Dynamic Capabilities of Export Service Providers in the Fruit and Vegetable Sector: Approaches to Overcome Internal Export Barriers

Abstract

Intermediaries are the mainstay of fruit and vegetable commercialization in foreign markets. However, they face strategic problems that undermine their competitiveness and impede their international development. In order to compete in export markets, these mainly small and medium-sized enterprises require dynamic capabilities which are not possessed by all of them. Existing research has not fully researched dynamic capabilities which determine the success in the exportation of fresh fruit and vegetables. Based on seven in-depth interviews, our contribution in this work is to determine what specific dynamic capabilities of the fruit and vegetable distributing companies contribute to an improvement in the export performance. The results of the conducted explorative and qualitative study show that four dynamic capabilities, the relationship management, the consumer orientation, the transparency and the communication along the value chain and brand management can help to solve most of the internal barriers and strategies and as a consequence influence positively in the export results.