Improving Export Performance

Identify the steps managers can take to improve their firm’s export performance.

Inexperienced exporters have a number of ways to gain information about foreign market opportunities and avoid common pitfalls that tend to discourage and frustrate novice exporters.11 In this section, we look at information sources for exporters to increase their knowledge of foreign market opportunities, we consider the pros and cons of using export management companies (EMCs) to assist in the export process, and we review various exporting strategies that can increase the probability of successful exporting. We begin, however, with a look at how several nations try to help domestic firms export.

AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

One big impediment to exporting is the simple lack of knowledge of the opportunities available. Often, there are many markets for a firm’s product, but because they are in countries separated from the firm’s home base by culture, language, distance, and time, the firm does not know of them. Identifying export opportunities is made even more complex because more than 200 countries with widely differing cultures compose the world of potential opportunities. Faced with such complexity and diversity, firms sometimes hesitate to seek export opportunities.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE Chinese Exporters Seek New Markets

With hundreds of television sets stacked high, Changhong Electronics’ warehouse in Shunde resembles many other storage depots in southern China, but their destinations reveal an important shift in global trade patterns. While Changhong’s smaller sets are headed for Europe, its 50-inch plasma screens, which dominate the warehouse, will be shipped to South Africa. Fast growth in developing countries and sluggish western economies are prompting these companies to abandon their obsession with the U.S. and Europe and to try and capitalize on rapidly growing markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese exports to non-U.S., EU and Japanese markets rose 17 percent in May compared to a year earlier—a trend that has intensified over the past year. The so-called China price—a vastly lower price because of low labor costs and the low cost of capital for large government-owned companies—now applies to industrial goods, not just consumer goods. Experts believe cheap China exports could provide a boost to investment in the developing world, just as they once did to consumption in the developed world.

Source: From the “Chinese Exporters Seek New Markets,” Financial Times, June 12, 2012. Copyright © The Financial Times Limited 2012. All rights reserved. www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4dc14e6c-b381-11e1-a3db-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1xtiWhRBd.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3

Identify information sources and government programs that exist to help exporters.

The way to overcome ignorance is to collect information. In Germany, one of the world’s most successful exporting nations, trade associations, government agencies, and commercial banks gather information, helping small firms identify export opportunities. A similar function is provided by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), which is always on the lookout for export opportunities. In addition, many Japanese firms are affiliated in some way with the sogo shosha , Japan’s great trading houses. The sogo shosha have offices all over the world, and they proactively, continuously seek export opportunities for their affiliated companies large and small.12

MITI

Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Sogo Shosha

Japan’s great trading houses.

German and Japanese firms can draw on the large reservoirs of experience, skills, information, and other resources of their respective export-oriented institutions. Unlike their German and Japanese competitors, many U.S. firms are relatively blind when they seek export opportunities; they are information disadvantaged. In part, this reflects historical differences. Both Germany and Japan have long made their living as trading nations, whereas until recently the United States has been a relatively self-contained continental economy in which international trade played a minor role. This is changing; both imports and exports now play a greater role in the U.S. economy than they did 20 years ago. However, the United States has not yet evolved an institutional structure for promoting exports similar to that of either Germany or Japan.

INFORMATION SOURCES

Despite institutional disadvantages, U.S. firms can increase their awareness of export opportunities. The most comprehensive source of information is the U.S. Department of Commerce and its district offices all over the country. Within that department are two organizations dedicated to providing businesses with intelligence and assistance for attacking foreign markets: the International Trade Administration and the U.S. Commercial Service.

These agencies provide the potential exporter with a “best prospects” list, which gives the names and addresses of potential distributors in foreign markets along with businesses they are in, the products they handle, and their contact person. In addition, the Department of Commerce has assembled a “comparison shopping service” for 14 countries that are major markets for U.S. exports. For a small fee, a firm can receive a customized market research survey on a product of its choice. This survey provides information on marketability, the competition, comparative prices, distribution channels, and names of potential sales representatives. Each study is conducted on-site by an officer of the Department of Commerce.

Mitsubishi Corporation is one of the seven largest sogo shosha.

The Department of Commerce also organizes trade events that help potential exporters make foreign contacts and explore export opportunities. The department organizes exhibitions at international trade fairs, which are held regularly in major cities worldwide. The department also has a matchmaker program, in which department representatives accompany groups of U.S. businesspeople abroad to meet with qualified agents, distributors, and customers.

MANAGEMENT FOCUS Exporting with a Little Government Help

Exporting can seem like a daunting prospect, but the reality is that in the United States, as in many other countries, many small enterprises have built profitable export businesses. For example, Landmark Systems of Virginia had virtually no domestic sales before it entered the European market. Landmark had developed a software program for IBM mainframe computers and located an independent distributor in Europe to represent its product. In the first year, 80 percent of sales were attributed to exporting. In the second year, sales jumped from $100,000 to $1.4 million—with 70 percent attributable to exports. Landmark is not alone; government data suggest that in the United States, more than 97 percent of the 240,000 firms that export are small or medium-sized businesses that employ fewer than 500 people. Their share of total U.S. exports grew steadily and is around 30 percent today.

To help jump-start the exporting process, many small companies have drawn on the expertise of government agencies, financial institutions, and export management companies. Consider the case of Novi Inc., a California-based business. Company President Michael Stoff tells how he utilized the services of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of International Trade to start exporting: “When I began my business venture, Novi Inc., I knew that my Tune-Tote (a stereo system for bicycles) had the potential to be successful in international markets. Although I had no prior experience in this area, I began researching and collecting information on international markets. I was willing to learn, and by targeting key sources for information and guidance, I was able to penetrate international markets in a short period of time. One vital source I used from the beginning was the SBA. Through the SBA I was directed to a program that dealt specifically with business development—the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). I was assigned an adviser who had run his own import/export business for 30 years. The services of SCORE are provided on a continual basis and are free.

“As I began to pursue exporting, my first step was a thorough marketing evaluation. I targeted trade shows with a good presence of international buyers. I also went to DOC (Department of Commerce) for counseling and information about the rules and regulations of exporting. I advertised my product in Commercial News USA, distributed through U.S. embassies to buyers worldwide. I utilized DOC’s World Traders Data Reports to get background information on potential foreign buyers. As a result, I received 60 to 70 inquiries about Tune-Tote from around the world. Once I completed my research and evaluation of potential buyers, I decided which ones would be most suitable to market my product internationally. Then I decided to grant exclusive distributorship. In order to effectively communicate with my international customers, I invested in a fax. I chose a U.S. bank to handle international transactions. The bank also provided guidance on methods of payment and how best to receive and transmit money. This is essential know-how for anyone wanting to be successful in foreign markets.”

In just one year of exporting, export sales at Novi topped $1 million and increased 40 percent in the second year of operations. Today, Novi Inc., is a large distributor of wireless intercom systems that exports to more than 10 countries.

Sources: Small Business Administration Office of International Trade, “Guide to Exporting,” www.sba.gov/oit/info/Guide-ToExporting/index.html; U.S. Department of Commerce, “A Profile of U.S. Exporting Companies, 2000–2001,” February 2003, report available at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/index.html#profile; The 2007 National Exporting Strategy (Washington, DC: United States International Trade Commission, 2007).

Another government organization, the Small Business Administration (SBA), can help potential exporters (see the accompanying Management Focus for examples of the SBA’s work). The SBA employs 76 district international trade officers and 10 regional international trade officers throughout the United States as well as a 10-person international trade staff in Washington, DC. Through its Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) program, the SBA also oversees some 11,500 volunteers with international trade experience to provide one-on-one counseling to active and new-to-export businesses. The SBA also coordinates the Export Legal Assistance Network (ELAN), a nationwide group of international trade attorneys who provide free initial consultations to small businesses on export-related matters.

In addition to the Department of Commerce and SBA, nearly every state and many large cities maintain active trade commissions whose purpose is to promote exports. Most of these provide business counseling, information gathering, technical assistance, and financing. Unfortunately, many have fallen victim to budget cuts or to turf battles for political and financial support with other export agencies.

A number of private organizations are also beginning to provide more assistance to would-be exporters. Commercial banks and major accounting firms are more willing to assist small firms in starting export operations than they were a decade ago. In addition, large multinationals that have been successful in the global arena are typically willing to discuss opportunities overseas with the owners or managers of small firms.13

Utilizing Export Management Companies

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2

Identify the steps managers can take to improve their firm’s export performance.

One way for first-time exporters to identify the opportunities associated with exporting and to avoid many of the associated pitfalls is to hire an export management company (EMC). EMCs are export specialists that act as the export marketing department or international department for their client firms. EMCs normally accept two types of export assignments. They start exporting operations for a firm with the understanding that the firm will take over operations after they are well established. In another type, start-up services are performed with the understanding that the EMC will have continuing responsibility for selling the firm’s products. Many EMCs specialize in serving firms in particular industries and in particular areas of the world. Thus, one EMC may specialize in selling agricultural products in the Asian market, while another may focus on exporting electronics products to eastern Europe.