The motivation for this study came from the recognition that i there is a controversy in the literature as to whether strategic planning would help firms enhance their performance; ii there are few studies on the impact of export planning; iii there is anecdotal evidence that Brazilian firms in particular, exporters) would not have systematized planning practices; but also iv Carneiro et al. 2011 found empirical evidence that planning by Brazilian exporters would seem to pay off. A review of the literature was conducted in order to uncover the conceptual domain map of export planning, as well as to detail components for each conceptual dimension. Such preliminary conceptual framework was used as a flexible guide to conduct in-depth interviews with five Brazilian exporters. This exploratory study shed light on which aspects of export planning seem to be used by Brazilian exporters and it also indicated that there can be relevant differences in export planning practices across firms, depending on the level of their export intensity. An additional contribution of this study was the proposition of a conceptual and operational framework of the export planning construct, which was made possible by the interplay of the literature with the findings of this research. Such framework seems to be comprehensive and generic enough to be used in future empirical studies about the antecedents and consequences of export planning. The impact of export planning on firm performance could not be clearly established from this study and remains an issue for future research. From a managerial perspective, this study may be useful since it brings a comprehensive conceptual model that can serve as a starting point for the establishment of a more structured strategic planning effort. Besides, the detailed framework proposed herein can help managers reflect upon which particular aspects of export planning would seem to exert more influence on potential results of their export operations.