THE DETERMINANTS OF EXPORT SUCCESS: STRATEGIC ORIENTATION, ATTITUDE AND MANAGERIAL CAPABILITIES

ABSTRACT This study has the objective to assess the relationship of the strategic marketing and attitudes and managerial perceptions dimensions with export performance in small and medium firms of the Ceará state, categorized in two groups: frequent exporters and sporadic exporters. It was based on the theoretical framework derived from the theories of firms’ internationalization and studies on export performance of small and medium firms, obtained through the literature review of researches approaching success factors in export by firms of several countries. To achieve the objective, it was carried out field research involving 35 small and medium firms in Ceará state, using structured questionnaire. The method of linear discriminant analysis was the technique used to identify the significant statistical differences between the two groups of firms. It was verified that the studied dimensions presented relationship statistically significant with frequent exporters firms, confirming the formulated hypotheses. It is concluded that these constructs constitutes success factors for the activity exporter of the researched firms.