Export Management
EXPORT STRATEGY INFORMATION DOCUMENT
Introduction
The aim of this assignment is to demonstrate knowledge of the information and data needed to formulate an export strategy. This will be achieved by way of addressing the following:
1. What is meant by the ‘business and market environment’ of a target market? What kind of information would an exporter need to collect?
2. What is meant by the concepts ‘market segmentation’ and distribution channels’? What kind of information would an exporter need to collect?
3. What are the financial issues, export practicalities and technicalities that an exporter would need to know about to in the context of developing an export strategy?
Business and market environment of a target market
Exporting is a more difficult business task than importing (Weiss 2008). It is a challenge exacerbated by the global economic recession, remarkable growth and emerging economic might of China and India and the increasing pace of globalisation (Albaum and Duerr 2011). Although technological advances such as the Internet have made it possible for even the smallest businesses to sell their products and services around the world with relative ease (Albaum and Duerr 2011), there is still a need for a clearly thought out export strategy. A nucleus of business activity, this master plan is like a satellite navigation system stating the destination of the business and the route it should take to get there. Weiss (2008) believes exporters need to know as much about target export markets as possible before any business transaction takes place. This information, he argues, should be based on a critical evaluation of the target market and tailored to the relevant product to be exported as part of a ‘market-entry plan including an initial marketing mix’ (Weiss 2008, p101). What he is referring to is essentially a blueprint of the business and market environment of the target market.
The importance of understanding the business
Introduction
The aim of this assignment is to demonstrate knowledge of the information and data needed to formulate an export strategy. This will be achieved by way of addressing the following:
1. What is meant by the ‘business and market environment’ of a target market? What kind of information would an exporter need to collect?
2. What is meant by the concepts ‘market segmentation’ and distribution channels’? What kind of information would an exporter need to collect?
3. What are the financial issues, export practicalities and technicalities that an exporter would need to know about to in the context of developing an export strategy?
Business and market environment of a target market
Exporting is a more difficult business task than importing (Weiss 2008). It is a challenge exacerbated by the global economic recession, remarkable growth and emerging economic might of China and India and the increasing pace of globalisation (Albaum and Duerr 2011). Although technological advances such as the Internet have made it possible for even the smallest businesses to sell their products and services around the world with relative ease (Albaum and Duerr 2011), there is still a need for a clearly thought out export strategy. A nucleus of business activity, this master plan is like a satellite navigation system stating the destination of the business and the route it should take to get there. Weiss (2008) believes exporters need to know as much about target export markets as possible before any business transaction takes place. This information, he argues, should be based on a critical evaluation of the target market and tailored to the relevant product to be exported as part of a ‘market-entry plan including an initial marketing mix’ (Weiss 2008, p101). What he is referring to is essentially a blueprint of the business and market environment of the target market.
The importance of understanding the business
References: Albaum, G. and Duerr, E. (2011) International Marketing and Export Management, Financial Times, Prenticee Hall. Bloom, Jonathan. Z. (2005) Market Segmentation: A Neutral Network Application. [Online]Annals of Tourism Research 32 (1) 93-111. Available from at 12 March 2013 Cadogan, J Cavusgil, S. Tamer, Knight, Gary and Riesenberger (2008). International Business: Strategy, Management and the New Realities. Upper Saddle River, Pearson Education. Enterprise Europe Network (2013) Practicalities of Exporting [online] McDonald, M.; Dunbar, I. (2010) Market segmentation: how to do it, how to profit from it. 4th edn. Goodfellow Publications. [online] Available from [12 March 2013] O 'Connell, Oliver (2012) Trade Finance: Tricks of the Trade Peng, Mike, (2009) Global Strategic Management. 2nd ed., Cengage Learning Porter, Michael UK Trade and Investment (2013) UK Export Finance - supporting growth. [online]. Last accessed 03 March 2013 at: http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/item/169040.html Weiss, Kenneth, D