Behind the Success and Failure of U.S. Export Intermediaries: Transactions, Agents, and Resources

(Hardback)

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Trading across borders, export intermediaries are specialized service firms that connect domestic manufacturers with overseas buyers. How do they do it What determines their success or failure Have they really lowered transaction costs for their clients, minimized agency costs, and possessed competitive resources and capabilities in world trade Surprisingly, no study until now has answered these questions or has explored the underlying issues as thoroughly as Peng does here. Peng develops an integrated model of export intermediary performance. He focuses on the nature of export transactions and manufacturer-intermediary relationships which may lead to agency problems, and underlines the importance of valuable, unique, and hard-to-imitate resources and capabilities for intermediaries' competitive advantages. Peng employs a distinct analytical approach that highlights three underlying themestransactions, agents, and resourcesthen tests his model with six critical case studies and a 1,000-firm mail survey. Operators of export intermediaries seeking ways to improve their performance, aspiring entrepreneurs studying the export business for niche opportunities, manufacturing executives seeking top quality service from export intermediaries, and government officials in charge of export promotion and pertinent legislationall will find Peng's book a useful examination of issues critical to their work.

Reviews

"A book worth investing in! Gives you hard to find information that could save intermediaries valuable time and money."-Patrece Banks President, Pacific Tide International
"An excellent piece of work making solid contributions to the literature. Cutting-edge research on firm performance!"-Charles W.L. Hill Chairman and Hugh Blake Professor of International Business University of Washington
"I commend to our readers Mike Peng's book, which I find extraordinarily clear sighted and useful. It is a strategic analysis of a strategic issue."-Leslie Stroh Publisher, The Exporter Magazine
"This book is an interesting and rare study which contributes to both management theory and practice. From a theoretical perspective, it makes explicit the theories behind export agent performance and provides direction as to how to test those theories. From a practical perspective, it provides managers who are considering growth through global exporting with specific guidelines for how to choose among a host of possible agents. I recommend it highly to both audiences."-Anne Y. Ilinitch Professor of Strategic Management University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Author Bio

Mike W. Peng is assistant professor of management at Ohio State University. He received his PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle, with an award-winning doctoral dissertation on export strategy. Dr. Peng consults for various companies expanding into international markets. He is the author of numerous articles in scholarly and professional journals, and has published and presented his work in Canada, China, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.