IMPACT OF THE ANTECEDENT FACTORS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MALAYSIAN EXPORT COMPANIES

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the impact of the antecedent factors on the performance of exporting companies in Malaysia through the mediating influen ce of marketing mix adaptation. In order to provide deep and rich investigation, the impact of the antecedent factors on the marketing mix adaptation was examined. A questionnaire was used a s the instrument of the study and the data collection procedures included self-administered qu estionnaires and emailed ones. The questionnaires were sent to 780 firms and 401 valid questionnaires were returned making the response rate 51.4%. Data collected were analyzed using Statistical Pack age for Social Sciences (SPSS) for the purposes of descriptive statistics on the demographic character istics of the subjects and exploratory factor analy sis, while Partial Least Square (PLS) was used to determ ine the interactions between the various constructs for ascertaining the various structured equation mo dels. The findings revealed that some of the antecedent factors have a significant impact on the marketing mix adaptation strategies while others seem not to have this significant impact. The study concluded with some recommendations that can be of a great use to the Malaysian exporting firms whi le making decisions about their exporting activitie s.