The effects of e-commerce drivers on export marketing strategy

The emergence of e-commerce technology has had a significant effect on firms' export marketing. However, limited knowledge exists as to how e-commerce drivers affect a firm's export marketing strategy. This study develops and tests a theoretical model to delineate how e-commerce drivers affect export marketing strategy. The empirical findings suggest that internal e-commerce drivers (product online transferability and e-commerce assets) directly increase a firm's degree of promotion adaptation, enhance communication and distribution efficiencies, facilitate greater distribution support, and improve price competitiveness for export ventures. Furthermore, both internal and external e-commerce drivers (export market e-commerce infrastructure and demand for e-commerce) moderate the relationships between environmental factors and elements of export marketing strategy. Overall, the findings support incorporating e-commerce constructs into existing theory on export marketing strategy. The authors discuss theoretical and managerial contributions and offer directions for further research.