Despite considerable research on export performance, relatively little scholarly attention has been devoted to incorporating managers’ perspectives into operationalizing this concept. This study proposes a new approach for measuring SMEs’ export performance in the presence of multiple goals that are potentially conflicting, while accounting for different approaches to assessing export performance. Adopting a contingency approach, we develop two customized measures of perceived export performance: the individualized perceived export performance (IPEP) framework and the simplified model. We demonstrate the application of both measures based on a sample of 78 exporting SMEs in New Zealand, and compare the outcomes. The proposed frameworks are intended to measure export performance considering the specific priorities of managers, through explicit incorporation of manager- and firm-specific differences in the types and importance of goals, indicators, and benchmarks. This paper extends our understanding of export performance by proposing a more nuanced and holistic measurement approach that is tailored to individual firms and reflects firm-specific idiosyncrasies.

尽管对出口绩效进行了大量研究，但很少有学者将管理者的观点纳入该概念的实施。这项研究提出了一种新方法，该方法可以在存在潜在冲突的多个目标的情况下衡量中小企业的出口绩效，同时考虑评估出口绩效的不同方法。我们采用权变方法，开发了两种定制的感知出口绩效衡量指标：个性化感知出口绩效（IPEP）框架和简化模型。我们以新西兰的78家出口中小型企业为样本，展示了这两种措施的应用，并比较了结果。拟议的框架旨在考虑管理人员的特定优先事项来衡量出口绩效，通过明确纳入经理，公司特定目标，指标和基准的类型和重要性方面的差异。本文提出了一种针对个体公司的更细致，整体的衡量方法，并反映了公司特定的特性，从而扩展了我们对出口绩效的理解。