Global Trade Base Trends
January 26, 2009 - Resistance to Exporting - Patrick Donnell, President.
- At Global Trade Base, we have over 150 domestic clients that are represented internationally. This is a combination of well beyond 8,000 separate products. The growth trend of exports assures that this is a secure area of expansion. No entity can guarantee a sale with any level of integrity, but exports from the U.S. are a trillion dollar base industry growing by 100 billion annually. The only feasible way to lower the U.S. trade deficit is to export more. The current government-backed bailout programs are largely financed by international entities. How will we possibly repay these debts in our lifetime or within the next few generations if we do not sell U.S. products in foreign markets? Exporting products is not only the best solution, in many instances it may be the deciding factor to keep a domestic company from going out of business. However, Global Trade Base still encounters resistance from domestic companies when it comes to expanding their business model to include exporting to foreign markets. This is ridiculous. The current domestic market is continuing to crash. There is no predictable end in sight. Government is scrambling to do damage control. Companies who we as a country thought were stable are suddenly finding themselves in crisis while others are lining up for an impending critical mass of economic ripple effects. All the while, some domestic producers are resistant to expanding into foreign markets.
- We commonly hear two reasons for companies not wanting to go international. The first is that the domestic producer does not want to pay a fee to have their products hand carried on a trade mission and presented to foreign buyers. This is part of the service we provide. Every legitimate service in this country costs. Allow me to take a minute to address what this fee is actually used for. First, it offsets the cost of the actual trade mission and is why we can represent a company internationally for much less than they can do it themselves. It is also applied to operational overhead. These combined factors mean that the money is not hidden away in some unused area. It is immediately put back into the economy. It keeps cash flow moving through the economy ensuring the longevity of employment for every business and employee whose hands those dollars move through. The real questions are these, In our current declining economy, where will these businesses be in six months, a year, two years, five years if they do not go international? Where will their business be if they successfully penetrate multiple or even a single foreign market? Is their company worth the investment? The other resistance we get is that the internationally inexperienced domestic producers commonly ask to talk to our other domestic clients. We have nondisclosures in place and do not violate those. We continually spend much more effort convincing our foreign buyers that a domestic company is stable enough and can fill an order than ever comes into question as to our ability to perform. After all, we are in front of them with available product to sell. There is no question there. The self-imposed resistance limits the domestic producer from adapting to market changes. It is the designated responsibility of business owners to stop resisting and go international to do their part to fix the economy.