Title: Factors influencing the export of Hungarian SMEs

Authors: Andrea Éltető; Beáta Udvari

Addresses: Institute of World Economics, Centre for Economics and Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 4, Tóth Kálmán u, Budapest, 1097, Hungary ' Institute of Finance and International Economic Relations, Faculty of Economics, University of Szeged, 6722 Szeged, Kálvária sgt 1, Hungary

Abstract: For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) export is the most important mode of internationalisation. World trade decreased dramatically during the global crisis of 2008-2009, but the economic environment has become more predictable later, providing new export opportunities for SMEs as well. This paper identifies the export promoting factors and barriers Hungarian SMEs face and analyses how these factors changed compared to those before the crisis. We conducted primary research among Hungarian SMEs, resulting in a sample of 148 firms and present their opinions on internal and external factors influencing export. For the sake of comparison, we describe the results of similar research in Visegrád countries. Our results partly confirm the findings of previous surveys. The importance of managerial behaviour and capabilities still stands out, while the financial constraints seem to have decreased in comparison with previous years. We conclude that the development of human resources and education is a key in improving the export performance of SMEs.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; internationalisation; export; Hungary; case study; questionnaire survey.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEXPORTM.2018.096769

International Journal of Export Marketing, 2018 Vol.2 No.2, pp.104 - 124

Received: 25 Jan 2018
Accepted: 11 Jul 2018

Published online: 10 Dec 2018 *

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