Abstract

The importance of exports in economic development makes it important to understand the factors that drive it. Also, the innovative activity of a company is very important in increasing its international competitiveness. The learning of companies in international markets is also an important factor in their development, and the company's learning may be driven by both the internal processes of the company and government support for exporters. The aim of this research is to analyze the role of export experience, the use of export promotion programs (EPPs), and innovation on export competitiveness of the company. The study focuses on export product innovation and export markets innovation, as well as participation in trade missions and trade fairs. 699 permanently exporting companies are analyzed in Chile over the period 2010 to 2015, examining which of them used trade missions and / or trade fairs in the period, identifying tariff codes and countries of destination for each export transaction of each company. The results show that trade show is the program that have the most significant and positive effect on the competitiveness of a company. Participation in trade missions also has a positive and significant effect in introducing market innovations. The study emphasizes the importance of the use of EPPs for the competitiveness of companies and provides information about what programs to use, depending on whether the purpose of the company is to enter new markets or to increase exports. The study analyzes only permanent exporters, so sporadic exporters represent a challenge for further study, as they are the majority of Chilean exporters.