• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.199-210
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• 2015

This study analyzes various aspects of the successful overseas expansion of SMEs that export consumer goods with their own brands. Through in-depth interviews with CEOs and marketing practitioners of fifteen SMEs that export consumer goods of their own brands, researchers examined the determinants of the decisions to export own-brand products, forms of expansion into foreign markets, firms' distribution networks, firms' technological and marketing capabilities, export barriers, and export support services offered by the government. The results indicate that these companies obtained competitiveness in the design and quality of their products through steady R&D investment, with a focus on niche markets. This study also shows that they established foreign branches, participated in overseas trade fairs, and tapped into foreign markets with Korean home shopping channels and department stores to build distribution channels and to find new buyers. However, the findings of this study reveal that many of those companies export both OEM/OEM products as well as their own-brand products due to the low level of brand awareness in foreign markets. Thus, efforts to improve their brand awareness in the global market are much needed. In addition, this paper demonstrates that the programs and services provided by state-run organizations need improvement in credibility and expertise. This research suggests recommendations for successful export programs, and provides meaningful insights for consumer-goods SMEs establishing foreign market entry strategies with their own brands.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.107-120
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• 2015

This study compares own-brand exporting SMEs' utilization of various government-run exporting service programs that provided support in searching for overseas distributors, in overseas market research, and in marketing support. Researchers measure how important firms found each of these components of the program, as well as firms' satisfaction with these services, based on the type of product exported (industrial vs. consumer goods) and the level of economic development of the host countries (developed, newly industrialized, and developing.) A total of 245 own-brand exporting SMEs were surveyed and analyzed in this study. Results indicated that KOTRA was the most frequently used organization by the sample SMEs, regardless of the product type and the economic level of host countries. Industrial-goods exporting SMEs found support in searching for overseas distributors more important than consumer-goods exporting SMEs. SMEs exporting to developed countries considered overseas market research and marketing support and searching for overseas distributor programs more important than SMEs exporting to NIE or developing countries. In addition, industrial-goods exporting SMEs were more satisfied with the overseas market research and marketing support and searching for overseas distributor programs than consumer-goods exporting SMEs. However, there were no differences in satisfaction among firms based on the level of economic development of host countries. Several cases of significant correlations between the importance of and satisfaction with the utilization of government exporting service programs were found.