Title: Survival in the agri-food industry: internationalisation and manager gender in Spanish SMEs

Authors: Pablo Rodríguez-Gutiérrez; M. Dolores Guerrero-Baena; Mercedes Luque-Vílchez

Addresses: Faculty of Law, Economics and Business Sciences, Department of Management, University of Córdoba, Puerta Nueva, s/n, 14071 Córdoba, Spain ' Faculty of Law, Economics and Business Sciences, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, University of Córdoba, Puerta Nueva, s/n, 14071 Córdoba, Spain ' Faculty of Law, Economics and Business Sciences, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, University of Córdoba, Puerta Nueva, s/n, 14071 Córdoba, Spain

Abstract: An analysis is presented of the survival patterns of both small and medium-sized firms in Spain, as well as the effects of the internationalisation of the firm and manager gender on firm survival. The study aims to shed some light from a gender perspective on the field of SME internationalisation and SME performance, examining the role of manager gender as a key determinant of business survival. The data comprise a sample of 5,095 agri-food SMEs. The Kaplan-Meier method is employed for a univariate analysis of survival, applying a linear regression for multivariate analysis. The results revealed that the SMEs were more likely to survive if internationalised and/or if their managers were women. The findings of this research may help provide a better understanding of the influence of manager gender on the internationalisation process of SMEs, which would assist policymakers in developing relevant and targeted export promotion policies and programmes.

Keywords: firm survival; internationalisation; gender; agri-food industry; Kaplan-Meier; small and medium-sized enterprise; SME; Spain; manager gender; Cox-regression; multivariate analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2021.119729

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2021 Vol.44 No.4, pp.359 - 385

Received: 03 Jan 2019
Accepted: 01 Apr 2019
Published online: 17 Dec 2021 *

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