Export and domestic sales: Their interrelationship and determinants

Robert Salomon, J. Myles Shaver

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

149 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examine the interrelationship between export and domestic sales. Our expectation is that they are simultaneously determined, and as such should not be examined in isolation. We also investigate how firm factors - such as R&D and advertising investments - and external factors - such as market growth and exchange rate changes - impact export and domestic sales. Using a non-recursive system of equations, we test our arguments on a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms between 1990 and 1997. We find significant interrelationships between export and domestic sales with striking differences between Spanish-owned firms and foreign-owned firms operating in Spain. For Spanish-owned firms, domestic and export sales are complements. These firms appear to focus on the domestic market and strength in the domestic market drives their export sales. In contrast, domestic and export sales are substitutes for foreignowned firms. These firms' export strategies appear subsumed under strategies of managing a multinational network in which the focus is sales outside of Spain. We discuss the importance of these findings for understanding and managing export strategies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)855-871
Number of pages17
JournalStrategic Management Journal
Volume26
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2005

Keywords

  • Export performance
  • Exporting
  • International expansion
  • Sales

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Export and domestic sales: Their interrelationship and determinants'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this