International corporate entrepreneurship of Chinese exporters : an empirical study

Market orientation, corporate entrepreneurship and learning orientation are relevant and important organizational capabilities determining performance particularly for exporters who face an increasingly complex environment. A survey was undertaken in China to investigate their inter-relationships as well as their impact on performance. Results show that learning orientation is the major cultural precursor instrumental to market orientation and entrepreneurship development. It was also found that corporate entrepreneurship is a perfect mediator between learning- and market orientation-performance relationships. Chinese exporters are advised to cultivate themselves in developing a learning culture which can help them become more market-oriented and entrepreneurial, and thus outperform in foreign countries.