Deciding to Export

“Export Readiness” Defined

“Export readiness” refers to your firm’s capacity for success in an export market. While you may get an unsolicited query through fortuitous circumstances, your firm is unlikely to be profitable abroad without having addressed the following three factors:

Resources: You have sufficient internal capacity to handle extra demand, internally efficient systems to respond to customers quickly, an ability to respond both online and offline, senior managers and marketing staff with culturally-sensitive marketing skills, and senior management support for export objectives.
Competitiveness: You have a product or service that is unique and/or competitive in the type of market you are targeting, sophisticated market entry methods that you are already using, creative ways to use the Internet in promotion and delivery, and market research demonstrating the viability of your product or service abroad.
Expectations: You have clear and achievable export objectives, a realistic idea of what exporting entails, open-mindedness to new ways of doing business, and realism about what will be necessary to be profitable abroad.