IBS Lunchtime Research Seminar - Exiting a buyer-seller relationship and losing export? The importance of export experience" joint with Alfredo D'Angelo, Le Li, Daniele Moschella

You are cordially invited to attend an IBS lunchtime research seminar by Dr Marco Grazzi, University of Milan. Please join us in Room 108, Henley Business School. If you have not received the email invite please email Angie Clark.

Title: Exiting a buyer-seller relationship and losing export? The importance of export experience" joint with Alfredo D'Angelo, Le Li, Daniele Moschella

Date: Wednesday 15th March 2023

Time: 13.00 - 14.15pm

Abstract:

Previous research concentrates on the firm’s full exit from an export market. However, exiting a buyer-seller relationship is a common practice during the firm’s exporting process. There is paucity of research on this topic and the relationship between exiting a foreign buyer and the firm’s export growth is not clearly established. Building on the learning-by-exporting and borrowing from the literature on critical learning events, we use the universe of firm-country-buyer-seller transactions from the French customs office to answer the following research questions. First, what is the effect of exiting an existing export relationship in the foreign country on the firm’s level of export growth in that country? Second, what is the role of export experience in moderating this relationship? Our findings confirm that exiting an existing buyer-seller relationship results in a lower level of firm’s export growth. However, we show that for a firm that exits a buyer-seller relationship, any year of export experience matters for the maintenance of a positive level of export growth. Specifically, we reveal that the impact of country-specific export experience is particularly important during the early years of exporting, and we explain why.