Executive Insights: Exporting Services to Southeast Asia: Lessons from Australian Knowledge-Based Service Exporters

Abstract

Despite the growing importance of service exports in the world economy, there is limited research into the unique success factors in this sector. This article reports the key lessons from 17 Australian exporters of knowledge-based services (e.g., market research, legal, advertising, engineering) that conduct business in Southeast Asia. The authors selected the cases in accordance with Patterson and Cicic's (1995) classification scheme, which recognizes key differences across service types. Analysis of the data shows that though there are some common success factors across service types, services characterized by high tangibility on the one hand and low tangibility on the other hand derived additional success factors on the basis of their tangible and intangible assets, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of firms with high face-to-face contact during service manufacturing and delivery was enhanced by personnel-related factors. This suggests a “contingency guide” to knowledge-based service exports.