of the foreign markets, barriers to exporting, and support programmes for exporters. The results show that the IEs are most interested in information about support programmes, and that is due to IEs with scant knowledge about the export markets. As the IEs accumulate knowledge about which are the main export markets, they become more interested in information about the strategic attractiveness of these markets. The authors conclude that a trade-off exists between the information about market attractiveness and the information about support programmes in the IE's attention. In contrast, attention towards export barriers behaves independently and depends on the IE's experience.

Keywords

information interestsattention focusinformation stimulialertnessexperienceknowledgeinternational entrepreneur
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 18 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 845 - 857
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2012

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