Internal and External Knowledge Sources of New Export Products

This study examines how firms’ internal and external knowledge sources affect the introduction of new export products with regard to value, number, average unit price and average quantity. Previous studies of this kind suggest that firms’ export performance is influenced by internal knowledge, and the knowledge potential in the local and regional environment. In the present study the knowledge milieu of the exporting firm is the local and regional knowledge potential that is represented by the presence of Knowledge-Intensive Manufacturing Industries (KIMI). The empirical analysis demonstrates that a firm’s internal knowledge has a positive effect on the value, number, average unit price, and average quantity of new export products. The knowledge milieu of the exporting firm, represented by the access to local and intra-regional KIMI-employment, has: i) a negative effect on the value and the average quantity, and ii) a positive effect on the number and the average unit price, of new export products, respectively.