Strategic Export Information for Small Business
帮助小企业主/经理在考虑出口市场时，明确信息需求、选择合适的信息来源并有效利用信息，以降低出口风险。
STRATEGIC EXPORT INFORMATION FOR SMALL BUSINESS Exporting to foreign markets can be exciting and challenging for the small business firm. Unfortunately, many small firm owner/managers think that the risk of exporting may be too great. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates show that only 250 of the more than 350,000 U.S. manufacturing firms account for 80 percent of all U.S. exports. Furthermore, the Department of Commerce indicates that an additional twenty thousand U.S. firms are capable of profitable exporting, but fail to do so. Why do so many companies restrict themselves to the domestic market in the face of open and expanding foreign markets? One reason may be a lack of information about markets and market opportunities, export procedures, and laws and regulations. This, combined with the limited resources of smaller firms, may discourage attempts at exporting. A firm which tries to export without the necessary marketing information runs a very high risk of failure. In this regard, the chairman of a British advertising agency notes that while more than 90 percent of the commercially successful new products or services in Europe were first developed in the United States, so were 90 percent of the failures. In order to encourage successful exporting, many private organizations and government agencies provide valuable information covering the full range of export activities. It is understood that most smaller companies do not have the staff and money needed to acquire primary research data, and must therefore rely on secondary sources for information about export markets. For first-time exporters, such information is invaluable in evaluating product export possibilities, market potential, and the costs and risks associated with various products and markets. Before a company can make effective use of this information, however, it must define its information needs and establish a method for determining which foreign markets warrant serious consideration. This article was written to help small business owner/managers who are considering export markets to define their information needs, to choose suitable sources of information, and to use that information to advantage. DEFINING INFORMATION NEEDS Before research can be conducted, managers must determine what information is relevant to the export decision and the export process. Most often, this process parallels that of researching domestic markets, but the research tends to be broader in scope. For example, it would not be unusual for the export market analysis to include information about political stability, cultural distinctions, language, geography, GNP, and other economic indicators. The same attention to detail must be given to foreign market research as is given to domestic markets, particularly when substantial funds are required for product information. The information needs of companies differ according to product lines, prices, and market demands. For example, a high-tech firm considering the export of computer parts would place more emphasis on the financial, economic, and political status of potential markets than a firm considering the export of toothpaste, which would tend to focus on information about culture, language, and consumer behavior. Thus, each firm must develop its own checklist of requirements. However, several broad categories of research information are common to almost every market operation and warrant careful consideration. These categories are: market size and composition, competition, packaging, promotion, distribution channels, cultural characteristics, and the political and legal environments. Market Size and Composition The size and composition of target markets are primary indicators of their sales potential. Market size is assessed using a number of demographic indicators, including population, population growth rates, GNP, and per capita income. …