Impact of process orientation on the export performance in Australian firms

Purpose: Process Orientation, which is managing the organization based on horizontal end-to-end processes, is believed to increase quality of products/services, decrease the costs, and make the functions faster and more reliable. However, the journey from vertical structure to horizontal is very painful, costly, and time-consuming. Above all, most of the trials have failed. This research aims to identify whether this painful journey leads to a better performance in export and overall performance in the Australian exporting firms. Originality: A few recent surveys suggest a positive relation between Process Orientation and organizational performance. However, they all admit that surveys have many limitations and biases. In this research we are going to do case-studies and make a thorough look at the actual facts and figures of the firms. Design/methodology/approach: Using several case-studies we will assess the firms’ actual results in facts and figures, and will examine if there is any causal relationship between the Process Orientation and the facts and figures. Findings: We expect to see that in contrast to the current surveys suggesting the positive impact, Process Orientation does not have a considerable impact on performance in export and overall performance. Research limitations/implications: The time limits may not let us conduct enough number of case-studies needed for a statistical analyses.