Export Commitment and the Global Financial Crisis: Perspectives from the New Zealand Wine Industry

Abstract

The study investigates how firms adjusted their export commitment in response to the recent global financial crisis. Findings based on New Zealand wine companies suggest that firms' commitment to exporting is influenced by both their export performance achieved before the crisis and the negative effect that the crisis exerted on their subsequent export performance. These two performance‐induced influences can be further moderated by managerial attitude toward exporting and managers' perceptions of export market uncertainty. Theoretically, the study builds on the behavioral theory of the firm and extends the past performance–strategy relationship to the situation of exporting in a financial crisis.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the Associate Editor, Professor Massimo Colombo, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and advice that motivated us to improve the paper throughout the review process. We also thank our former honour student, Ms Stacey Hynes, for her help on data collection in the study.

Notes

¹ Although the official dates for the recent global financial crisis are usually regarded as 2007–2009 (National Bureau of Economic Research 2013), the effects of the crisis were generally not felt until early 2008 (including in New Zealand), and there continues to be debate about the official end date of the recession. Acknowledging this lack of clarity, we refer to the crisis throughout our paper as the “2008 global financial crisis.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yang Yu

Yang Yu is a lecturer at the School of Marketing and International Business, Victoria University of Wellington.

Val Lindsay

Val Lindsay is a professor at the Department of Management, University of Wollongong in Dubai.