NICHE STRATEGY AND EXPORT PERFORMANCE

Small firms can approach foreign markets notwithstanding their limited resources by adopting a niche strategy. This permits to understand how SMEs can reach high levels of export intensity and broad geographic scope. Moreover, a global niche approach permits to explain - among other factors - why and how infant firms can be international or even global since their inception. The case studies analysis shows a positive relation between niche strategy and high international performance, in terms of export intensity, precocity, speed, and scope. The international expansion of niche firms is based on an horizontal micro-segmentation of the global market: they move internationally following global customers, independently from the psychic/geographical distance, and compete mostly on a non-price basis.