Abstract

Export performance has been studied since 1960s. Up to now there have been many studies examines every aspects of this subject. Review of the literature shows that there have been four major groups of variables often employed to explain the variation of export performance, i.e. environmental variables, organizational variables, managerial variables, and marketing strategy variables, in which marketing strategy variables have been the central focus of recent studies as opposed to the other threes in early stage of the development of the subject. Amongst many, 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) have been the most widely used marketing variables. However, in the marketing literature, relationship marketing, which roots itself in long-term relational exchanges with keys stakeholders (e.g. customers, employees, suppliers, competitors), has been considered a new paradigm. The present paper aims to employ relationship marketing theory to explain export performance. Based on the literature review in export performance and relationship marketing, the conceptual framework to examine export performance is proposed.