An Empirical Investigation of the Antecedents of Product Innovation Strategy and New Product Performance in Export Ventures: An Abstract

Abstract

Product innovation strategy and the successful introduction of new products can contribute greatly to the performance of contemporary businesses. Creativity and innovation are particularly important for firms that transcend national boundaries, operate in a highly turbulent international business environment, and face diverse and volatile market conditions across different countries and regions. Surprisingly, limited research attention has been devoted on the drivers of product innovation strategy and new product performance in the context of export ventures. In an effort to fill this notable gap in the literature, the present study investigates the export innovation process and assesses the extent to which the interplay between relevant organizational, managerial, and strategic factors facilitates the development of an effective export product innovation strategy, which in turn strengthens a firm’s new product performance in export markets. Our findings indicate that participative decision-making, support and collaboration, and learning and development have a significant positive effect on organizational valuing of creativity, which in turn enhances export manager creativity and export innovation capabilities. We also find support for a positive impact of export manager creative on product innovation strategy, which in turn enhances an exporting firm’s new product performance. These results highlight the crucial role of creative thinking skills of export managers and the importance of intrinsic task motivation in the creativity process. The study findings also underscore the importance of upper management attention to the support and encouragement of the creative process within exporting organizations. The implications of our findings for export managers are discussed, and future research avenues are identified.

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