African Business Groups: How Does Group Affiliation Improve SMEs’ Export Intensity?
研究撒哈拉以南非洲的中小企业如何通过加入商业集团来克服市场不完善，获取出口所需资源，发现集团隶属企业出口强度更高，且金融、人力和技术资源起中介作用。
Can small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) overcome market imperfections to get the resources needed for exporting? We hypothesize that in many emerging economies, domestically owned SMEs address the hurdle of imperfect markets by creating private governance systems in the form of long-term business relationships in business groups (BGs). Our data are collected from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey and comprises 8,885 SMEs in 33 SSA countries. We find that the export intensity of BG-affiliated SMEs is superior to independent firms, and that financial, human, and technological resources mediate the intensity of the BG affiliation–export relationship.