Management Issues Involved in the Export Decision
Is your company's management committed to pursue exporting operations? Make sure you've answered the following questions.
Management Objectives
 | What are the company's reasons for pursuing export markets? Are they solid objectives (e.g., increasing sales volume or developing a broader, more stable customer base) or are they frivolous (e.g., the owner wants an excuse to travel)? |
| How committed is top management to an export effort? Is exporting viewed as a quick fix for a slump in domestic sales? Will the company neglect its export customers if domestic sales pick up? |
| What are management's expectations for the export effort? How quickly does management expect export operations to become self-sustaining? What level of return on investment is expected from the export program? |
Experience
| With what countries has business already been conducted, or from what countries have inquiries already been received? Which product lines are mentioned most often? |
| Are any domestic customers buying the product for sale or shipment overseas? If so, to what countries? Is the trend of sales and inquiries up or down? |
| Who are the main domestic and foreign competitors? What general and specific lessons have been learned from past export attempts or experiences? |
Management and Personnel
| What in-house international expertise does the firm have (international sales experience, language capabilities, etc.)? Who will be responsible for the export department's organization and staff? |
| How much senior management time (a) should be allocated and (b) could be allocated? |
| What organizational structure is required to ensure that export sales are adequately serviced? |
| Who will follow through after the planning is done? |
Production Capacity
| How is the present capacity being used? Will filling export orders hurt domestic sales? |
| What will be the cost of additional production? |
| Are there fluctuations in the annual workload? When? Why? |
| What minimum order quantity is required to make a shipment worthwhile? |
| What would be required to design and package products specifically for export? |
Financial Capacity
| What amount of capital can be committed to export production and marketing? |
| What level of export department operating costs can be supported? How are the initial expenses of export efforts to be allocated? |
| What other new development plans are in the works that may compete with export plans? |
| By what date must an export effort pay for itself? |
Go Back to Develop Your Export Plan