5.4. Internal factors on the export performance of SMEs
5.4.4. Cross-functional cooperation
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It is evident from Figure 5.18 that the majority of participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement.
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Figure 5.20: Sharing of leadership roles in cross-functional teams
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Figure 5.20 illustrates the response to the statement “Our functional teams share leadership roles.” The majority of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement.
The SME owner-managers were also asked whether their firms had export innovation teams that produce innovative export solutions and their responses are given in Figure 5.21.
Figure 5.21: Export innovation teams
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Figure 5.21 illustrates the response to the statement “We have export innovation teams that work to produce innovative products and export solutions.” Figure 5.21 illustrates that the majority (50.9%) of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement. For these innovation teams to be effective, cooperation should be the centre stage of sustainable performance and all members from each department should strategically cooperate in the
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manufaturing proccesses. In order to probe the aforementioned with respect to the SMEs in Zimbabwe, the owner-managers were asked about the ability of their functional teams to cooperate and accept each other‟s ideas in coming up with the final product for export. The following responses were given as shown by Table 5.14.
Table 5.14: Diverse expertise from all functions
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Table 5.14 reflects responses to the statement “We use diverse expertise from all functions to strategically produce a product for export.” It is evident that the majority (52.7%) of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the aforementioned statement, which clearly demonstrates that, the majority of the functional department do not strategically cooperate with their workmates to produce products for export.
It became apparent from a review of the literature that for cross-functional teams to be successful, departments must be willing to transfer knowledge to export-led production centres and this will then determine the export performance of a firm. In an effort to probe this with respect to the sample, the SMEs owner-managers were asked whether their departments practised the transfer of knowledge to export-led production centres and the responses are depicted on Figure 5.22 as follows.
Frequency Percent
Strongly disagree 175 52.7
Disagree 77 23.2
Neutral 13 3.9
Agree 43 13.0
Strongly agree 24 7.2
Total 332 100.0
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Figure 5.22: Departmental transfer of knowledge to export-led production centres
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Figure 5.22 illustrates the response to the statement “Our teams are willing to transfer knowledge generated from departments and markets to export-led production activities.” It is evident from Figure 5.22 that the majority of the participants „strongly disagreed‟, which implies that the SMEs are not willing to share their knowledge with the desired export production centres. Thus, this could probably better explain why most of the SMEs in Zimbabwe are not exporting innovative products.
Cross-functional cooperation is not only about the willingness of the departments to transfer knowledge generated but it also involves effective communication of the generated knowledge among the group members. The owner-managers were asked about the aforementioned and their responses are highlighted in Figure 5.23.
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Figure 5.23: Cross-functional effective communication
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Figure 5.23 which illustrates the response to the statement “our teams communicate effectively,” reveals that the majority (48.5%) of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement. Since team spirit is pronounced by creating an enabling environment that works towards a common goal. To explore this further, the respondents were asked to provide an input regarding the aforementioned and their responses are depicted in Table 5.15.
Table 5.15: Create an enabling environment
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Table 5.15 reflects the response to the statement “cross-functional teams create an enabling environment” It is clear that the majority (45.2%) of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement.
Frequency Percent
Strongly disagree 150 45.2
Disagree 98 29.5
Neutral 14 4.2
Agree 47 14.2
Strongly agree 23 6.9
Total 332 100.0
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The promotion of diversity is one of the key elements of cross-functional teams that enhance the export performance of a firm and as such the study was keen to determine whether SMEs in the selected category, namely food processing, textiles and leather products in Zimbabwe work to promote diversity. The responses obtained from SME owner-managers are depicted in Figure 5.24.
Figure 5.24: Promotion of diversity at the work place
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Figure 5.24 which captures the response to the statement “cross-functional teams promote diversity,” illustrates that the majority of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement.
One of the components of cross-functional teams is team spirit, which is very crucial in maintaining togetherness which in turn boosts exports. The SME owner-managers were therefore asked about the level of team spirit in their firms, and their response are captured in Figure 5.25.
123 Figure 5.25: Team spirit among workers
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Figure 5.25 illustrates the response to the statement “Team spirit increases organisational learning in our firm.” It became clear that the majority (46.4%) of the participants „strongly disagreed‟ with the statement, which implies that the majority of the SMEs lack team spirit and they have an individual approach towards work.
5.5. External factors on the export performance of SMEs