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Network Collaboration of Small Australian Agribusiness Exporters Jan MATTSSON Les BROWN University of Southern Queensland Faculty of Business Toowoomba 4350 Queensland, AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 76 31 17 94 Fax: +61 76 31 28 11 e-mail: [email protected] An emerging agenda: Internationalisation of service firms Much of the research on internationalisation has focused on the international growth process of manufacturing firms. Recently, service firms have also come under scrutiny because the service sector has been found to be crucial for economic growth in all countries (Riddle 1986). Findings suggest that there may be substantial differences between industrial and service firms which warrant further research (Mattsson, 1994). For instance, the organic link between production of goods and services seems to be a key element when assessing international comparative advantages of a firm. Export in services or in goods embodied services usually takes three forms: direct export to a foreign country, foreign customer travelling to the exporting country or services embodied in material substances which are exported from the home country (Dunning 1989). One basic assumption of models of international growth is that they are cumulative in nature. Studies of consultancy firms suggest, however, that this assumption may not hold because of the very different type of their resource commitments (Johanson and Deo Sharma 1987). Service firms find the complex and intricate relationships with international customers crucial to manage. Often, sales and production can not be separated (Gummesson 1978). Formal routines around the packaged service evolve gradually and have been termed the structural capital (Edvardsson et al 1993). Therefore, it has been suggested that service firms should establish trust in a wide network of relationships in their environment (Deo Sharma 1989a). The decision-makers of buying firms seem to trust information received through their networks more than information received from media for instance. Steps to create and strengthen relationships should therefore be planned on a long term basis (Deo

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Sharma 1989b; 1992). Although considerable opportunities will emerge in global services (Aydin and Kacker 1989), very few suppliers will have a protected market as services markets will generally become easier to enter and exit (Trondsen and Edfelt 1987). Much of the literature on entry strategies on overseas markets pertain to industrial firms (Erramilli 1991). Little has been written on how to market services worldwide. Recent studies of service companies suggest that they use a number of different entry mode strategies (Mathe' and Perras 1994). Service firms seem to prefer full-control modes, but, as costs escalate, low specificity firms will increasingly seek out shared control ventures (Erramilli and Rao 1994; Erramilli 1989). Another important strategic issue refers to the packaging of the service offering for the particular foreign market. This implies the clarification and the differentiation of the service concept with regard to existing competitors (Edvardsson et al 1993). It also becomes paramount to simplify the transfer of the service to the customer to overcome cultural barriers (Edgett and Cullen 1993). Therefore, references and word-of-mouth are important to build trust to convince the customer. These social interactions are driven by inspired individuals ("rainmaker") who drive the internationalisation process of the service firm. Establishing network relationships in service exports Recent findings from the internationalisation literature on service firms seem to suggest the crucial importance of building and managing international social relationships in which trust and the transfer of knowledge may determine success. The mutual learning and socialisation processes of the participating actors then become a natural object of study in order to analyse how different factors impact on the outcome of service exports. This seems to be particularly important for traditional exports in primary industries with a high degree of tangibility. Expansion abroad is often driven by the needs of international customers, world market price trends and the awareness that international experience in the long run will enhance the competence and the competitive advantage of the firm. Even though we have a substantial body of literature on the international growth of industrial firms, we know very little about the mechanisms underlying the successful or unsuccessful unbundling of services from traditional exports of primary producers such as agribusiness firms. Services are often embedded in the export operations without being recognised or managed as such. Albeit, an important value adding activity, the service component, does not seem to be in focus when developing new markets abroad.

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To our knowledge, nothing has been published about services exports from the Australian agribusiness sector. Surprisingly, most Australian service exporters are small in size (Austrade 1994). This study, therefore, aims at exploring the processes of unbundling service components in traditional agribusiness exports to gain a deeper understanding of how the knowledge base can be developed in primary industries to enhance competitiveness on new export markets. Albeit Australia has an comparative advantage in agricultural production, it has been shown that its export performance does not measure up to its potential (Smith 1993). The export literature is rich. Nevertheless, there is little in the way of substantiated theory of how primary exporters unbundle their service components into separate value enhancing export activities (Welch et al 1995). In order to understand how different factors impact on the success or failure of the process of unbundling of export services, we investigated the activities of key staff in small agribusiness firms. Thus investigation concentrated on an initial period in the first export market. The key research questions then stems from the way in which these activities build relationships which serve as channels of knowledge and trust. We studied relationship activities which were defined as those directed at the focal counterpart in a business deal and other indirect activities involving a network of contacts necessary for the venture as such. We hypothesise that much of social interaction is improvised and that personal relations may be the key to understanding how small exporters develop by collaboration. Method The critical incident technique (CIT) Flanagan (1954) developed a method termed the critical incident technique (CIT) to study actual behaviour with the purpose of finding behaviours that were critical for success or failure in a given profession. In general terms, for an incident to be defined as critical, we must be able to describe it in detail and it must deviate significantly from what is expected either positively or negatively. Thus, only the deviant incidents are studied. Recently, the CIT has been used in a number of studies related to service quality (Nyquist et al 1985; Bitner et al 1990; Edvardsson 1991). As such, it has been used as an inductive method to collect data from interviews with, and observation of, respondents with the aim to generate incidents that form an integrated whole from which the researcher can generate concepts and theories (Bitner et al 1985). Both quantitative or qualitative analysis may be used. In practice, the interview is preferred as a data collection procedure (Andersson

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and Nilsson 1964) as it is superior to other methods with regard to its ability to ascertain how an individual experienced a given episode (Olsen and Thomasson 1992). Fairly detailed descriptions of an incident are normally recapitulated by respondents. Initially, it is necessary to specify the criteria for defining incidents. These may include some of the following considerations which were applied in this study. The respondent must have experienced the incident personally as deviant. It is further appropriate that the incident is rather specific in time and place. The account should be detailed enough and recently experienced. To ascertain the design of the study a pilot round of interviews may be necessary. It is then of particular importance to determine the formulation of the initial questions so that the response is not biased in any negative or positive way. Collecting and analysing data It is suitable to have a silent and undisturbed setting when the interview is carried out. This will facilitate the ability of the respondent to talk openly and freely. Normally, not more than two incidents should be extracted from any one respondent. Anonymity and confidential handling of the accounts must be guaranteed. Therefore, many personal details may not be recorded and presented. To secure adequate accounts a tape recorder was used and the respondent was given the opportunity to review the written account which was to be analysed (for detailed procedures see: Mattsson 1992; 1993). When analysing the data the aim was to simultaneously code and analyse the accounts with regard to relationship and network activities. Generation of factors was done manually without any software for content analysis. Emerging factors will be presented in a way that will illustrate how the analysis was carried out. Two case descriptions will be reported. The first contains three separate ventures from the same service exporter. The second case description concerns one venture initiated by a one man operation. Network collaboration to unbundle export services The first case concerns a small conservative agribusiness firm (henceforth the Consultant) who redefines its role as an international service company and unbundles service operations in Indonesia and the Philippines in several agribusiness areas. The case covers accounts of three ventures in wool processing, feed lot and abattoir facility development and livestock exports. The principal respondent is the former World Bank advisor (Advisor), currently employed by the Consultant. The second key respondent is the manager of the agribusiness division (Agrimanager) who has been in charge of livestock exports. Also figuring in the accounts is the managing director of the Consultant (Managing Director), an Indian businessman operating in Indonesia (Indian) and two Chinese

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businessmen-brothers (Chinese conmen). one of the three ventures will be given which will include a short narrative of an analysis of the factors hindering or activities.

A short description of each below in the CIT format the sequence of events and facilitating relationship

Creating a comfort zone with Indonesians in wool processing The Advisor tells us about his personal background: "I have lived some 16 odd years in Indonesia since I was appointed in 1973 as an advisor for the World Bank to establish a big cattle ranch for the Indonesian government. This allowed me to move freely within Java to look at various agribusiness opportunities. This was supported by the Consultant which retained me as their Indonesian representative. Upon my return to Australia the Managing Director invited me to join them." The first venture was the result of an idea that the Advisor had during his stay in Indonesia. For years, wool has been exported as raw wool. Now, the Advisor's idea was to: "... establish a joint venture between Australian and Indonesian interests. We would process wool under a joint venture and then sell it on to the domestic or the international market." In 1992, a company in Central Java was recommended to the Advisor by the Regional Development Board of Java as one of the most advanced and progressive companies in that region. The Advisor subsequently visited and met with the principals of the company, inspected the facilities and talked about the idea. The Indonesian reaction was very positive. A series of visits with the principal businessman, the Indian, resulted in two things. Firstly, the Indonesian company agreed to take some trial samples by spinning different types of yarn. Samples of those yarns were then sent to the international network asking for a response in terms of quality, price and other appropriate technical aspects. The response they received back from the international network was extremely positive. At that point in time, the Indonesian company decided to put the idea on the back burner for a period of 18 months because of existing commitments. The timing was bad. Recently, the Indian has contacted the Consultant and the issue is now truly alive again. The second thing that came out of this contact was that the Consultant undertook a very detailed feasibility study of the processing of wool up to the top stage. The feasibility study indicated that the venture had very good prospects for profitability. The Indonesians are now (1995) seriously considering investing in Australia. For this reason, the Consultant has put together a consortium of Australian investors who are interested

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to become partners of the Indonesian company. The Advisor recalls: "it was just a timing aspect as opposed to a rejection of the idea... The initial thing you have to gain is people's confidence and they might love the idea, but they might not be very comfortable with the individuals, and until they get comfortable with the individuals, the idea doesn't get off the ground." Here, it seems, two factors interact: the acceptance of the idea and the establishment of trust between the parties. However, the Advisor also adds the following: "...as Indian he was part of the Indonesian company. He had had a lot of contacts with foreigners... it wasn't quite so hard to break the ice with him, but his junior staff were a mixture of Indonesian and Indian people and until such time as they felt comfortable, he would not proceed either. The way in which we developed this comfort zone was a series of visits. The Consultant undertook to introduce them around, and show them things, give them social experiences... that we are a reputable company, it takes a lot of money to get to that comfort zone situation." Seemingly, there had to be a consensus among managers before actual decisions could be taken. The relationship activities here included a series of visits to socialise managers and make them feel comfortable with the venture. Network activities were directed at having clearance from international buyers of the final product and by investigating the feasibility of the venture from economic and practical points of view. Other network activities have formed an investment consortium. Trust has been established by joint relationship and network activities over an extended time period. The hindering factor, timing, was due to other legitimate resource commitments. Negotiating with Chinese conmen The second venture concerns an aborted attempt to establish a combined feedlot and abattoir facility in East Timor. The Advisor was introduced to the Chinese Indonesians brothers by a representative from the American Embassy who was working with agribusiness development. He had already investigated these two businessmen and their companies because they were trying to put in a pineapple factory on West Java. The family of one of the Chinese brothers had been involved slaughtering and marketing meat on a small scale. They were good friends with a general who served in the Indonesian army when East Timor was taken over by Indonesia. The general felt bad about the East Timor people and wanted to do something for them. Through him, the Chinese and the Consultant were able to gain access to East Timor in terms of security clearances and travel arrangements without any difficulties.

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Consequently, the Chinese brothers and the Advisor went to East Timor on two occasions in 1992 and investigated the relevant province. First, they decided that the location was very appropriate. The attitude of the local people was very positive and the response from the Timor government seemed to be totally encouraging. Subsequently, a very detailed feasibility study was undertaken and a complete proposal was put together by the Advisor. The onus now fell on the Chinese brothers to set in place appropriate clearances for an investment of this nature. Nothing came of this. At this stage (end of 1995) the venture can only be considered a total failure. The Consultant has no further contacts with Chinese brothers. The Advisor concludes: "We believe... that they were trying to con us into putting up all the money, either from the private sector or from the Australian Government... they were just going to take on a management role... when they found that they had to toe the line with putting up finance and making sure that these clearances were legitimately obtained, it seems they just went to water on the whole thing." How do conmen operate? In this instance it took some time to understand them. The Advisor tells us how he first became suspicious. "Quite some months after our two visits to Indonesia... we were having meetings with them in their office... the game seemed to change almost every time we discussed it, until in the end we just put it on the line and said well we need the details of your company's creditability... and we heard nothing!" Let us discuss the factors at work. In the beginning everything looks fine. Partners present themselves well when you visit them and tend to you with great detail in terms of accommodation, meals, transportation and making arrangements. You may then get the impression that they are in control of their finances and that they are well connected. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty of putting money up, the partners seem to find all the reasons why they can't proceed as planned. In this venture, trust between the partners was not established, despite socialisation. The perceived roles of the partners were not congruent and it took time to establish this. Consequently, the business idea was not accepted. Although extensive network activities were carried out which all seem to support the idea, the relationship activities were not conclusive. The Chinese conmen have recently been exposed to another failure. Adds the Advisor: "...the (pineapple) factory went in... the project... I only found this out last week...has collapsed... the reasons for it, I'm not sure,...but again it would seem that these two guys are just conmen.

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Building long term relationships in livestock services The live cattle export industry in Australia dates back to the late 1890's and it stumbled on until the 1970's. Then the Hong Kong Trade collapsed because of disease problems. Cattle producers had to look elsewhere for export markets. When the Advisor joined the Consultant he could see that there was a natural increase in livestock trading in Asia. Through its property valuation division the Consultant had been able to build extremely good relationships with pastoral producers in northern Australia. Because of this, the Consultant had in place a number of people with very detailed knowledge of the handling of livestock. The Advisor had been involved at the importing end and he knew what the buyers wanted. The third venture emanates from this and is concerned with the recent development of livestock export services. In April 1994 the Consultant was visited by representatives from a large Philippine company and lengthy discussions ensued. They were dissatisfied with current trading services being provided and they were looking for a different way of doing things. The Agrimanager recalls: "We said, we can source you high quality cattle... those producers will want to get a premium price because otherwise, there will be no real advantage. We also think that you should come to Australia and make your own purchases..." He continues: "... we offered to establish a system of specifications for stock and to source the best livestock from our contacts. We also offered to facilitate this process for a fee for those services." He explains: "... if the buyer knows that it's a cost plus, and he knows what the plus is, it eliminates a lot of haggling... so we said to them... we will sell you cattle at cost... it's transparent... and because you're paying us a fee, it's like you are employing us to do your job... we're not selling to you.... we've applied that service principle since we commenced exporting to the Philippines in July 1994... we now have a long term trading relationship with them." This bundling of export services can be contrasted with traditional cattle exports. All exporters provide some service to importers but most of the exporters just have stockmen on the ship. Normally, for their voyage, a stockman will hang around the quarantine location in the receiving country for a week after arrival and then return to Australia. A stockman does not produce much in terms of training or technology transfer. Most likely, he is unable to communicate with the importer, let alone the foreign farming community. The Advisor explains the content of the service package: "We now offer our clients two consulting days per shipment. They can accrue this over a number of shipments... an appropriate person will then trouble shoot if that's what the client requires, or training with farming communities involved with the fattening programme... we will

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give them a professional backup service on technology, transfer and training. Adds the Agrimanager: "...we will assist wherever possible, combining our joint skills to set up a system of management of those stock until they are turned off and killed and go up in to the retail system." Managing the importer breeding cycle The system of nucleus plasma is applied in organising the cattle breeding cycle. The nucleus is the parent company, who is the buyer and importer, and the plasma is the farming community established as farmer groups. They each develop a small feedlot facility and cattle are put in their feedlot facility where they are fed and fattened. The profit is then shared between the farming community and the parent company. Once cattle are fattened they take them out for slaughter and replace them with other animals. In the Philippines, nutrition of the animals in the feedlot seems to be a major problem as most feedlots lack adequate energy and fibre in their feed rations. Another area of concern is related to the local transport of animals from ship to feedlot or quarantine. Many of the injuries occur in that period. For instance, the animals should be standing up during transport. Also, in tropical conditions with much rain, the type of housing facility that animals have is important. The Consultant has arranged inspection on disembarkation to ensure that the trucks used locally are suitable for carting cattle. The Agrimanager explains: "... we have found that trucks have had a slippery floor and that there were no partitions to stop cattle from falling over... when they arrive at the feedlot we have put in place nutriments so that cattle rehydrate and get back their to normal condition as quickly as possible. We're getting in place systems of recording cattle weights in entry to the feedlot and all through the feeding and fattening process." Forming sustainable export groups in Australia The reason for establishing these exporter groups is to get an effective long term commitment to sale (Welch et al 1995) and to get a premium price. Australian cattle industry tends to focus on the short term. The first group has only been formalised as of August this year (1995) and its first shipments are now starting to go out. The second group is in the process of being formed. A long term charter has been arranged with a shipping company which has converted a vessel to the shallow draft requirements at the port of call, Karumba, in the Gulf of Carpentaria in Northern Australia. Shipment here is very reliant on tides. Often vessels can only get

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in within two or three days and have to suit the vessel's current shipping arrangements. To illustrate some of the many logistical and handling problems of transporting cattle over long distances the Agrimanager gives his account of a very difficult situation this year. "On March 1st cattle had been secured for a shipment on March 7th.... it had been dry up to that period and producers were happy to sell to us. On March 2nd it rained, some producers pulled out a total of 600 head with only 6 days to go to load them on a ship. This meant ringing around in desperation to a number of other producers who would need to have them ready for inspection in the space of a three days. In the wet season, that is enormously difficult. They are also inclined to negotiate very hard for a bit of a price hike. On day three when the last 200 were to be purchased from a property, it rained several inches of rain and the cattle had to be walked 40 kilometres to another property to be yarded, inspected and trucked out. Cattle proceeded along the highway, only to have the rivers flood in front of them. The truck had to do a turn back to get them to the port. Having got them to the port, the rivers came up behind the trucks and they sat there for a few days. All in all, it created a pretty stressful situation." The Consultant has unbundled an international management system for the entire livestock feeding and fattening process. Network activities have centred on finding failpoints and putting in place a logistical and animal health control system. Relationship activities have focussed on establishing the essential needs of the individual importer. A flexible service package (Edvardsson et al 1993) has been construed which has modified the buyer role into that of a partner/employer. The Consultant has combined two important factors, industry and local market know-how into a successful long term service delivery. Transparent pricing has helped to build trust. The public servant turning international marketing consultant The second case deals with how one respondent, a former public official at the Queensland Department of Agriculture, became an international marketing consultant (Expert) for agricultural produce in Australasia. After working for a public department for some 20 years, he was fired from his position. That same day he was helping some Australian growers to plan a trip to Japan. When they heard that he had lost his job they offered to hire him to go to Japan with them. Since then, the Expert has been his own man visiting some 15 countries for different projects. This case concerns the development of a second export market for the pacific island of Tonga. Figuring in the accounts is the minister of trade

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(Minister). The Expert remembers: "I did a job back in 1988 for an Australian Agricultural Research Centre in Tonga. I then met two Tongans who were involved in agriculture. In 1994 I had a job in Samoa and I heard that a Tongan had been looking for me in Australia because they knew about the work I had done. I paid for my own ticket to Tonga on my way back to Australia. I will never forget this, I was sitting in a waiting room and one person approached me. He said, what do you do? I said marketing, and he said, that's funny, we've been looking for a marketing bloke called Graham Smith. I said, I'm Graham Smith, Holy Cow! he said ... don't move! Next thing my old contact turns up, I get zipped off, and I before I know it I have been introduced to five director generals and the minister of trade." Tonga's basic export problem is tying to find a new crop to supplement kabutcher (a Japanese word for pumpkin). In Japan the kabutcher has to be no bigger than two kilograms and come in a Japanese type colour. Tonga only produces kabutcher and 99 per cent of the production goes to one city in Japan, Kobe. The Expert tells about his first meeting with the minister: "I said to him that this was perilously dangerous... he answered, well if you're so bloody smart, what can you do about it?... I had some work I had done with me in fruit, and he said, can you do the same thing for vegetable export to Japan?" The Expert wrote up some ideas and sent them back to the Minister. Subsequently, the Minister got funding for some vegetable market research. In January 1995 the Expert returned and he was able to show the Tongans that the time they were selling their pumpkins was not the best time in the market. The time suited New Zealand producers, but not necessarily Tonga. New Zealand is the largest single supplier of kabutcher to Japan and started the Tongan kabutcher industry because it fitted in with their price and timing scenario. Kabutcher now makes up 60 per cent of the gross export earnings of Tonga. The Minister then suggested they go to Japan (in May 1995). The Expert then found another crop that fitted within the Tongan production cycle, but more importantly, it had a strong market demand in Japan and filled a number of other criteria as well. Because of this trip, Tonga now has new clients for the new vegetable. The crop is called suttle emol (taro). Japanese pay a high price for taro which is no bigger than a golf ball. In Tonga this is considered a waste product. Sustaining the export scheme Many problems remain however.

The Expert continues:

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got money problems. I still have not been paid for the work I did for them in May, but despite that, the people are honest, I personally like the minister, he is very intelligent, and has a Master's degree in law. He is also related to the king and his father is the richest noble in Tonga. I like him ... if I want to lose money working for this nice man it is up to me... The Tongans are on to something." Another serious problem is the lack of a substantive bureaucracy. There are very few competent people in the bureaucracy. Furthermore, the skilled people are too busy trying to solve today's problems to be able to look ahead. Having already five portfolios, the Minister does not have much time to spare for trade issues and the momentum has slowed down. He wants the Expert to provide knowledge, and he is also counting on the Expert to provide that motivational force and proof that Tongans can succeed. Analysing his role the Expert he concedes: "I've been around agriculture all my life. I am good at what I do and I enjoy what I do. I see my role as: providing them (Tongans) with three things: market research, the skills transfer to do something about it and helping with market development work. The Minister and I have had a discussion about this. The Tongans are putting pressure on me to go back to Tonga and work for an extended stay but I think that I would lose the impact then". The Expert has a reputation as a reliable source of market intelligence from Japan. His network activities comprise sourcing and interpreting official agricultural data. In conjunction with his technical knowledge he is able to suggest suitable crops to be imported to Japan. The relationship activities seem to create a personal friendship through socialisation with potential buyers. The Expert has a clear conception of his role as service provider and wants to remain a facilitator of export crop ventures. Again, timing seems to have been an important factor both with regard to initiating the venture and when selecting a suitable crop. Conclusions The four ventures discussed depict several factors in common. First, a venture is initiated by a person (rainmaker) with genuine knowledge in the relevant agribusiness area. Second, that knowledge has been acquired over a longer time period and becomes instrumental as a functional competence to act. Third, the business idea is construed and accepted by relationship and network activities. The latter are the indirect contacts needed to ascertain the economic and practical viability of the venture. The former defines the roles and conditions of the service delivery. Fourth, relationship activities need to build mutual trust not only among the senior management but also in middle management cadres. Trust is then the

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outcome of effective network/relationship activities ased on the willingness to transfer and pool knowledge and skills between partners. This is clearly evidenced by the wool, livestock and taro ventures. Successful unbundling of services seem to be an intensive and collaborative effort involving the relationships of business partners and their supporting networks in intricate patterns of socialisation. References Andersson, B.E. and S.G. Nilsson (1964), "Studies in the Reliability and Validity of the Critical Incident Technique, Journal of Applied Technology, 48, 6, pp. 398-403 Austrade (1994), Intelligent Exports...and the Silent Revolution in Services. The Commonwealth of Australia Aydin, N. and Kacker, M. (1989), "International Outlook of US-based Franchisors", International Marketing Review, vol.7, no.2, pp. 43-53 Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H. and M. Stanfield Tetrault (1990), "The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents, Journal of Marketing, 54. January, pp. 71-84 D. Deo Sharma (1992), "Experiential Network Knowledge in International Consultancy", in Forsgren, M. and Johanson, J. (eds), Managing Networks in International Business. Philadelphia: Gordon and Breach, pp. 126-137 D. Deo Sharma (1989a), "Overseas Market Entry Strategy: The Technical Consultancy Firms", Journal of Global Marketing, Vol.2 (2), pp. 89-110 D. Deo Sharma (1989b), "Technical Consultancy as a Network of Relationships", Advances in International Marketing, vol.3 Greenwhich: JAI Press, pp. 57-74 Dunning, J.H. (1989), "Multinational Enterprises and the Growth of Services: Some Conceptual and Theoretical Issues", The Service Industries Journal, vol.9, no.1, 5-39 Edgett, S.J. and C. Cullen (1993), "Service Organization Selection: A Cross-cultural Analysis of the Role of Involvement", European Journal of Marketing, vol.27, no.2, pp. 33-45 Edvardsson, B. (1991), "Service Break-downs -- A Study of Critical Incidents in an Airline", Research Report 91:10, Service Research Center, University of Karlstad, Sweden.

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Edvardsson, B., Edvinsson, L. and Harry Nystrom (1993), "Internationalisation in Service Companies", The Service Industries Journal, vol 13, no 1. pp. 80-97 Erramilli, M.K. (1989), "Entry Mode Choice in Service Industries", International Marketing Review, vol.7, no.5, pp. 50-62 Erramilli, M.K. (1991), "The Experience Factor in Foreign Market Entry Behavior of Service Firms", Journal of International Business Studies, Fall, pp. 479-501 Erramilli, M.K. and Rao, C.P. (1994), "Service Firm's International Entry-Mode Choice: A Modified Transaction-Cost Analysis Approach", Journal of Marketing, vol.57, (July), pp. 19-38 Flanagan, J. C. (1954), "The Critical Incident Technique", Psychological Bulletin, 51, 4 pp. 327-357 Gummesson, E. (1978), "Toward a Theory of Professional Service Marketing", Industrial Marketing Management, 7, pp. 89-95 Johanson, J. and D. Deo Sharma (1987), "Technical Consultancy in Internationalisation, International Marketing Review, 4, Winter, pp. 20-29 Mathe, H., Perras, C. (1994), "Successful Global Strategies for Service Companies", Long Range Planning, vol.27, no.1, pp. 36-49 Mattsson, J. (1992), "Quality Blueprints of Internal Producer Services", International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol.4, no.1, 1992, pp. 66-80 Mattsson, J. (1993), "How Bank Loan Officers Evaluate Persons Applying for Credit, International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol.11, no.2, 1993, pp. 25-34 Mattsson, J. (1994), "Improving Service Quality in Person to Person Encounters: A Multi-disciplinary Review, The Service Industry Journal, vol.14, no.1, pp. 45-61 Nyquist, J.D., Bitner, M.J. and B.H. Booms (1985), "Identifying Communication Difficulties in the Service Encounter: A Critical Incident Approach, in Czepiel, J.A., Solomon, M.R. and Surprenant, C.F., The Service Encounter. New York: Lexington Books Olsen, M.J.S. and B. Thomasson (1992), "Qualitative Methods in Service Quality Research", paper presented at the QUIS III Conference, June 14-17, Karlstad, Sweden Riddle, D. (1986), "The Role of the Service Sector in Economic

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Development: Similarities and Differences by Development Category" in Giarini, O. (ed.), The Oxford: Pergamon Press Smith, D. (1993), "A CSM Analysis of Australian Agricultural Exports to ASEAN", Discussion paper No.3, Department of Economics, University of Queensland Trondsen, E. and R. Edfelt (1987), "New Opportunities in Global Services", Long Range Planning, vol.20, no.5, pp. 53-61 Welch, D., Welch, L., Wilkinson, I. and Young, L. (1995), "Export Grouping Relationships and Networks: Evidence from an Australian Scheme", Occasional paper 1/1995, Faculty of Commerce, University of Western Sydney

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