The export process in food processing SMEs : a case study of Swedish food export

Sammanfattning: Food export have gained increased importance for Swedish economical growth, LRF, Business Sweden and the Swedish Government highlight increased export of agricultural- and food stuffs. Through different concepts such as “Try Swedish” and “Sweden-the culinary nation” these agencies created incentives to benefit export of processed food, mainly from SMEs, where food products produced in SMEs often are unique, specialized and locally produced. At a firm level, export gives the opportunity to search for new markets and find new customers. SMEs are characterized by having limited resources, which makes the export process more complex and uncertain. The export venture can be facilitated through collaboration with intermediary organizations and networking. It is stated that food exporters using marketing strategies can be more successful in their export venture. Moreover, smaller firms are strongly affected by entrepreneurial orientation in their strategic planning. The aim of this study is to investigate the export process by identifying and describing marketing strategies, the role of entrepreneurship and the impact of intermediary organizations. The study is carried out with a flexible design, including three case studies of exporting food processing SMEs. Data is mainly gathered through interviews with managers of each case company. The result of this study shows that export-marketing strategies are not always fixed. The firms need to be flexible and open for emergent decisions and coincidences where business opportunities often arise. The case companies are affected by entrepreneurship, in the ability to see market opportunities and in the incentives of the risk-taking involved in an export venture. Furthermore, intermediary organizations can collaborate with consulting services and serve as an advisory board, which has been of advantage to each of the case companies in this study to decrease risks involved in an export venture.