E-commerce and Export Performance By Munib Karavdic

Some RBV studies suggest that uniquely combining a set of complementary and specialised internal resources and capabilities may lead to value creation (Penrose 1959; Wernerfelt 1984; Barney 1991; Amit and Schoemaker 1993; Peteraf 1993). However, a firm’s resources and capabilities are valuable if, and only if, they reduce a firm’s costs or increase its revenues compared to what would have been the case if the firm did not have those resources (Barney 1997: p.147). Only recently have researchers begun to focus on the specifics of how some organisations first develop internal specific capabilities, and then how they renew competencies to respond to shifts in the business environment (Eisenhardt and Martin 2000). The dynamic capabilities approach is an extension of the RBV that was introduced to explain how firms can develop their capability to adapt and even capitalise on rapidly changing technological environments (Teece et al. 1997). Dynamic capabilities emphasise the key role of strategic management in appropriately adapting, integrating, and reconfiguring internal and external experience, resources, and functional competencies within a changing environment. The development of such capabilities is limited by the firm’s existing base of capabilities, and is shaped by its current market position and past history in developing capabilities (Grant 1996; Teece et al. 1997). The difference between the traditional conceptualisation of the resource-based view of the firm (Wernerfelt 1984; Grant 1991; Barney 1997) and the dynamic capabilities view (Teece et al. 1997) is that under the traditional view, current firm resources and capabilities are exploited by the opportunities in the marketplace, whereas under the dynamic capabilities view, the firm needs to develop new capabilities to identify opportunities and respond quickly to them.

The emergence of e-commerce creates new sources for export business since interactive capabilities and new complementary tools among a firm’s resources and infrastructure can be utilised. The RBV of the firm, which focuses on the importance of its unique assets, offers an overview of firm factors associated with levels of commitment to export using e-commerce. Two capabilities especially relevant for e-commerce utilisation in international business are the firm’s e-commerce experience in export business and the firm’s e-commerce assets.