INVESTIGATING THE DECISION TO EXPORT TO MEXICO BY MEDIUM-SIZE U.S. INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURERS

The instrument manufacturing industry is examined via multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) to determine the relative influence of factors impacting on the decision to export from the U.S. to Mexico. Dominant influences are found to be the perceived uniqueness of the firm's products, the degree of utilization of the firm's domestic productive capacity, the opportunity for domestic market growth, and recent trends in the firm's profitability. Interestingly, the three latter influences are linked to the decision in such a way as to suggest that the decision to export to Mexico is made more out of "need" than out of strength. The model is validated on a hold out sample that performs considerably better than chance.