Survival of new exporters in developing countries : does it matter how they diversify?

Recent studies have shown that developing countries might have significantly better export performance if they were able to increase the duration of their trade relationships. Evidence on duration of these relationships at the firm level is virtually absent. In this paper, we aim at filling this gap in the literature by analyzing what determines export survival using firm-level data for the whole population of Peruvian new exporters over the period 2000-2006. In particular, we address one question: Does it matter how firms diversify? We find that geographical diversification increases the probability of survival in export markets more than product diversification.