The Antecedents of Export Performance of Brazilian Smes: The Non-linear Effects of Customer Orientation

The relationship between customer orientation and export performance has been assumed in the literature to have a linear relationship, neglecting the possibility of non-linear relationships between those constructs. To address this issue, we developed a model that examines the determinants of customer orientation and the quadratic effects of customer orientation on export performance. we estimate our model using the partial least square path modeling (SmartPLS 2.0). The research findings, which are based on a survey of 132 small and medium-sized Brazilian exporters, suggest that technology intensity, managerial experience, and competitive intensity have a positive effect on customer orientation. our findings also indicate that the relationship between customer orientation and export performance was found to be quadratic (U-shaped) rather than linear.