Characteristics of market knowledge competence

Firms accumulate the most fundamental intangible resources of knowledge and skills in an incremental manner, specifically those related to the foreign market.

Market knowledge is also available to rival firms, and it can only be regarded as a competence when it leads to sustainable competitive advantage. Firms which util-ize market knowledge for export-related capability development have the advan-tage of developing sustainable competitive advanadvan-tage. However, to view market

knowledge as a competence for export expansion it is necessary to analyze the nature of this form of knowledge.

The knowledge-based view describes competency as an intangible resource which is valuable, rare and difficult or costly to imitate because of time-consuming learning processes involved in its development. Both the organizational learning and resource-based views of firms relate the tacitness of the knowledge to com-petitive advantage. In contrast to ‘objective knowledge’, which can be gathered through market research (Andersen 1993; Johanson and Valhne 1977), these per-spectives stress the tacit aspect, generated primarily through learning by doing or experience-based learning (Johanson and Vahlne 1977; Barkema and Vermeulen 1998). General knowledge related to international operations and country-specific knowledge pertaining to the target market’s institutions, businesses and industry structures has also been mentioned as an intangible resource within a firm which influences its lateral growth into other markets (Andersen 1993). However, some other studies also mention the characteristics of knowledge associated with a competency as valuable, heterogeneous, imperfectly imitable and difficult to sub-stitute (for a reference to such studies, see Table 2). Further, King, Fowler, and Zeithaml (2001) discuss the characteristics of competency as tacitness, robustness and embeddedness

The tacitness of competency refers to knowledge and skills which are related to the competency and which are intrinsic and rooted in a firm’s previous experi-ences. Furthermore, they are difficult to articulate and share. Thus, knowledge and skills are embedded in the firm’s routines, structures, processes and person-nel’s behaviour. Due to its tacit nature, the development of competency is con-text-specific and based on the history of the firm. Considering market knowledge competence from this perspective, it is deeply rooted in the firm’s organizational context, developed over time as the international experience of the firm grows and is not easily transferable to other firms.

Robustness, the second strategic characteristic of competency, is the extent to which the competency retains its value in a changing environment such as techno-logical change or changes in the political or economic structures of a foreign market (King et al. 2001). Market knowledge competence can be assumed to de-liver significant value to internationalizing firms in the face of changing environ-ments. This is discussed as follows:

First, relating information as a prerequisite for effective planning and decision-making, Morgan and Katsikeas (1998) explain that export involvement is largely a function of an organizational learning process requiring firms to acquire, ana-lyze and evaluate information from pertinent environmental sources. They

sug-gest that firms which acquire and use market information regarding the overseas buyers, competitors, market behaviours and associated issues, are at an advantage over other firms in displaying a greater propensity to enter new markets, and de-veloping formalized systems for acquiring and managing information within the firm.

Second, the robustness of market knowledge can be assessed on the basis of its influence on formulating appropriate strategies. The influence of market knowl-edge on strategy has mostly been analysed in the context of the choice of a for-eign market and the selection of entry mode (Andersen 1993; Erramilli 1991; Er-ramilli and Rao 1990). A firm with relatively less previous knowledge of doing international business is typically reluctant to expand its affairs in a new market which is different to its current foreign market. Thus, in cases where the envi-ronment is changing, prior knowledge still provides input for the development of further knowledge about the new market.

Third, market knowledge can be related to the ability of sense-making which en-ables a firm to signal market changes (Stopford 2001) and act accordingly. This is referred to as ‘market signalling’ and its relationship with organizational learning and knowledge accumulation has been emphasized in several studies (Weick 1995; Hedberg and Wolff 2001). Other scholars (Vorhies 1998; Morgan and Strong 1998) report a firm’s organizational structure and market information pro-cessing capabilities as positively related to superior market performance.

Embeddedness, the third characteristic of competency, is the extent to which the knowledge and skills related to the competency are embedded in the firm, so that when employees leave the knowledge remains within the organizational knowl-edge base. The embeddedness affects the transferability of competency to other firms and is determined by where the competency is located. For example, it can be found within technological systems, managerial systems or organizational cul-tures and values. Competencies which are located in the knowledge and skills of employees are most mobile as compared to those embedded in the organization’s culture, routines and systems which are highly immobile. Within this context, market knowledge can be said to be immobile due to the intrinsic understanding and development of the affairs of a particular firm in foreign markets. However, the learning accumulated by the personnel should be transferred in case they leave the organization. As strategic resources are sticky, firm-specific and largely idio-syncratic to the firm (Cohen and Levinthal 1990), market knowledge accumulated at an organizational level may thus be regarded as immobile in nature.

Because the market knowledge of a firm is tacit in nature, has a value of robust-ness within the context of a dynamic environment, is inimitable and embedded in

the firm (Day 1994a; Prahalad and Hamel 1990), it can thus be assumed as a competence for exporting firms in foreign markets. However, any general kind of market knowledge, although tacit in nature such as country-specific institutional knowledge that firms acquire and accumulate from markets, may not be treated as market knowledge competence; such competence can only be realized when it is utilized within the firm and is capable of giving rise to sustained export capabili-ties. Understanding the linkage between knowledge and capabilities is essential, not only for addressing the relationship between knowledge and capability devel-opment, but also for examining the consequences of export expansion capabilities on the speed and success of export expansion.

4.2 Market knowledge competence and export