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Anti-crisis activities and export performance in the Covid-19 pandemic: The case of Polish exporters

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2023.110406

Abstract

Objective: The article aims to investigate the impact of anti-crisis activities undertaken by the Polish exporting firms on their export sales during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Research Design & Methods: In our study, we used a quantitative research design. We conducted the survey on the sample of 161 manufacturing Polish exporting firms between April 21 and June 25, 2021. To verify the assumed relationships, we used the probit regression model.

Findings: We found that some firm key features, such as firm size, the territorial scope of international activity, the share of foreign ownership in assets, the degree of innovation, and the presence of a market diversification strategy significantly impacted export sales during the pandemic. The results also suggest that a temporary reduction in employment, the sale of new/adapted products, and the search for new foreign export partners strongly supported the sales growth of Polish exporters during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Implications & Recommendations: This study can be valuable for researchers, managers, and policymakers. First, we highlight activities that promote export/sales during the pandemic period, which can be helpful for both researchers and policymakers in creating support tools for exporters. Second, managers may gain valuable lessons on the importance of having an internationalisation strategy and marketing strategies in place during demand and supply shocks.

Contribution & Value Added: The main novelty is a firm-level analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic impact on exporting firms from the perspective of the anti-crisis activities they undertook, which fills a gap in the literature and informs discussions of the potential impact of Covid-19 on export performance.

Keywords

Polish exporting firms, manufacturing; , export sales; , COVID-19 pandemic; , firm’s strategy;, firm-level survey

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Author Biography

Aleksandra Kordalska

PhD in Economics (2005, Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland); Assistant Professor at Gdańsk University of Technology. Her scientific interests focus on international trade, in particular on international trade of Central and Eastern European economies. The main research works are related to global value chains, functional specialisation, technological specialisation, and manufacturing servicification.

Correspondence to: Aleksandra Kordalska, PhD, Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Economics, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland, e-mail: Aleksandra.Kordalska@zie.pg.edu.pl

ORCID  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8842-4777

Magdalena Olczyk

in 1995, she graduated from the University of Gdansk with a degree in economics, specialising in foreign trade. in 2006 she received her PhD in Economics from Gdansk University of Technology and in 2018 she also habilitated in Economics from Gdansk University of Technology. Since 2000, she has been working at the Faculty of Management and Economics at the Gdansk University of Technology in the Department of Economics. She is the author and co-author of over 80 publications in the field of international economics, mainly on international competitiveness, functional specialisation and global value chains in Central and Eastern European countries.

Correspondence to: Magdalena Olczyk, PhD, Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Economics, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland, e-mail: Magdalena.Olczyk@zie.pg.edu.pl

ORCID  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4880-5890


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