Firm Size and Export Performance : Some Empirical Evidence

This paper uses firm level data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Business Longitudinal Survey to help fill the information gap about the characteristics of successful exporters. This study suggests that the main influences on export performance of Australian manufacturing firms lies with a range of 'firm-specific' factors other than domestic market sales or overall firm size. These potentially include: kind of activity, product design and quality, marketing expertise and the motivation of management