Purpose

Although cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular among small and medium-sized enterprises as a foreign market entry mode, research on the determinants of its success is scarce. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine the relationship between a firm’s information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities and its cross-border e-commerce strategic and financial performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from a sample of Italian exporters in the food and beverage industry.

Findings

The results highlight the mixed effects of information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities on both e-commerce strategic and financial performance. Moreover, the use of third-party e-commerce platforms reduces the effect of exporters’ information technology capabilities on their e-commerce financial performance.

Research limitations/implications

The majority of exporters in this study had implemented cross-border e-commerce only recently; hence, longitudinal data on the success factors of e-commerce are not available.

Practical implications

While cross-border e-commerce may work as an accelerator of the overall export performance, export managers are urged to approach it strategically with a clear medium-term view to develop the required capabilities.

Originality/value

This study was one of the first to examine the drivers of small and medium-sized exporters’ cross-border e-commerce performance. Moreover, unlike most previous analyzes, it focused on e-commerce as a foreign market entry mode rather than a supplement to offline exporting activities.

中文翻译：

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跨境电子商务作为中小企业国外市场进入模式：出口能力与业绩的关系

目的

尽管跨境电子商务作为一种进入国外市场的方式越来越受到中小企业的欢迎，但对其成功的决定因素的研究却很少。本研究基于资源基础的观点，旨在研究公司的信息技术、国际营销和出口运营能力与其跨境电子商务战略和财务绩效之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

偏最小二乘结构方程模型用于分析来自食品和饮料行业的意大利出口商样本的数据。

发现

结果突出了信息技术、国际营销和出口运营能力对电子商务战略和财务业绩的混合影响。此外，第三方电子商务平台的使用降低了出口商信息技术能力对其电子商务财务业绩的影响。

研究限制/影响

本研究中的大多数出口商最近才开始实施跨境电子商务；因此，没有关于电子商务成功因素的纵向数据。

实际影响

虽然跨境电子商务可以作为整体出口业绩的加速器，但敦促出口管理人员以明确的中期观点从战略上接近它，以发展所需的能力。

原创性/价值

这项研究是最早研究中小型出口商跨境电子商务表现驱动因素的研究之一。此外，与之前的大多数分析不同，它侧重于将电子商务作为一种国外市场进入模式，而不是对线下出口活动的补充。