ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the influence on firms' short-run export performance of variations in the pressure of home demand. Given the limited research resources the study has been confined to four industries: pottery, motor cycles and pedal cycles, office machinery and domestic electrical appliances. The emphasis in the present study upon a disaggregative approach points to the highly variable and complex nature of the impact of the national level of demand upon the short-run export performance of individual industries and firms, particularly on the supply side. Firms exporting a relatively high proportion of output made the point that they were insulated from the effects of deflation, and firms exporting a low proportion of output expressed an unwillingness to venture into untried export markets at a time of unfavourable and uncertain prospects in the home market. As for the pressure hypothesis, there is considerable scope for extending our tests to a much wider range of industries.
