DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.175064.2 ISSN: 2046-1402

Export Strategies and Commercial Performance in Agricultural Exporting Firms: A PRISMA-Based Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Sandra Paola Vásquez-Rojas, Gabriel Eduardo Moscol-Zapata, Rogger Orlando Morán-Santamaría
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Background Research on export strategy in agriculture is dispersed across market diversification, organisational capabilities, sustainability, and international marketing, with limited integrated evidence on how these strategic streams are structured and associated with commercial performance. Phaseolus lunatus in Peru provides a relevant practical motivation, but it is not the unit of analysis because the retrieved evidence predominantly concerns agricultural exporting firms across products and regions. The novelty of this review lies in combining bibliometric mapping with systematic thematic synthesis to connect the intellectual structure of the field with the strategic domains reported in the empirical literature. Methods A systematic review, reported in accordance with PRISMA 2020 and complemented by bibliometric analysis, was conducted using Scopus, Dimensions, and Web of Science. The initial search identified 8,578 records; after database-level filtering, title-and-abstract screening, retrieval, and full-text eligibility assessment, 44 studies published between 1976 and 2024 met the reported inclusion criteria. These 44 studies represent the complete eligible corpus generated by the documented selection process rather than a statistically representative sample. Bibliometrix and VOSviewer were used to examine publication patterns, source and authorship structures, country-level participation, and keyword co-occurrence. Results The synthesis identified four interconnected strategic domains: (i) product and market diversification, (ii) partnership and organisational strengthening, (iii) quality and sustainability, and (iv) international marketing. Bibliometric patterns indicate geographically concentrated and fragmented scientific production, whereas thematic mapping shows convergence around innovation, internationalisation, market orientation, sustainability, and organisational capabilities. Conclusions The reviewed literature generally associates these strategic domains with commercial and export performance, but the review does not establish causal effectiveness. Its principal contribution is an integrated capability-based framework for interpreting how market adaptation, relational resources, quality and sustainability practices, and international marketing interact in agricultural export management. Direct application to Peruvian Phaseolus lunatus exporters requires product-specific empirical validation.

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