Industryweek 14495 Small Medium Business Exporting1
Industryweek 14495 Small Medium Business Exporting1
Industryweek 14495 Small Medium Business Exporting1
Industryweek 14495 Small Medium Business Exporting1
Industryweek 14495 Small Medium Business Exporting1

8 Steps To a Strong Export Strategy for SMEs

Oct. 2, 2015
Why every SME must build an export strategy--and 8 steps to get started.

Most small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider themselves to be an exporter if they sell to a large international group that moves its factory to a foreign country, but continues to buy from the SME.

Sorry to be blunt, but that is not exporting or an export strategy -- that's called going with the flow!

Is this semantics? No, it isn’t!

Direct export is a crucial part of the SME business development and, unfortunately, many SMEs are hesitant to take even small steps to do it.

German SMEs, for example, have a questionable advantage over many small-country SMEs. Germany is full of large international companies who buy parts from German SMEs. These German conglomerates have production plants located everywhere in the world -- and these plants keep buying many years forward from the same SMEs. Sometimes they even help their SME suppliers establish foreign units.

Having advised larger SMEs, with 1000 employees or more, as well as much smaller ones, I know they generally struggle alone with the decision to go abroad.

The interesting, but sad, thing is, when the SME business is going well, they are not even open to the idea of export. Only when the business gets tough at home do they start considering an export strategy. This makes no sense.

Instead of whining about the detrimental effects of globalization on small business, SME should get in the game.

While big business is anticipating free trade agreements with various countries and regions around the world, most SMEs are sitting on the sidelines!

Instead of whining about the detrimental effects of globalization on small business, SME should get in the game.

Here are some basic steps for successfully managing the first steps toward establishing an export strategy:

  1. Find out in which countries your products could have the largest potential: Where do you have potential and why?
  2. Search the internet to look for potential business partners in the countries you've identified.
  3. Asses the market potential for your products and service in those countries. Conduct specific market research to obtain concrete, accessible market potential.
  4. Prepare international-style marketing and product documentation. The importance of this step is very often underestimated and, consequently, many SME are ill prepared for it.
  5. Contact potential distributors--today they are pretty easy to find--and sell! Selling is your job!
  6. Start identifying customers in the respective country.
  7. Feed the leads--and the orders--to newly engaged distributors.
  8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 as long as it takes to get the business up and running.

Naturally, there is much more to establishing a successful export business. The last steps are where the SME owner usually drops the ball, because they require committing skills and resources. I acknowledge that that the list looks easy, but in reality it is a lot of work.

For parts of the work you should consider hiring a hungry consultant. Not a consultant who produces presentations; you need one who is ready, willing and able to open doors wide open!

Follow these steps, and soon you'll be enjoying the many benefits that exporting has to offer an SME, including the following:

  1. By diversifying, the market risks are spread across many baskets –- even in a globalized world.
  2. An exporting SME faces many more operations and product challenges -- and thus learns much more -- than those that limit themselves to the home market.
  3. You expand your supply chain opportunities.
  4. You are exposed to many more business strategies and ideas.
  5. Exporting makes your business stronger!

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Empowering the Modern Workforce: The Power of Connected Worker Technologies

March 1, 2024
Explore real-world strategies to boost worker safety, collaboration, training, and productivity in manufacturing. Emphasizing Industry 4.0, we'll discuss digitalization and automation...

3 Best Practices to Create a Product-Centric Competitive Advantage with PRO.FILE PLM

Jan. 25, 2024
Gain insight on best practices and strategies you need to accelerate engineering change management and reduce time to market. Register now for your opportunity to accelerate your...

Transformative Capabilities for XaaS Models in Manufacturing

Feb. 14, 2024
The manufacturing sector is undergoing a pivotal shift toward "servitization," or enhancing product offerings with services and embracing a subscription model. This transition...

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!