BERMAN, DAVID HOWARD; PHD

                        STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO, 1995

                        BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, GENERAL (0310); GEOGRAPHY (0366); ECONOMICS, GENERAL (0501); BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT (0454)
 

                         The purpose of this research is to advance the understanding of two aspects of the international
                         decision-making behavior of small-sized manufacturing firms--export-information/knowledge acquisition
                         and export planning. Diffusion theory provides the conceptual framework for the empirical analysis of 84
                         small manufacturing firms located in Toronto. Multiple regression is employed in this exploratory attempt
                         to use perceived attributes of exporting and characteristics of the organization to explain the scope and
                         manner of export-information/knowledge acquisition and level of export planning. The results suggest
                         that: (1) expansion of the scope of export-information/knowledge acquisition among the firms studied is
                         related to management's perceptions regarding the relative advantage and complexity of exporting, as
                         well as to degree of internationalization; (2) the manner in which firms acquire export
                         information/knowledge is associated with management's perceptions regarding the relative advantage of
                         exporting, degree of internationalization and, to a lesser extent, firm size; and, (3) the level of export
                         planning within firms is linked to management's perceptions regarding the relative advantage and
                         complexity of exporting, in addition to degree of internationalization, Unexpectedly, neither the
                         perceptions regarding complexity or observability of exporting, nor the organizational characteristics of
                         age, degree of international-market diversification, or product- development/innovation are significant
                         predictors of the export behaviors under scrutiny. Nonetheless, overall, this empirical research supports
                         the premise that it is useful to conceptualize these export activities from the perspective of diffusion of
                         innovation theory. The significance of the results is explored from several theoretical and empirical
                         perspectives. Implications and limitations of the study, as well as recommendation's for future research,
                         are also discussed.

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