Measuring export performance in service industries

Abstract

Increases in the international marketing of services have created a need to better understand the determinants of service export performance measures. While numerous studies suggest using either the ratio of a firm′s foreign sales over its total sales, number of markets, perceptions of export profitability, or management′s satisfaction with export performance as surrogate indicators of export performance, these measures are based upon the fundamentals of manufacturing industries. To better equip service managers with appropriate evaluative tools, this study analyzes the alternative methods of measuring export performance within the context of the services industry, Results of a survey of US‐based, international business‐to‐business service firm indicate that each measure captures different components of overall export performance. This research identifies the key input variables of each export performance measure to help international managers of service firms select the export performance measure that is most appropriate for them to use in determining whether or not they are achieving their goals.