What Determines Small Champions’ Export Performance? Evidence from Korea Firm-Level Data^*

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often have different export behavior than bigger firms, in spite of their high productivity. To understand the behavior of these small champions, we develop a theoretical framework that analyzes the factors that affect firm export performance, from the decision to start exporting (the extensive export margin) and how much they will export (the intensive export margin). When we use Korean firm-level data to test our model, we find that productivity plays an important role in the firm export entry decision, and fixed export costs are important determinants of fractions of export intensity. We use our empirical results to explore the policy implications of policy interventions focused on SME export.