Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of business networks on the export performance of firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Following recent studies conducted from a network perspective, this moderating effect is studied for different types of business networks. To do this, a two-step Heckman-probit model is implemented for a sample of more than 2,000 manufacturing companies with information from the years 2006 to 2012. This study analyses the effect of nine variables of institutional distance between Spain and four geographical areas for collaborating and non-collaborating firms.

Findings

The main contribution of this paper is suggesting that vertical networks reduce the negative effects of institutional distance faced by the company in the early stages of its export process.

Practical implications

According to the results of this paper, managers should make a greater effort to expand their networks when they want to start exporting to further markets, as some networks reduces the negative effect of distance on export propensity. Moreover, the results also suggest that participating within a network may not be sufficient to increase the propensity to export of a firm, being important the kind of network in which companies participate.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper lies in providing empirical evidence that distinct kind of networks have different effect on the internationalisation process of companies, and that they affect not only directly as previous studies showed but also indirectly moderating the negative effect of the differences between markets.

中文翻译：

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网络作为制度距离对出口绩效影响的调节因素

目的

本文的目的是研究商业网络对企业出口绩效的调节作用。

设计/方法/方法

根据最近从网络角度进行的研究，针对不同类型的商业网络研究了这种调节效应。为此，我们对 2,000 多家制造公司的样本实施了两步 Heckman-probit 模型，该样本包含 2006 年至 2012 年的信息。本研究分析了西班牙与四个地理区域之间制度距离的九个变量的影响。合作企业和非合作企业。

发现

本文的主要贡献是表明垂直网络减少了公司在出口过程的早期阶段面临的制度距离的负面影响。

实际影响

根据本文的结果，当管理者想开始向更远的市场出口时，他们应该更加努力地扩展他们的网络，因为一些网络减少了距离对出口倾向的负面影响。此外，结果还表明，参与网络可能不足以增加公司的出口倾向，因为公司参与的网络类型很重要。

原创性/价值

本文的独创性在于提供了经验证据，证明不同类型的网络对公司的国际化进程有不同的影响，并且它们不仅像以往的研究表明的那样直接影响，而且间接地缓和了市场差异的负面影响。