Investigating the effect of outsourcing on Export Development in Small and Medium sized Companies

What have become more prominent in the last decade are the internationalization of business and the bringing ofcompanies to the global market. Under these circumstances, companies are trying to sell their goods andservices around the world in different ways and maximize their profits. Meanwhile, exports have had one of themost widely used methods for internationalization of companies. Companies with export, with the leastinvolvement in local activities, can sell their product in foreign markets. In this regard, companies focus onmajor competencies and use of outsourcing can facilate exports and develop it. The present research is appliedin terms of the purpose. This is a descriptive researche in term of data collection method. Also, the research is acorrelation type in term of data analysis that is carried out using structural equations. The present study aims toevaluate the effect of outsourcing on the development of exports in small and medium sized companies ofArdebil province id tying to evaluate the effect of outsourcing in each of the components of marketing and salesskills, competitive advantage, and specialist human resource on export development.The statistical populationconsisted of ۲۶۴ companies active in industrial towns of Ardebil, of which according to Morgan table ۱۵۷companies were selected by simple random sampling method. Data was collected by a researcher-madequestionnaire which was used after comfirming its content and structure. Cronbach's alpha was used forreliability of the questionnaire which the numbers obtained were higher than ۰.۷. Structural equations were usedto analyze the data and test the hypotheses of the research. Finally, through the confirmatory factor analysis, theconceptual model of the research showed that outsourcing has a significant positive effect with increasingmarketing and sales skills, competitive advantage, and specialist human resource on export development.

Keywords:

Outsourcing , Marketing and Sales Skills , Competitive Advantage , Specialized Human Resource , Export Development , Small and Medium Sized Companies