Purpose – French wine SMEs have been for most of them, facing a severe crisis since the beginning of the 2000s, which is weakening their financial health. In the context of intensive international competition of the wine market, the development and the improvement of the export activity and performance of these companies seems to be a strategy which would both improve their position in front of their New World competitors and create new sources of revenue to recover their health.  In this research paper, the double purpose is in a first time to determine if the financial structure of SMEs, and especially wine companies is actually a determinant of their export performance and in a second time to investigate the link between export performance and the performance and risk of these companies. Does a healthy financial structure help French wine SMEs to have a better export performance ? Does this better export performance encourage the global performance of these companies?

Design / Methodology – This paper will introduce a theoretical framework based on a financial approach to export performance relating export performance determinants, export performance and export performance effects on the firm performance and risk. The  empirical study aiming at testing this framework on SMEs in the French wine industry is a two step study: the first step is preliminary and consists in the confrontation of several statistical analysis and the second step consists in a panel data econometric analysis thanks to the EEAFV-2006 survey made by Supagro (Montpellier School of Agronomy) gathering financial data of French wine companies from 1996 to 2005.

Findings – Three aspects of the financial structure of SMEs are considered as having an impact on their export performance and are theoretically justified: the asset structure, the financing resource structure and cash flow factors. Then, relationship between the firm profitability and the firm risk reduction and diversification is developed. The features and methodology of the empirical study are described and some preliminary results are given. These results confirm a positive relationship between export performance and the firm profitability, a negative relationship between accounts receivable and payable and export performance but mixed results about the relationship between export performance and the financing structure and the cash flow position of French wine SMEs.

Research implications – This paper combining the presentation of a new conceptual and an empirical test of it aims at justifying the current need for this financial approach to export performance in SMEs and more particularly in the French wine industry. It also comes as a complement to a previous study on export performance determinants focusing on non-financial antecedents of export performance (Maurel, 2007). This final purpose lies in  providing for a global and detailed view of export performance thanks to the study of its financial and non financial determinants.

Managerial Implications – Thanks to this framework French wine SMEs will be able to study their financial structure and see where they can act to experience better export performance and thus be more competitive on international markets where they are threatened by New Worls wines as well as on the domestic market : This better export performance may help them go out of the crisis.

Originality / Value of the Paper –  This paper brings a new, original and necessary approach to export performance; a financial approach, helping to understanding better this concept so far mainly studied by researchers in Marketing and Strategy. It introduces a complex conceptual framework justified by such key papers as those from Bernard and Jensen (1999) about the link between export success and a better firm performance or from Greenaway and al (2007) regarding the relationship between the financial health of companies and their exporting activity.

Keywords –  export performance, financial structure, firm performance, risk, SME, Wine industry.