Export promotion strategies Saturday, December 17, 2005 Here's an area of emerging opportunity for most regions: export assistance. Exporting firms are generally more agile, more oriented toward growth than non-exporting firms. At the same time, relatively few economic development organizations focus on export assistance as a strategy (in contrast to economic development organizations in Europe, Australia and New Zealand). Here's an article that gives you some background on Louisville's export assistance center. Read more. And another example: Enterprise Florida, under its new president, is launching some important trade initiatives. Read more. The most likely success strategy in exporting is to encourage networks among exporting firms. The reason is simple: Business people learn best from other business people. Some years ago, I established the Greater China Business Network in Boston. The purpose was to introduce smaller growth oriented firms to opportunities emerging in the Greater China market (the PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong). In 1990, we organized probably the first international videoconference to promote business opportunities. We focused on linking smaller U.S. environmental protection firms with business opportunities in Hong Kong. Using PictureTel (since acquired by Polycom), we conducted a videoconference for two hours. Immediately after, four of the six U.S. firms moved ahead with opportunities they uncovered. In the past decade, the U.S. government has become far more responsive to export opportunities. Visit the U.S. export portal. (In 1992, Congress passed the Export Enhancement Act to coordinate and focus federal export promotion programs.) posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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