Informational and Functional Export Barriers Faced by Small and Medium Enterprises in Emerging Economy

The performance of small and medium enterprises is very important for both the economic and the social development of most emerging markets. Although Small and medium firms account for a large number of the industrial firms in emerging markets, their involvement in export related activities is considerably smaller. However, in view of the dynamics of the current global business environment, small and medium firms need to prepare themselves better to take advantage of trade liberalization and borderless economies. Hence it is very important for us to determine the factors that hinder emerging market small and medium firms from exporting their products abroad We used qualitative methods to explore our research topic and interviewed managers and CEOs of 49 small and medium firms in diverse industries of Pakistan. Data were collected in 2014. Our research confirms the internal and external barriers highlighted by earlier research. However, we noticed that there is a dearth of inter-organizational collaboration among the firms. This dimension has not been captured in the internal and external barriers approach. The existing literature on networks stresses the importance of inter-organizational relationships and networks among firms in general and specifically among small and medium firms. The emerging market small and medium firms must collaborate with each other, both in terms of operational resources and handling large export orders, if they want to enter in the competitive export markets. The government can also help such firms by encouraging the formation of export production networks