TRANSACTION COSTS AND EXPORT CHANNELS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: THE CASE OF KOREA

This paper develops hypotheses concerning firm- and industry-specific factors determining the relative importance to manufacturing exporters of different export channels in relatively high transaction cost Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data from a Korean SME survey demonstrate the validity of several hypotheses and reveal that most sample SMEs rate the external support for international marketing rather low. The paper offers recommendations for reforming such support. Copyright 1997 Western Economic Association International.