The role of competitive advantage on the relation between internationalization and export performance: case study of EFACEC

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to analyze the factors that in the internationalization’s process of Portuguese companies that allows to understand the contributions of the competitive advantage that influenced export performance. This will assess how the internationalization’s strategies, considering the competitive advantage as well its interaction with the market’s characteristics, may lead companies, on the one hand, to the implementation of strategies for success, and, on the other, and to the top performances of its export activity. In this context embarked by the qualitative methodology, we used the case study method, regarding to the single case of the largest and the most representative Portuguese multinational company of the electromechanical sector (EFACEC), thus enabling a holistic and integrated vision of organizational phenomena object of study. This methodological option allowed objectify results of practical importance, which will contribute to a lower dispersion in companies’ strategic internationalization process, accentuating the assertiveness of its exporting activity. As main conclusions we highlight the fact of internationalization’s strategies positively influence competitive advantage which, in turn, positively influence the export performance, and this one is positively influenced by markets’ characteristics.