Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the export-related factors that encourage or discourage the decisions of high-level management of California-based small to medium-sized firms to export or not to export to China. The study also sought to identify how helpful the respondents felt about the various services provided by Export Assistance Agencies and Export Trading Companies.; The study become necessary because the U.S. Department of Commerce reported in 1996 that the two-way trade between the United States and China had increased from {dollar}2.3 billion in 1979 to {dollar}57.3 billion in 1995. However, U.S. trade with China has been in deficit since 1983, reaching an historic high of nearly {dollar}34 billion in 1995.; Method. Two questionnaires containing both Likert-scaled and open-ended questions were used to collect data from 500 randomly selected California-based small-to medium-sized firms listed in the 1997 California International Trade Register. A total of 210 questionnaires were returned, 111 of which contained usable responses. Forty-five of 111 (40%) responses were exporters to China, while the remaining 66 (60%) responses were exporters who do not export to China. Student's t-test and bar charts were used to analyze the data.; Results. Companies currently exporting to China and those not exporting to China tended to agree on the majority of the questions posed about marketing factors.; Of the seven questions contained in Financial factors questions, statistically significant differences were found only for question # 6.; Statistical analysis of the responses for all five of the questions posed in the Operational Factors sections noted statistically significantly differences between companies currently exporting to China and those not exporting to China.; Also, statistically significant differences were noted between companies exporting to China and those not exporting to China for all seven cultural factor questions.; Eight out of the fifteen legal and political factors revealed statistically significant differences between exporters and non-exporters to China.
展开▼
