Abstract:

Research on export performance has evolved from a predominantly economic approach to a more comprehensive perspective and, more recently, to a sustainability-oriented approach.

Although the literature strives to reconcile the conflicting dimensions and goals of overall export performance, the issue of paradoxical tensions remains unresolved.

This study examines the paradoxes of overall export performance that emerge within exporting SMEs when they must reconcile goals that are competing and coexisting simultaneously.

To this end, we formulated the following central research question: How can exporting SMEs manage the paradoxes inherent in reconciling economic, social, and environmental dimensions to achieve a sustainable performance?

To address this research question, we adopted an exploratory qualitative study involving a population of practitioners and experts to better understand the specificities of this research question.

The study’s findings confirm that the challenges of reconciling the different dimensions of performance have contributed to the emergence of new business models and that paradoxes management is based on behavioral approaches.

Our study contributes to understanding the complex relationship between corporate actions and stakeholder expectations, thereby capturing the full richness of the concept of overall export
performance.

Finally, this paper will propose several avenues for future research on the paradoxes of economic, social and environmental goals, considering the challenges of SDG’s in developing countries.