Export barriers - Insights from small and medium-sized firms

Abstract

What are the factors that impede firms' international expansion? Does a firm with marginal export activity perceive the same export barriers as a company wholly devoted to the export market? This article addresses these and other questions through data collected from a total of 286 exporting and non-exporting small and medium-sized firms in the Spanish wine industry. The results show that decision makers' perceptions of export barriers - regardless of the type of barrier considered - decrease as the firm moves further in the export development process, even when pre-export stages are taken into account. The main implications of this research work, together with its limitations, are presented in the 'Discussion and Conclusions' section of the article.