SYLVIE CHErrY IS SENIOR LECTURER IN kmarketing at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and R. T. Hamilton is Professor of Management at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. The main purpose of this paper was to identify how similar firms become exporters and, once embarked, why some perform better than others. It is based on the findings of a multi-case study investigation of exporters and non-exporters within two major New Zealand manufacturing industries. The discussion is set in the context of the academic literature on exporting and the findings should be of interest to ownermanagers in smaller firms considering exporting and to those framing policy to support exporting.
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