Title: Firms' exports promoted by the entrepreneurs' networking: MENA and Denmark

Authors: Mahdokht Sedaghat; Mohamed Derrabi

Addresses: Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management, University of Southern Denmark, Engstien1, 6000 Kolding, Denmark ' Mundiapolis University in Casablanca (MUC), ONDA/Zone pôle de formation, Aéropole Mohamed V, 20180 Casablanca, Morocco

Abstract: An entrepreneur may go beyond the home-market and pursue marketing to customers in other countries. Exporting is likely to be embedded in the network around the entrepreneur, contacts who may channel, facilitate, encourage, discourage and hamper exporting. Exporting is expectedly affected by the entrepreneur's networking with advisors in the private sphere, the work-place, the professions, the market, and internationally. Specifically, we hypothesise that exporting is greatly promoted by networking in the international environment, but impeded by networking in the private sphere. The design is to analyse data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2009-2011 in Denmark and 14 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where 7,346 entrepreneurs who were starting and operating businesses reported on their exporting and networking with advisors in several environments. Hierarchical linear mixed modelling shows that exporting is promoted by overall networking, and especially by networking internationally, and also by networking in the professions.

Keywords: entrepreneurial networking; exporting; entrepreneurs; business; globalisation; Middle East; North Africa; Global Entrepreneurship Monitor; GEM; Denmark; exports; MENA region.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2013.056878

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2013 Vol.11 No.4, pp.427 - 442

Published online: 21 Nov 2013 *

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