THE SACRAMENTO U.S. EXPORT ASSISTANCE CENTER: AN EXAMINATION
OF U.S. EXPORT PROMOTION POLICY
Micah Stephens Sutrov
B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2005
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
FALL
2009
THE SACRAMENTO U.S. EXPORT ASSISTANCE CENTER: AN EXAMINATION
OF U.S. EXPORT PROMOTION POLICY
A Project
by
Micah Stephens Sutrov
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Bahman Fozouni, Ph.D.
__________________________________, Second Reader
Patrick Cannon, Ph.D.
__________________________________, Third Reader
Yan Zhou, Ph.D.
____________________________
Date
ii
Student: Micah Stephens Sutrov
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for the Project.
__________________________, Graduate Coordinator
Bahman Fozouni, Ph.D.
International Affairs Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Government Chair
iii
________________
Date
Abstract
of
THE SACRAMENTO U.S. EXPORT ASSISTANCE CENTER: AN EXAMINATION
OF U.S. EXPORT PROMOTION POLICY
by
Micah Stephens Sutrov
The U.S. government devotes significant resources to export promotion activities aimed
at improving our nation’s balance of trade, maintaining economic security, and creating
and preserving American jobs. A greater knowledge of the factors which influence the
successful promotion of exports would therefore aid policy makers in the design and
development of efficient and cost-effective export assistance programs. Studies in
international marketing, business, and public policy journals have illuminated several
factors which are critical to an effective export promotion policy. The author’s internship
experience at the Sacramento U.S. Export Assistance Center (USEAC) has been utilized
in combination with this literature in order to analyze and evaluate the organization and
to propose recommendations for improving its overall effectiveness. The results of this
study indicate that the Sacramento USEAC should increase it focus on smaller, less
experienced, and non-export-ready firms, particularly in the areas of promoting
awareness of export benefits and services, conducting meaningful consultation with
clients, and providing courteous, responsive, and personalized customer service.
Furthermore, the USEAC should strengthen its collaboration with the Center for
iv
International Trade Development (CITD) in order to more efficiently address client
needs. Finally, the USEAC should conduct more accurate and meaningful impact
assessments, which should then serve as the basis for the replacement, modification, or
elimination of ineffective programs.
_______________________, Committee Chair
Bahman Fozouni, Ph.D.
_______________________
Date
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my dad, who has always encouraged me and supported me in
everything that I have ever wanted to do.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................vi
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1
Background on U.S. Export Assistance Centers .......................................................... 2
The Nature of the Internship ........................................................................................ 5
Description of Internship Duties and Tasks Performed ............................................... 8
The Analytical Focus of this Report .......................................................................... 14
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 16
Background: The Need for Developing Export Assistance Strategy ......................... 16
Promoting Awareness of Export Benefits and Services ............................................ 21
Tailoring Export Assistance to the Needs of Individual Firms .................................. 23
Increasing Consultation, Coordination, and Specialization ....................................... 31
Improving Customer Satisfaction for Client Firms and Importers ............................ 34
Conducting Accurate and Meaningful Impact Assessments...................................... 37
3. ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................... 42
USEAC Efforts to Promote Awareness of Export Benefits and Services ................. 42
USEAC Efforts to Tailor Export Assistance to the Needs of Individual Firms ......... 46
USEAC Efforts to Engage in Consultation, Coordination, and Specialization ......... 49
USEAC Efforts to Provide Customer Satisfaction to Client Firms and Importers .... 53
USEAC Efforts to Conduct Accurate and Meaningful Impact Assessments ............ 56
vii
4. EVALUATION................................................................................................................. 60
Evaluation of Promoting Awareness of Export Benefits and Services ...................... 60
Evaluation of Tailoring Export Assistance to the Needs of Individual Firms ........... 61
Evaluation of Consultation, Coordination, and Specialization .................................. 63
Evaluation of Providing Customer Satisfaction to Client Firms and Importers ........ 65
Evaluation of Conducting Accurate and Meaningful Impact Assessments ............... 66
5. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................. 68
6. CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................... 75
References ............................................................................................................................... 83
viii
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
I am conducting this internship project report as my culminating experience for
the degree of Master of Arts in International Affairs at California State University,
Sacramento. To this end I have completed a non-paid internship at the U.S. Department
of Commerce, U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Export Assistance Center (USEAC)
located at 1410 Ethan Way, Suite 131N, Sacramento, California 95825. As an
introduction to this report, this chapter will examine some of the background information
on USEACs and U.S. trade promotion policy. It will then describe the nature of my
internship and the daily tasks and projects completed within this organization. Toward
the end of this chapter, the analytical focus of this report and the specific issues which it
will seek to address will be introduced.
Chapter two of this report will consist of a review of the pertinent literature on
export promotion and export assistance strategy in order to create a broader context for
the analytical sections of this report that will follow. Chapter three will then analyze the
effectiveness of Sacramento USEAC operations with respect to the literature on export
assistance strategy and my personal experience working as an intern within this
organization. Following this, chapter four will consist of an evaluation of the strengths
and weaknesses of Sacramento USEAC policy with reference to the analysis of the
organization conducted in chapter three. Chapter five will then propose
recommendations for improving the export assistance activities of the Sacramento
USEAC drawn directly from the analytical and evaluation chapters of this report.
2
Finally, chapter six will include an overview of the internship, a summary of the findings
of this report, and a discussion of the academic learning and overall insight gained from
the internship experience.
Background on U.S. Export Assistance Centers
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, research conducted by the U.S. General
Accounting Office and other agencies found that U.S. export promotion activities were
fragmented among 10 different federal agencies (Nelson, 1999, p. 1). As part of the
Export Enhancement Act of 1992, the U.S. Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee
(TPCC) was directed to improve the efficiency and cohesiveness of federal export
promotion activities. In so doing, the TPCC brought together the U.S. Department of
Commerce; the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA); the Export Import Bank (ExIm Bank); the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) in order to form a nationwide network of coordinated
and user-friendly export assistance offices (United States Department of Commerce
[DOC], 2005, p. 2; Nelson, 1999, p. 2). As a result, the U.S. Export Assistance Centers,
or so-called USEACs, were created in order to provide “one-stop shops” which would
offer education, counseling, services, information, and referrals to small and mediumsized U.S. businesses seeking to export (Nelson, 1999, p. 1).
USEAC base and satellite offices are currently located in more than 100 cities
throughout the nation and are part of a domestic and international U.S. trade promotion
network consisting of over 250 offices located in 82 countries (DOC, 2005, p. 2;
3
Sacramento USEAC Website [Sac USEAC], 2009). They are linked directly to U.S.
Commercial Service trade development offices in U.S. embassies and consulates
worldwide, and are often co-located with other federal, state, local, or private-sector
service providers (Sac USEAC, 2009; Nelson, 1999, p. 3; DOC, 2005, p. 2). In fact, it
has been estimated that 75 percent of all USEAC satellite offices are co-located with nonfederal export promotion and business development partners (Nelson, 1999, p. 3).
Some of the export assistance services provided by USEACs include: identifying
foreign markets for clients’ products; developing market-entry strategies through
coordination with overseas trade representatives; facilitating the implementation of these
strategies by providing information, partner identification and evaluation services, and
sales vehicles; and assisting firms with securing financing through a variety of federal
and non-federal programs and institutions (DOC, 2005, p. 2). In addition, USEACs are
commonly tasked with educating local businesses about export benefits and services
through seminars, publications, and online resources; promoting and facilitating
participation in international trade fairs and trade missions to foreign markets; and
providing customized market research and up-to-date foreign market information (Sac
USEAC, 2009).
Although some USEAC services, such as consultation, seminars, publications,
and market research are provided free of charge, other offerings are provided as a public
service at a substantially lower cost than may be charged by private-sector service
providers. Examples of USEAC fee-based services include the International Partner
Search, in which the USEAC locates up to five prescreened international buyers,
4
partners, or agents which are interested in the client’s products; the International
Company Profile, in which the USEAC provides credit checks and “due-diligence
reports” on prospective international partners; and the Gold Key Executive Appointment
Service, in which the USEAC locates prescreened international buyers, agents,
distributors, government contacts, or other business partners, and coordinates one-on-one
meetings with them on behalf of clients, whether in person or via teleconferencing or
videoconferencing sessions (Sac USEAC, 2009).
On a side note, it should be mentioned here that many of the government export
promotion services such as those provided by the USEAC are unavailable to firms in
much of the developing world. Developing countries are currently under great pressure
from developed countries and the international development policy establishment (IDPE)
to adopt neo-liberal, laissez-faire economic policies which emphasize small government,
international openness, privatization, and deregulation (Chang, 2003, pp. 21-22). In this
regard, government export assistance activities may be viewed as an indirect form of
export subsidization, and a non-tariff protectionist measure designed to nurture domestic
industry and to promote a favorable balance of trade (Chang, 2003, pp. 24, 26-27).
In many cases, financial assistance to developing countries from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and individual donor governments is provided
under the condition that developing countries must adopt neo-liberal economic policies
which would preclude the enactment of tariff and non-tariff forms of domestic industry
protection, including export assistance. Likewise, rules within the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and other multilateral trade agreements may also severely inhibit
5
the use of protectionist policies and infant industry promotion tools by developing
countries. (Chang, 2003, p. 29).
Interestingly, it is well documented that today’s developed countries commonly
utilized a wide variety of tariff and non-tariff protectionist measures while they
themselves were in the developing phase, and that they “…used virtually none of the
policies that they are (now) recommending to developing countries” (Chang, 2003, p.
21). This fact has led some international relations and international political economy
scholars to argue that developed countries are now “kicking away the ladder” that they
utilized to climb to their current position of economic power (Chang, 2003, p. 28).
Although a further discussion of this issue is beyond the scope of this report, it is a
concern that will need to be addressed within broader examinations of export assistance
policy, especially with regard to the developing world.
The Nature of the Internship
As a non-paid intern at the Sacramento USEAC, I held the position of
International Trade Assistant from the dates of September 17, 2008 through March 12,
2009. My work schedule was Monday through Thursday, 1:00pm to 5:00pm with some
overtime included, and over the course of my six month internship I worked an
approximate total of 377 hours. My supervisor while serving in this position was
Sacramento USEAC Director George Tastard, who is the sole paid employee of this
organization. Mr. Tastard operates the Sacramento USEAC with the help of several
interns such as myself, which rotate in and out of the office on staggered six month terms.
6
Interns within this organization must commit to working four hours per day, Monday
through Thursday, for a total of 16 hours per week, for six months. During my time at
the Sacramento USEAC, there were four morning interns working from 8:00am to
12:00pm, and four afternoon interns working from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. In other words,
the Sacramento USEAC operates all of its export assistance activities through the efforts
of one full-time paid employee (Mr. Tastard) and eight part-time non-paid interns.
Interestingly, I was informed during my first day as an intern at the Sacramento
USEAC that this would be a ‘dual-internship,’ in which I would also be serving as an
International Trade Research Assistant for the Sacramento Regional Center for
International Trade Development (CITD), which is co-located with the USEAC. In
contrast to the federally funded USEAC which is strictly an export assistance
organization, the CITD is a California state-funded agency which conducts promotional
activities and works with clients in order to assist them with their exporting or importing
needs. Despite this fact, I would estimate that 95 percent of the work which I completed
for the CITD involved export promotions and assistance. Brooks Ohlson serves as the
Director General of the Sacramento CITD; however my direct supervisor was CITD
International Trade Consultant Ester Gordillo. At times, I also received instruction from
Diana Dominguez, a previous USEAC/CITD intern who had since received a full-time
paid position as an International Trade Specialist with the Sacramento CITD.
On several occasions I was instructed by both Mr. Tastard and Ms. Gordillo to
budget my time in order to perform equal amounts of work for both the USEAC and the
CITD on a day to day basis. However given the demanding nature of the internship and
7
the urgency with which many tasks were assigned, this proved to be a challenging task.
In reality, I would often spend an entire week or longer working for one of the
organizations at a time. Overall, I would estimate that I spent approximately 75 percent
of my internship working on USEAC assignments. This was mainly due to Mr. Tastard’s
demanding managerial style and the fact that most of the tasks which he delegated to me
were assigned with a high level of urgency. In contrast, Ms. Gordillo’s managerial
approach was comparatively relaxed, and CITD projects were generally assigned without
the imposition of strict deadlines.
During my internship, one morning intern and one afternoon intern were each
dedicated entirely to USEAC operations, serving solely under Mr. Tastard for the course
of their internships, while all other interns served both organizations in the capacity
which I have described above. In other words, the CITD operates all of its trade
promotion activities through the efforts of three full-time paid employees (Mr. Ohlson,
Ms. Gordillo, and Ms. Dominguez) and six part-time non-paid interns.
In the description of my duties which will follow, I will distinguish between the
tasks which I performed for the USEAC and those which I conducted for the CITD.
Later in this report, I may also comment on the differences between the two organizations
in order to discuss their particular strengths or weaknesses. However as alluded to above,
the analytical focus of this report will involve the effectiveness of Sacramento USEAC
operations in particular. Therefore I will examine the CITD in the context of its
partnership with the USEAC, and at times, explore the possibility of CITD activities
acting as an extension of USEAC operations. As will be described in detail in chapter
8
two, there is evidence that coordination, collaboration, and specialization between
government agencies at the federal and state levels are integral components of a
successful export promotion strategy. Although the Sacramento USEAC and the
Sacramento CITD have differences in their mandates and are independently funded and
managed, their co-location, partnership, and frequent collaboration will be significant
considerations in analyzing USEAC policy and overall effectiveness going forward.
Description of Internship Duties and Tasks Performed
I completed a large and diverse assortment of tasks and projects for the USEAC
over the course of my six month internship. Broadly speaking, these assignments could
be characterized as falling into one of the five categories described as follows. First, I
communicated with clients via in-office consultations, emails, and telephone
conversations, and initiated export assistance services on their behalf. In many cases I
would field an initial telephone call from a client, ascertain their needs, and schedule an
in-office visit between the client and Mr. Tastard. From that point forward I would act as
the International Trade Assistant assigned to that client’s case. After speaking with the
client and scheduling an appointment, I would draft an email introducing them to the U.S.
Commercial Service and the Sacramento USEAC. I would then participate in the client’s
meeting with Mr. Tastard and take notes on the services which were discussed. Next, I
would initiate export assistance services on the client’s behalf. At times this involved
conducting market research for clients, providing them with the contact information of
9
USEAC partners such as the SBA or the Ex-Im Bank, or supplying them with U.S.
Commercial Service Country Commercial Guides for their target markets.
In some cases, I would also contact Commercial Service international trade
specialists in foreign countries on the client’s behalf. I would introduce them to the
client’s company/products and request a conference call between the foreign trade
specialist, the client, and Mr. Tastard in order to discuss market opportunities and
services requested by the client. Some of these services included the International
Partner Search, the International Company Profile, and the Gold Key Executive
Appointment Service which have been described above. In addition, I was tasked with
documenting every client interaction or service provided, including emails, phone
conversations, in-office consultations, and all other activities in the Commercial Service’s
nationwide Client Tracking System, also known as CTS.
Second, I conducted a variety of USEAC export promotional campaigns and
related activities. On many occasions, I was tasked with drafting promotional emails and
sending them to clients in order to advertise upcoming events such as seminars; export
development meetings; trade fairs; incoming foreign trade delegations; or trade missions
to foreign markets. In this regard, I utilized CTS in order to target and isolate firms for
promotional campaigns according to their industry or product specializations (for
example, ‘renewable energy firms in the Sacramento territory’) and sent them mass
promotional emails advertising USEAC-sponsored events. In addition, I posted a
promotional webpage for each event in the ‘Upcoming Events’ section of the Sacramento
USEAC website (discussed in detail below). Over the course of my internship, I was
10
involved in promoting several events, including: the Shingle Springs Chamber of
Commerce Export Development Seminar; the Northern California International Business
Forum; the 2009 Solar Trade Mission to India; the CroTour International Travel and
Tourism Fair in Croatia; and the Bulgarian Renewable Energy Delegation Reverse Trade
Mission to California.
However my most extensive promotional assignment was a five week advertising
campaign for the CeBIT information and communication technology trade fair, which
was held in Hannover, Germany in March of 2009. I drafted a detailed promotional
email for this event and sent it to over 100 technology companies in the Sacramento
USEAC’s territory. I also authored a webpage for this event on the Sacramento
USEAC’s website, which currently may be viewed in the website’s ‘Past Events’ section
at: http://www.buyusa.gov/sacramento/cebit2009.html. Finally, I conducted an extensive
telemarketing campaign in which I telephoned executives from over 50 companies in the
Sacramento territory in order to promote this event.
Third, I made frequent additions and modifications to the Sacramento USEAC
website, located at http://www.buyusa.gov/sacramento. During my time at the USEAC,
many interns had particular ‘specializations,’ and I was designated as the sole intern
responsible for posting webpages and conducting website maintenance. Much of the
work I completed in this regard involved promotional webpages (including those for the
events listed above) which were posted in the ‘Upcoming Events’ section of the website.
Per Mr. Tastard’s request, I also posted descriptions of past USEAC activities in the ‘Past
Events’ section of the website; past interns’ biographies in the ‘Internship Program’
11
section; and examples of client’s export achievements in the ‘Read these Export Success
Stories’ section.
Fourth, I completed reading assignments and a variety of administrative tasks.
Each intern was required to read for 30 minutes out of every shift until the mandatory
reading for the internship was completed. Some of the books I read in this regard
included: A Basic Guide to Exporting, A Basic Guide to Importing, International Trade
and the Bay Area Economy, and Trade Secrets. Periodically, I was also assigned an
assortment of administrative tasks. Examples of these types of duties included ordering
marketing materials and office supplies, creating labels and affixing them to USEAC
fliers and brochures, and arranging for the maintenance of USEAC computers and
printers.
Fifth, I participated in USEAC impact assessment, evaluation, and reporting
procedures. My main duties in this regard were drafting ‘Highlights’ and ‘Export
Successes.’ As part of USEAC reporting procedures, Highlights consisted of a one to
two page description of an export seminar or other promotional event organized or
participated in by the Sacramento USEAC. The focus of these documents was on the
who, what, when, where, and why of the event, with a strong emphasis on Mr. Tastard’s
particular contribution and the beneficial outcomes which resulted. Generally, Highlights
concluded with positive remarks about new clients identified, relationships strengthened,
or export goals solidified as a result of the event in question. Upon completion,
Highlights were submitted to Mr. Tastard’s superiors in Washington D.C. for review.
For promotional purposes, slightly modified versions of Highlights were also posted in
12
the ‘Past Events’ section of the Sacramento USEAC website. Some of the events which I
drafted Highlights for include: an Export-Import Workshop at Opening Doors, Inc., the
Sacramento Region Clean Energy Showcase, the Invest in America Outreach Visit to
Sacramento, and the Northern California International Business Forum.
‘Export Successes’ of particular firms were also an important component of
USEAC impact assessment and reporting procedures. These documents consisted of a
brief background of the company in question, a summary of its relationship with the
USEAC and the services it received, and a description of the firm’s recent export sales as
a result of USEAC services rendered. In this regard, Export Successes were classified as
falling within the ‘New to Export,’ ‘New to Market,’ or ‘Increase to Market’ categories.
On several occasions, I was tasked with investigating and identifying Export
Successes for various clients. This generally involved utilizing CTS in order to research
past USEAC activities conducted on behalf of firms. In addition, I participated in
‘courtesy’ telephone calls placed by Mr. Tastard to firm executives in order to obtain the
sales information needed for an Export Success. Mr. Tastard was required to submit a
minimum number of Export Successes to his superiors in Washington D.C. on a yearly
basis. As the deadline for this quota approached (toward the last month of my
internship), investigating and drafting Export Success became my primary responsibility.
Mr. Tastard placed a considerable amount of urgency on identifying and drafting Export
Success during this time, and several other interns were also engaged in this task. As was
the case with Highlights, slightly modified versions of Export Successes were posted on
13
the Sacramento USEAC website, and can currently be viewed in the ‘Read these Export
Success Stories’ section (Sac USEAC, 2009).
In contrast to my wide assortment of duties as a USEAC intern, my
responsibilities for the CITD were considerably more focused. My work here was in the
particular area of performing research on behalf of less experienced and non-export-ready
clients in order to address their informational needs and concerns. In most cases, Ms.
Gordillo would conduct an initial consultation with a client in order to ascertain their
specific needs. Following this, she would create a client file which would include a
description of the client’s research needs. After reading through the client’s file and
discussing it with Ms. Gordillo, I would begin conducting research on behalf of the
client.
As alluded to above, most CITD clients had little or no previous export
experience. Therefore my first task was to provide them with general export information
which could be utilized by clients regardless of their product or target market
orientations. Some examples of this kind of research included information on export
product classification systems; export documentation forms; freight forwarders and
customs house brokers; general U.S. export requirements; seminars and classes on
exporting or starting an export business; and contact information for CITD partners such
as the USEAC, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), and the SBA.
Following this, I would perform research on the country and product-specific
information related to the client’s commodity and target market orientations. For
example, I researched the documentary requirements for exporting walnuts and plums to
14
Mexico for one client, and electronics products to India for another. In some cases I
would also provide clients with country and product-specific market research and trade
statistics; explanations of free trade agreements involving their target countries;
information on trade fairs involving their products; and contact information for industry
and trade associations, local suppliers, or government resources. In order to locate this
information, I accessed several databases including the Bureau of National Affairs,
World Trade Reference, Stat-USA, the U.S. Census Bureau, and Export.gov. Upon
completion, this research was provided to clients in hard-copy, compact disc, or email
format.
In some cases, clients were interested in exporting several products to several
countries, and I would facilitate their research needs on an ongoing basis for weeks or
even months. At times I would communicate with CITD clients via email, telephone, or
in-office meetings in order to discuss their latest needs and concerns. In the case of one
CITD client, I participated in two in-office consultation sessions between the client and
Ms. Gordillo; corresponded via email and telephone with the firm’s representatives on
several occasions; and provided them with market research, trade statistics, general
export information, country and product-specific export requirements, and information on
trade fairs, workshops, and seminars over the course of several months.
The Analytical Focus of this Report
As previously mentioned, chapter two will consist of a review of the pertinent
literature on export assistance strategy in order to create the broader context for the
15
analytical focus of this report. This literature has strongly emphasized the importance of
five criteria for success which are key components to an effective export promotion
policy. These criteria are: promoting client awareness of export benefits and the
availability of export assistance services; identifying the unique organizational,
managerial, and export involvement characteristics of firms and tailoring export
assistance activities accordingly; increasing consultation, collaboration, and
specialization among federal and non-federal government service providers, industry and
trade associations, business development organizations, financial institutions, privatesector enterprises, and client firms; improving customer satisfaction for client firms as
well as foreign importers; and conducting accurate and meaningful impact assessments.
That said, this report will scrutinize Sacramento USEAC policy with regard to
each of these five criteria for success. In order to complete this task, chapter three will
analyze Sacramento USEAC operations by examining the five criteria for effective
export promotion with reference to my personal experience working as an intern within
this organization. In chapter four, the Sacramento USEAC’s strengths and weaknesses
will be evaluated based on the analytical conclusions established in chapter three.
Chapter five will then utilize the analyses and evaluations conducted in the preceding
chapters to propose recommendations for improving the effectiveness of Sacramento
USEAC operations.
16
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter I will be reviewing the pertinent literature on export assistance
strategy which has appeared primarily in the form of studies published in international
marketing, business, and public policy journals. This literature has consistently
emphasized the importance of five factors which are particularly important to an effective
export promotion policy. These factors are as follows: promoting client awareness of
export benefits and services; identifying the unique characteristics of individual firms and
tailoring export assistance accordingly; increasing consultation, coordination, and
specialization among federal and nonfederal government service providers, financial
institutions, industry and trade associations, business development organizations, privatesector enterprises, and client firms; improving customer service for client firms as well as
foreign importers; and conducting accurate and meaningful impact assessments.
Following an examination of the background of export promotion and the need for
developing export assistance strategy, each of these policy areas will be discussed in
detail in this chapter.
Background: The Need for Developing Export Assistance Strategy
While an increase in protectionist sentiment accompanied rising trade deficits in
the United States in the 1980’s, government policymakers at the federal and state levels
substantially increased their dedication to promoting exports and their funding for export
assistance activities (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 77; Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p.
17
639). It has been reported that during this time the value of U.S. exports doubled,
creating approximately 1.5 million new jobs and accounting for unprecedented growth in
the manufacturing sector as well as in private-sector employment on the whole (Kotabe
and Czinkota, 1992, p. 639). Nevertheless the U.S. suffered from a record trade deficit of
over $152 billion in 1987 (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 637). In 1988, Ten million
American jobs depended on international trade, and it was estimated that for every $1
billion of exports sold, $2 billion were generated toward the GNP, while another $400
million in revenue was collected in state and federal taxes (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p.
639). By this time federal and state agencies were spending over $100 million per year in
taxpayer money in order to promote international sales by U.S. businesses (Singer and
Czinkota, 1992, p. 53).
Despite these efforts, the U.S. trade deficit stood at a “staggering” $84 billion in
1992 and the U.S. significantly under-exported as compared to other nations (Cavusgil
and Yeoh, 1994, p. 77; Czinkota, 1994, p. 93). In 1992, U.S. merchandise exports made
up only 7.5 percent of GNP, as opposed to 24.1 percent in Germany and 23 percent in
Canada. Likewise, U.S. export sales per capita in 1992 were a meager $1,750, as
opposed to $2,660 in Japan and $3,250 in the United Kingdom (Czinkota, 1994, p. 93).
During this time the U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that approximately 20,000
small and medium sized American businesses which had the capability to export were not
doing so. This realization called into question the success and effectiveness of export
promotion activities conducted by federal, state, and private-sector agencies in the U.S.
(Cavusgil and Yeoh; 1994, p. 77). Meanwhile, the worldwide emphasis on exports and
18
export promotion activities which had been taking place for a period of twenty years
sparked increased academic attention and inspired further research on export assistance
strategy (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, p. 116).
Although small and medium-sized firms may have unique advantages (such as
more personalized service, faster response times, and increased flexibility) which can add
to their competitiveness in international markets, many are reluctant to concentrate on
exports because of the perceived obstacles and increased risks that this entails (Kotabe
and Czinkota, 1992, p. 640). Upon exploring foreign markets, managers may encounter a
variety of new problems such as currency exchange rates, greater distances and new
forms of transportation, complicated foreign and domestic government regulations, new
legal and financial systems, uncertainty with international market conditions, language
barriers, or cultural diversity (Czinkota, 1994, p. 94; Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 640).
Once combined with the limited resources available to many small and medium-sized
firms in terms of finances, export knowledge and training, and hours of manpower, these
factors tend to loom large from the perspective of managers who must constantly concern
themselves with short-term profit margins (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 640; Czinkota,
1994, pp. 94-95). In this regard, export assistance providers strive to promote awareness
about the short and long-term benefits of exporting while also providing free or low-cost
information, expertise, resources, and export strategies that will help to ‘bridge the gap’
created by the increased risk and decreased profitability at the early stages of the
internationalization process (Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, p. 67; Czinkota, 1994, p. 95).
19
Some of the assistance provided by export promotion agencies comes in the form
of seminars for potential exporters, consultation on identifying market opportunities,
assistance with locating and establishing foreign contacts, and publications on a variety
of topics such as market opportunities, setting up an export business, arranging overseas
visits, or securing export financing (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 639; Seringhaus and
Botschen, 1991, pp. 118-119). In addition, export assistance providers may promote and
facilitate international trade fair participation, host regional or industry-specific trade
missions to foreign markets, assist with the arrangement of financing and insurance,
disseminate international sales leads, and supply clients with market research and
information on general or country/product specific export requirements (Gencturk and
Kotabe, 2001, p. 57; Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, pp. 118-119; Kotabe and Czinkota,
1992, p. 639).
Over time, firms may utilize a variety of these export services in combination
with several other internal and external resources in order to formulate an international
marketing strategy and generate export sales growth. This fact, combined with the
importance of each firm’s unique organizational, managerial, and export involvement
characteristics (discussed in detail below) makes it difficult to formulate conclusive
judgments about the successes or failures of export assistance activities (Seringhaus and
Botschen, 1991, p. 117; Moini, 1998, p. 13; Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, p. 52).
However a greater knowledge of the factors which influence the successful promotion of
exports would benefit policymakers who are seeking to improve export assistance
20
initiatives as well as managers who are seeking to generate international sales (Singer and
Czinkota, 1994, p. 53; Moini, 1998, p. 13).
Over the course of the last twenty years numerous studies have been conducted in
efforts to identify the salient elements of an effective export promotion policy, and a
review of the literature on export assistance strategy has brought to light several
important factors. First, export assistance providers should promote increased awareness
of the benefits of exporting and of the availability of export assistance programs and
services. Second, heightened attention should be given to the fact that firms have unique
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics which impact their
particular needs and desires. Export promotion services should therefore be tailored and
personalized to suit the needs of individual firms. Third, export assistance providers
should strive for increased consultation with client firms and expanded coordination,
collaboration, and specialization among federal and nonfederal government service
providers, business development organizations, industry and trade associations, privatesector enterprises, and financial institutions. Fourth, export service providers should
provide firms with quality customer service, while also encouraging client firms to satisfy
foreign customer (or importing company) needs. Finally, export promotion agencies
should conduct accurate and meaningful impact assessments which may serve as the
basis for the modification, replacement, or elimination of ineffective programs.
21
Promoting Awareness of Export Benefits and Services
As alluded to above, managers of firms at the beginning stages of the
internationalization process may have the most to gain from the use of export assistance
services. However they may also harbor considerable skepticism about the increased
risks and the possibilities for decreased short-term profit margins that exporting entails.
Gencturk and Kotabe (2001) argue that the reluctance of firms to utilize export promotion
services can often be attributed to the belief on the part of managers that these services
will be ineffective in generating positive results (p. 67). They therefore assert that export
assistance providers should strive to provide firms with “strong and direct evidence” that
the use of export promotion services does in fact translate to increased export sales
growth (Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, p. 67).
Interestingly, Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) found that these fears on the part of
managers are not without merit, and that export sales are likely to be less profitable than
domestic sales, particularly in the early stages of the internationalization process (p. 649).
Nevertheless they argue that exporting improves overall sales growth, increases
managerial skill, creates greater flexibility and resiliency in regard to domestic market
fluctuations, and allows for the possibility of future increases in international sales. The
combination of these factors leads to a greater competitive advantage for exporting firms
competing against non-exporting firms in their domestic market. Export assistance
providers should therefore promote awareness of these indirect competitive benefits of
exporting in order to generate enthusiasm among managers and an increased likelihood
that they will utilize export assistance programs (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 649). A
22
study by Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, and Tse (1992) echoes this sentiment, finding
that a firm’s awareness, expectations, and perceptions of the impact of export assistance
services are key factors in its decision to utilize those services and in its evaluation of
their effectiveness going forward (p. 13).
Several studies have also found that there is a low level of awareness among firms
in regard to the general availability of export assistance programs and the specific types
of services which are offered (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991; Diamantopoulos,
Schlegelmilch, and Tse, 1992; Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994; Crick and Czinkota, 1995;
Moini, 1998). In many cases, firms were aware of only a small portion of the export
promotional services which were available to them, and they were not entirely clear on
what those services entailed or how they could benefit from them (Moini, 1998, p. 12;
Crick and Czinkota, 1995, p. 70). Obviously, firms that might benefit from export
assistance programs need a comprehensive awareness of the services which are available
to them before they can make the decision to utilize them. In this regard, some authors
have called for export service providers to restructure and expand their publicity and
promotional activities in order to generate greater awareness and understanding of
available services (Moini, 1998, pp. 8; Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, pp. 128-129).
In addition, a study by Fischer and Reuber (2003) found that, despite the fact that
small and medium sized firms are often specifically targeted by export assistance
providers, they have a relatively low level of awareness of available programs and a
corresponding low rate of usage of export promotion services (p. 69). Likewise, scholars
have commented on the fact that there is a relative lack of awareness of available
23
programs among new-to-export firms (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 78; Moini, 1998, p.
9). It is argued that these firms have the most to gain from export assistance services, and
that service providers should prioritize their promotional activities accordingly (Cavusgil
and Yeoh, 1994, p. 78; Moini, 1998, pp. 8-9).
In summary, the arguments outlined in this section suggest that export assistance
providers should strive to promote awareness of the direct (i.e. increased export sales
growth) and indirect (i.e. more competitiveness in domestic markets) benefits of
exporting in order to generate enthusiasm and commitment to exporting among firm
managers. In addition, service providers should work to promote a greater awareness and
understanding of the services they offer, while specifically targeting small, mediumsized, and new-to-export businesses in this regard. These arguments concerning the
importance of targeting smaller or new-to-export firms may serve as a prelude to one of
the over-arching themes in the export assistance literature. That is, that export
promotional services should be tailored to meet the needs of individual firms
distinguished by their particular stage in the internationalization process, as well as by
their unique organizational and managerial characteristics.
Tailoring Export Assistance to the Needs of Individual Firms
An abundance of the literature on export assistance strategy has emphasized the
importance for export service providers to identify each firms unique organizational,
managerial, and export involvement characteristics in order to effectively target firms’
needs and assist them accordingly (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991; Kotabe and
24
Czinkota, 1992; Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, and Tse, 1992; Singer and Czinkota,
1994; Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994; Czinkota, 1994; Moini, 1998; Gencturk and Kotabe,
2001; Fischer and Reuber, 2003; Toften and Rustad, 2005). The evidence for this line of
reasoning suggests that export service providers should avoid treating firms as if they are
a “single homogeneous group,” and recognize that firm’s with unique characteristics and
varied levels of export involvement have different needs and desires (Moini, 1998, p. 1).
Therefore the challenge for export assistance providers is to identify the specific
competencies and limitations of each firm and to provide “…the right information
(assistance) to the right firms at the right time” (Moini, 1998, p. 13). In order to do this, a
variety of suggestions for segmenting firms and evaluating their needs based on their
organizational, managerial, or export involvement characteristics have been proposed.
In this regard, some of the organizational characteristics which have been put
forward as possible segmentation bases for potential clients are firm size; resources in
terms of finances and manpower; industry or product specialization; orientation in terms
of manufactured goods, services, or technology; and capabilities in terms of research and
information systems, market connections, and export regulations management (Czinkota,
1994, p. 95; Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 82). Of these factors, firm size has quite often
been given the most attention by scholars, possibly because it allows for inferences to be
made about many of the other organizational characteristics listed above.
Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) and Rosa, Scott, and Gilbert (1994) assert that firm
size is closely associated with “physical, financial, and managerial resources” which are
key components in formulating and implementing a successful international marketing
25
strategy (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 642). They go on to argue that small firms are
often constrained by a lack of finances, manpower, and time needed for long-term export
planning, and that ultimately, an expansion in firm size is “…a necessary condition for
increased export involvement” (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 654; Rosa, Scott, and
Gilbert, 1994, p. 17). Singer and Czinkota (1994) and Moini (1998) make the logical
conclusion that small firms, which are likely to encounter more export barriers than larger
firms, have the most to gain from the effective use of export assistance (Singer and
Czinkota, 1994, p. 54; Moini, 1998, p. 12).
Several authors have therefore insisted that export assistance providers should
place a greater emphasis on the needs of smaller firms, where export services are likely to
have the greatest impact, and tailor their services accordingly (Czinkota, 1994; Rosa,
Scott, and Gilbert, 1994; Moini, 1998). In this regard, Czinkota (1994) argues that small
firms typically encounter their most significant obstacles in the five problem areas of
logistics, legal procedures, servicing of exports, sales promotion, and foreign market
intelligence (p. 93). In addition, Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, and Tse (1992) and
Rosa, Scott, and Gilbert (1994) agree that whereas larger and more experienced firms
typically seek overseas contacts, resources, and information on foreign markets, smaller
firms can often benefit from a more personalized approach which stresses education on
export managerial skills, strategies, and techniques (Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, and
Tse, 1992, p. 10; Rosa, Scott, and Gilbert, 1994, pp. 17-18). In other words, export
service providers may assist smaller firms in skill areas such as formulating clear export
26
goals, hiring or training managers for export operations, or allocating finances for exportrelated activities (Rosa, Scott, and Gilbert, 1994, pp. 17-18).
The unique managerial characteristics of individual firms are another aspect of
export-readiness which has been discussed in detail by several authors. According to
Czinkota (1994), export assistance providers should distinguish each firm according to
the education, expertise, commitment, international exposure, and export orientation of
its managers (pp. 95-96). In this regard, Moini (1998) argues that various managerial
traits including export experience, expectations, work ethic, travel experience, language
skills, and commitment to exporting may combine to have a significant impact on a
firm’s level of export involvement (pp. 3, 12). Likewise, Kotabe and Czinkota (1992)
found that major involvement in export planning by top managers with high levels of
education, travel experience, and cultural awareness was positively associated with
increased export activity, and that for most firms, managerial ability was more important
than financing or market information (pp. 646, 648, 654). In addition, Cavusgil and
Yeoh (1994) assert that management attitude and commitment to exporting may have
strong effects on a firm’s propensity to export as well as its tendency to seek export
promotion services (pp. 80, 82-83).
This theme is further emphasized by Singer and Czinkota (1994), who contend
that management commitment, persistence, attitudes, and perceptions are highly
important determinants of a firm’s use of export assistance services and of its export
success on the whole (p. 58). They argue that export assistance providers should
therefore strive to cultivate managerial commitment to exports by “…increasing,
27
accelerating, or even substituting for management export knowledge and experience…”
(Singer and Czinkota, 1994, p. 55). It is therefore suggested that export service providers
should concentrate less on objective (or informational) market knowledge such as market
research, workshops, and seminars, and more on providing managers with experiential
market knowledge such as participation in trade missions, trade fairs, or discussions with
foreign buyers (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 639; Crick and Czinkota, 1995, p. 61;
Singer and Czinkota, 1994, pp. 54-56). When managers are given the opportunity to
participate in these types of ‘hands-on’ activities, they gain critical experiential
knowledge which enables them to recognize and evaluate export opportunities and to
formulate appropriate export strategies (Singer and Czinkota, 1994, pp. 55-56).
Fischer and Reuber (2003) agree that international knowledge and experience on
the part of managers/owners is a key aspect of a firm’s commitment to exporting as well
as to its expertise, decision-making skills, and abilities to establish foreign contacts (pp.
71-72, 79) They also assert that management’s international marketing experience is
critical in determining the types of export assistance that will most significantly benefit
the firm, and that it should therefore be used as a segmentation basis by which export
service providers can ascertain and provide the appropriate services on a firm by firm
basis (Fischer and Reuber, 2003, pp. 72, 78-79).
An abundance of scholars have also commented on the importance of providing
individualized service to firms based on their unique export involvement characteristics.
Firms are thought of as evolving along a developmental path from one stage to the next
within the internationalization process. At each stage of export involvement, firms may
28
have different needs, problems, impediments, and concerns that will require different
types of export support (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992; Czinkota, 1994; Moini, 1998). In
this regard, several frameworks for segmenting firms and understanding their particular
stage-dependent needs have been proposed in order for service providers to tailor their
assistance to the needs of individual firms (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992; Diamantopoulos,
Schlegelmilch, and Tse, 1992; Czinkota, 1994; Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001).
A five stage framework of export involvement based on those submitted by
Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) and Gencturk and Kotabe (2001) should serve as practical
guide for understanding the export involvement process. According to this framework,
stage one firms have a passive or partial interest in exporting and may fill unsolicited
orders, but make no effort toward export expansion. Stage two firms are actively
exploring export possibilities, but are reluctant to allocate significant financial or
managerial resources to export markets. Firms in stage three are experimental exporters
with a focus on countries with geographic and cultural proximity. Stage four firms are
active exporters that adjust their strategies according to foreign customer needs and
foreign market opportunities. Finally, firms in stage five are experienced and committed
exporters with a focus on worldwide export markets regardless of their geographic or
cultural proximity (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 642; Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, pp.
53-54).
Taking the incremental internationalization concept one step further, Cavusgil and
Yeoh (1994) propose a framework which describes the unique export assistance needs of
firms as they enter the early, middle, and late stages of export involvement. According to
29
this framework, firms in the early stages of export involvement may benefit greatly from
services such as export counseling, training seminars, and market identification, as well
as assistance with motivation, export awareness, documentary requirements, foreign
country visits, or establishing foreign contacts. In the middle stages, firms may benefit
from assistance with market research, sales leads, export financing, development of
foreign market contacts, trade missions, and expanding in-house export capabilities. In
the later stages of export involvement, firms may require assistance with product-market
diversification, balancing domestic and international operations, networking with
overseas partners, participating in international trade fairs, improving management and
export efficiency, and developing new international markets (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994,
p. 79).
Not surprisingly, export assistance activities have been shown to produce more
successful results with firms that are “export-ready” as opposed to those that are “exportwilling” (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 80). It is thought that firms in the advanced stages
of export involvement are in a better position to take full advantage of the cost-saving
benefits of export assistance, and some public and private-sector service providers have
shifted all of their attention toward more experienced firms in order to achieve optimal
results from their efforts (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 80; Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001,
pp. 59, 66).
However much of the export promotions literature has also endorsed the argument
that new-to-export firms have more to gain from export assistance services than
experienced and committed exporters. Consistent with their emphasis on the importance
30
of management commitment and persistence, Singer and Czinkota (1994) argue that
service providers should target non-exporters and early-stage exporters in order to
champion the competitive benefits of exporting and foster a strong commitment to
exports (p. 66). It is also commonly argued that, like smaller firms, inexperienced
exporters encounter more impediments than larger and more experienced firms, and that
their export success is more highly dependant on the use of export assistance services.
Several authors have therefore asserted that export assistance providers should focus their
attention where it is needed most, namely on firms in the early stages of the export
involvement process (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991; Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992;
Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001). In this regard, Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) argue that
export assistance providers have devoted an inordinate amount of attention toward
activities such as sales promotion on behalf of more experienced firms (p. 655). They
also suggest that some resources should be redirected in order to meet the needs of less
experienced firms in the areas of finance, logistics, legal procedures, and foreign market
intelligence (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, pp. 654-655).
To summarize the arguments outlined in this section, the relevant literature has
been quite consistent in advocating for the importance of providing tailored and
individualized service to firms based on their unique organizational, managerial, and
export involvement characteristics and their resulting problems, needs, and concerns. In
order to properly address a company’s needs, export assistance providers should take its
organizational characteristics (most notably firm size) into account. It has also been
emphasized that service providers should focus on smaller firms, where export assistance
31
is likely to have the greatest impact. In addition, a firm’s managerial characteristics
should be considered closely, and services should reflect an understanding of the
education, expertise, perceptions, international exposure, and export commitment of firm
decision makers. Export assistance providers should also strive to provide services which
impart experiential (rather than informational) market knowledge to managers, which has
been shown to advance managerial decision-making, expertise, and commitment to
exporting. Finally, services should be tailored to reflect the export involvement
characteristics of individual firms, and several scholars have also argued that assistance
efforts should focus on new-to-export firms, where export services are needed most.
This section has focused on the unique firm characteristics which should guide
export assistance providers in evaluating the needs of client firms. However another way
to assess the needs of firms is for service providers to actively seek their consultation
regarding the export products and services which they believe will have the most
significant impact on their export success.
Increasing Consultation, Coordination, and Specialization
A study by Kotabe and Czinkota (1992) compared the types of export assistance
needed or desired by firms with the types of government assistance provided, and found
that there were significant misallocations of export assistance to firms across all stages of
export development (pp. 649-653). As referred to above, one way to mitigate this
problem would be to address the needs of firms based on their organizational,
managerial, and export involvement characteristics. However several authors have also
32
advocated for increased consultation and collaboration between export assistance
providers, client firms, and the larger business community.
Seringhaus and Botschen (1991) argue that there should be “organized and
meaningful” consultation between export service providers and business groups, and that
the business community should be involved in the “design, development, and
modification” of export support services (pp. 124, 130). Crick and Czinkota (1995)
assert that these types of discussions might well take place within industrial trade
organizations or employers’ organizations so that the concerns of a number of
representatives from multiple firms may be heard (p. 71). On the other hand, Toften and
Rustad (2005) suggest that export assistance providers should simply ask more questions
of their clients and be more receptive and responsive to their answers (pp. 685, 691). In
this regard, they argue that firms should be afforded the opportunity to give meaningful
input to their service providers about their specific expectations and the personalized
assistance they desire (Toften and Rustad, 2005, pp. 677, 685, 691). In addition,
Cavusgil and Yeoh (1994) claim that export assistance providers should focus on the
fundamental marketing concept of a customer satisfaction philosophy, and that “…the
firm should be at the center of all assistance activities” (p. 80).
A number of authors have also stressed the importance of increased coordination
between a variety of government service providers at the state and federal levels along
with business development organizations, private-sector enterprises, industry and trade
associations, and financial institutions (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991; Cavusgil and
Yeoh, 1994; Czinkota, 1994). It has been argued that these various organizations have
33
unique abilities to provide specialized guidance, services, support, and expertise which
are essential to the international marketing activities of firms (Seringhaus and Botschen,
1991, pp. 124, 129-130). In this regard, Cavusgil and Yeoh (1994) suggest that
representatives from state and federal government and private-sector organizations
should develop a comprehensive national trade strategy which would create consistency
among policies and organizations, encourage increased export involvement among U.S.
firms, and diminish export impediments (p. 83). In addition, Seringhaus and Botschen
(1991) contend that government assistance providers should collaborate with private
sector organizations such as industry associations and banks (p. 129-130). These
organizations should then increase their involvement in the export activities of their
clients and develop new programs and services in order to supplement their existing
support (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, p. 130).
Cavusgil and Yeoh (1994) also assert that along with coordination, there should
be a greater concentration of expertise and an increased specialization of assistance
activities among both government and private-sector service providers (p. 79). In this
way, export assistance providers could focus on firms with a specific set of needs
matching their particular fields of expertise, and avoid “overstretching” their resources by
attempting to assist firms with a full spectrum of vastly divergent concerns (Cavusgil and
Yeoh, 1994, pp. 79-80). In fact, a major criticism of U.S. export assistance programs has
been an apparent lack of coordination and specialization between private-sector service
providers and government agencies. Furthermore, it has been argued that this
shortcoming may put U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage against foreign firms that
34
enjoy better coordination among service providers, more specialized attention, and more
efficient export assistance services (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 78).
In summary, the arguments presented in this section emphasize the importance of
consultation between export assistance providers, client firms, and the larger business
community. This may take place in the form of informal questions posed to clients
regarding their particular needs and desires, or formal venues, such as meetings with
business development collectives, industry and trade associations, or employers’
organizations. In this regard, the business community should not only be afforded the
opportunity to express its needs, but should also be permitted to participate in the design,
development, and modification of export assistance programs and services. In addition,
service providers should strive for increased coordination, collaboration, and
specialization between federal and non-federal government service providers, industry
and trade associations, financial institutions, business development organizations, and
private-sector enterprises in order to supply clients with the most effective export
assistance possible.
Improving Customer Satisfaction for Client Firms and Importers
As alluded to above it has been suggested that in order to effectively promote
increased export involvement, export assistance providers should adhere closely to the
fundamental marketing concept of a customer satisfaction philosophy (Cavusgil and
Yeoh, 1994, p. 80). A study involving some of the basic customer service aspects of
export assistance conducted by Toften and Rustad (2005) effectively illustrates this point.
35
Firms’ perceptions of the customer service they received were found to have a significant
impact on their evaluation of the export service provider as well as their attitude toward
an increased commitment to exports (Toften and Rustad, 2005, pp. 685-686). Not
surprisingly, good service often translates into a positive perception of the service
provider, a confidence in its overall competency and reliability, and an increased
receptiveness to the information it provides. Likewise, poor service is found to have the
opposite effect, causing firms to devalue the credibility of the export assistance provider
along with the products and services that it offers (Toften and Rustad, 2005, p. 685).
In this regard, it has been emphasized that a firm’s perception of the service it
receives “…often depends on a single person,” and that export assistance personnel
should be pleasant, courteous, and responsive to the particular needs and concerns of
their clients (Toften and Rustad, 2005, pp. 685-686). All clients should be taken
seriously and treated with an equal amount of respect. Likewise, information should be
provided promptly and within the agreed upon timeframe, while also being precise, upto-date, and tailored to meet the needs of individual firms (Toften and Rustad, 2005, pp.
685, 687). Furthermore, export assistance personnel should be honest, competent,
skilled, and knowledgeable in order to inspire confidence in the organization and
assurance in the quality of the information and services it provides (Toften and Rustad,
2005, p. 689).
Interestingly, it has also been argued that this customer-centered approach should
be adopted by firms with respect to their foreign customers, and that export service
providers should endeavor to assist firms with meeting this objective (Czinkota and
36
Ricks, 1981, p. 73; Crick and Czinkota, 1995, pp. 62, 71). Czinkota and Ricks (1981)
and Crick and Czinkota (1995) contend that service providers should encourage
exporting firms to adopt a (foreign) customer satisfaction philosophy and become more
marketing oriented in their approach. In this regard, export assistance providers should
strive to determine the factors which are most significant to foreign importers, and assist
exporting firms by facilitating improvement in these areas (Czinkota and Ricks, 1981, pp.
76-77; Crick and Czinkota, 1995, pp. 65-66).
In a survey of the attributes which U.S. firms believed they could best improve
upon in order to meet the needs of importing companies; sales effort, communication,
providing technical advice, providing parts availability, and gathering market information
made up the top five (Czinkota and Ricks, 1981, p. 75). However in a related survey
which ranked the services most desired by firms of their export assistance providers, the
top five categories consisted of marketing information, information on business practices,
financial information, communication, and financing (Czinkota and Ricks, 1981, p.76).
These results may be interpreted as evidence that U.S. firms are not voluntarily adopting
a marketing oriented, customer satisfaction approach to their export strategies, and that
export assistance providers should therefore concentrate on encouraging firms to improve
in this area (Crick and Czinkota, 1995, pp. 70-71; Czinkota and Ricks, 1981, p. 77).
However, these findings may also reflect the complexity of the internationalization
process and the fact that firms have different needs and desires depending on their
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics. For example, smaller
or less experienced firms may often request information about securing the financial
37
resources necessary for their export activities (which appeared twice in the top five
categories of assistance desired by firms) out of sheer necessity (Czinkota and Ricks,
1981, p. 76).
To summarize the arguments outlined in this section, export assistance providers
should adopt the fundamental marketing concept of a customer satisfaction philosophy in
order to generate enthusiasm among client firms and to inspire confidence in the
information, products, and services they offer. In order to provide quality customer
service, export assistance representatives should be pleasant, courteous, and honest, while
also being competent, skilled, knowledgeable, and responsive to the needs and concerns
of their clients. In addition, export assistance providers should aid their clients in
adopting a customer satisfaction philosophy toward importing firms. In this regard,
service providers should encourage client firms to improve upon the attributes which are
most significant to foreign importers while working to provide them with assistance in
these areas.
Conducting Accurate and Meaningful Impact Assessments
With an aim to ensure that taxpayer money is allocated toward cost-effective and
beneficial export assistance services, government programs should be evaluated
periodically in order to ensure their effectiveness (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 82).
However as previously alluded to, conducting accurate and meaningful assessments of
export assistance services and their relationship to firm export activity can be a complex
and challenging task. Over time, firms may participate in several export-related activities
38
while utilizing a variety of export assistance services from multiple organizations,
making it difficult to establish causality between a single organization’s (or a particular
service’s) effect on firm performance (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, p. 117; Kotabe
and Czinkota, 1992, p. 640). In fact, many commentators consider claims of significant
export sales resulting directly from export assistance services to be “self-serving post hoc
rationalizations” which are based on unreliable evidence and incomplete data (Gencturk
and Kotabe, 2001, p. 52).
In this regard, scholars are often skeptical of optimistic reports on export
assistance activities such as a nationwide study which found that for every $1 spent on
state export promotion expenditures; $432 were generated in export sales (Kotabe and
Czinkota, 1992, p. 640). Critics contend that the study in question ignored the problem
of ‘time lag’ between firms’ exposure to promotional services and their eventual export
sales growth, and failed to control for the influence of federal or private-sector export
assistance involvement (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 640). Furthermore, the study
neglected to account for the possibility that private market forces, rather than government
export assistance services, may have had a significant impact on export outcomes
(Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, p. 52).
Some scholars have also drawn attention to the fact that, while quantitative or
‘hard’ performance measures (such as export sales growth or increased exports relative to
domestic sales) can be useful, they are not entirely sufficient for measuring program
effectiveness (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, p. 117; Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 82).
In fact, many export assistance services are actually aimed at improving the qualitative or
39
‘soft’ management dimensions of a firm’s export involvement by promoting export
awareness, competency, and knowledge (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 82; Seringhaus and
Botschen, 1991, p. 117). In this regard, Gencturk and Kotabe (2001) contend that
“…because virtually nothing is known about the relationships among knowledge
utilization and organizational performance, little can be said conclusively about the effect
of export assistance usage on export performance” (p. 52).
Nevertheless, several suggestions have been made for improving impact
assessments of export assistance initiatives in order to ensure that service providers are
efficiently utilizing their resources and effectively promoting increased export
involvement. Czinkota (1994) argues that evaluations should focus on areas were export
assistance services are able to decrease risks or significantly improve the organizational
or managerial characteristics of firms. In this way, there would be fewer opportunities
for export service providers to take credit for export sales which would have taken place
without their assistance (Czinkota, 1994, p. 99). Czinkota also contends that impact
assessments should not be based on export sales performance, which is controlled mainly
by firms, but on signs of intensified export involvement such as increased transactions,
new customers, or expanded markets (Czinkota, 1994, p. 99). A similar point is made by
Czinkota and Ricks (1981) in regard to export profitability, which they argue “…is only
meaningful if it leads to increased export activities” (p. 73).
In addition, Cavusgil and Yeoh (1994) assert that there is no such thing as a
“global measure of impact assessment” which can effectively transcend the uniqueness of
export assistance programs and individual firms (p. 83). Rather, impact assessments
40
should be conducted with separate focuses on both the firm and program levels, while
examining a variety of performance measures and taking the unique organizational,
managerial, and export involvement characteristics of firms into account (Seringhaus and
Botschen, 1991, p. 130; Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 83). Finally, Seringhaus and
Botschen (1991) remind us that impact assessments are not particularly useful unless they
are acted upon. In this regard, programs and services should be evaluated on a consistent
basis, and those failing to efficiently and appropriately meet the needs of firms should be
modified, replaced, or eliminated (Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, p. 130).
In summary, the arguments presented in this section emphasize the importance for
export assistance providers to conduct accurate and meaningful impact assessments,
while being careful to avoid over-exuberant positive evaluations of their efforts based on
unreliable evidence or incomplete data. Suggestions for conducting more accurate
impact assessments include focusing less on ‘hard’ performance measures such as export
sales growth, and more on ‘soft’ performance measures such as export awareness,
competency, and knowledge. Likewise, signs of intensified export involvement such as
new customers, increased transactions, or expanded markets should also be taken into
account. In addition, export assistance providers should avoid adopting a universal
criterion of program effectiveness within their assessments. Rather, their evaluations
should focus separately on both the firm and program levels, while examining a number
of performance measures and taking the unique characteristics of firms into account.
Finally, service providers should be responsive to their impact assessments and have the
capacity and willingness to modify, replace, or eliminate ineffective programs as needed.
41
In chapter three of this report, I will analyze the Sacramento USEAC with respect
to the pertinent literature which I have reviewed in this chapter. In particular, I will
utilize my personal experience working as an intern within this organization to scrutinize
its operations and evaluate its proficiency based on the five criteria for effective export
assistance which have been outlined here.
42
Chapter 3
ANALYSIS
The purpose of the Sacramento USEAC is to provide assistance, services, and
information which will promote export sales growth and increased export involvement
among small and medium-sized U.S. firms. In order to measure the organization’s
effectiveness in completing this mission, this chapter will analyze Sacramento USEAC
operations with regard to the five criteria for effective export assistance which have been
highlighted within the IR literature and detailed in chapter two. These criteria are:
promoting client awareness of export benefits and export assistance services; identifying
the unique organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics of firms
and tailoring export assistance according to their needs; increasing consultation,
coordination, and specialization between federal and nonfederal government service
providers, private-sector enterprises, business development organizations, industry and
trade associations, financial institutions, and client firms; improving customer satisfaction
for client firms and foreign importers; and conducting accurate and meaningful impact
assessments. In the following sections of this chapter, Sacramento USEAC efforts to
address each of these factors will be analyzed with reference to my personal experience
working as an intern within this organization.
USEAC Efforts to Promote Awareness of Export Benefits and Services
The IR literature on export assistance strategy has emphasized the importance for
service providers to promote awareness of the direct (i.e. increased export sales growth)
43
and indirect (i.e. greater competitiveness in domestic markets) benefits of exporting in
order to generate enthusiasm and commitment to exports among potential clients.
Furthermore, export assistance providers should strive to promote a greater awareness
and deeper understanding of the services which they offer. The literature has also
underscored the fact that awareness of export benefits and services is particularly lacking
among small, medium-sized, and new-to-export firms, and that service providers should
structure their promotional activities accordingly.
During my time as an intern at the Sacramento USEAC, there were generally two
types of promotional activities which the organization conducted on regular basis. First,
Mr. Tastard gave frequent presentations on global sales opportunities and available
export assistance services at local seminars, workshops, and business development
meetings. Examples of these types of events included: an Export-Import Workshop at
Opening Doors, Inc.; the Shingle Springs Chamber of Commerce Export Development
Seminar; and business development meetings at the El Dorado County Economic
Advisory Commission and the Community Economic Development Association of
Pollack Pines. Considering the community-oriented focus and the low-cost of these local
workshops, seminars, and business development meetings, it is likely that the Sacramento
USEAC’s participation in these events was appropriately targeted at small, mediumsized, and new-to-export firms,
In these presentations, Mr. Tastard would generally speak briefly about the state
of the world economy, current global sales opportunities, and the advantages of
generating international sales (Sac USEAC, 2009). He would then outline some of the
44
programs and services which are available through the USEAC, usually emphasizing
sales promotion services such as trade missions, the Gold Key Executive Appointment
Service, and trade and catalogue exhibition shows (Sac USEAC, 2009). From what I
have gathered through preparing PowerPoint presentations and drafting Highlights for
these events, it seems that much of Mr. Tastard’s emphasis was on promoting awareness
of the direct benefits of exporting and the availability of USEAC sales promotion
services in particular. This is a strategy which may be especially effective in generating
increased enthusiasm for exports and inspiring confidence among larger, more
experienced, and export-ready firms that they will be able to locate international buyers
and generate export sales.
However, the literature has emphasized that managers of smaller or new-to-export
firms may be concerned with the increased risks and decreased short-term profit margins
that exporting entails, especially at the beginning stages of the internationalization
process (Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001; Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992). In this regard, a
discussion of some of the indirect benefits of exporting (i.e. improved overall sales
growth, increased managerial skill, and greater flexibility and resiliency in regard to
domestic market fluctuations) may inspire added confidence among managers of smaller
and new-to-export firms, increasing the likelihood that they will utilize export assistance
services (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 649).
In addition, smaller and new-to-export firms may have a variety of concerns
(other than the ultimate goal of locating international buyers and generating export sales)
related to their organizational limitations and their fears about increased risks and
45
decreased profits during the early stages of export involvement. For this reason,
Sacramento USEAC presentations might increase their effectiveness by placing less
emphasis on sales promotion services, and more emphasis on services aimed at smaller
and new-to-export firms. Some of these types of services include: assistance with market
research, export regulations, legal procedures, documentary requirements, marketing
strategies, logistical concerns, and financing (Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, pp. 654-655).
Second, U.S. Commercial Service-sponsored international trade fairs and trade
missions to foreign markets were advertised and promoted on a regular basis during my
internship with the Sacramento USEAC. As discussed in chapter one, these events were
generally promoted through mass emails directed at firms in the Sacramento area
according to their industry and product specializations, and through accompanying
webpages on the Sacramento USEAC website. Examples of these types of events
included: the CeBIT 2009 Trade Fair in Germany; the 2009 Textiles Trade Mission to
Hong Kong, China, and Singapore; the 2009 Latin America Aero and Defense Trade
Show in Brazil; and the 2009 Environmental and Clean Energy Trade Mission to Croatia,
Italy, and Greece.
Once again, these are sales promotion events which might be particularly
appealing to larger, more experienced, and export-ready companies. They represent great
opportunities for firms to locate overseas buyers and generate international sales, but are
of little use to smaller or new-to-export firms that are initially concerned with a variety of
strategic, regulatory, logistical, managerial, or financial issues. Furthermore, the cost of
46
attending these types of events (often several thousands of dollars) may be prohibitive for
small firms with limited financial resources.
That said, the CITD probably does a better job of promoting awareness of
available export opportunities and services among smaller and new-to-export companies.
This is done through frequent emails to clients advertising a variety of educational
seminars and ‘how-to-export’ workshops that would be appealing to less experienced
firms. These types of classes might cover topics such as identifying a target market,
completing export documentation, arranging for transportation, or obtaining financing.
In order to more effectively target smaller or new-to-export firms, the Sacramento
USEAC might consider taking a similar approach within its own promotional activities.
USEAC Efforts to Tailor Export Assistance to the Needs of Individual Firms
According to the trade-related public policy literature, export assistance providers
should strive to provide tailored and individualized service to firms based on their unique
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics and their resulting
problems, needs, and concerns. In regard to organizational characteristics, firm-size is
often noted as the most important consideration, and it has been argued that service
providers should focus on smaller firms, where export assistance is needed most. In
addition, services should reflect an understanding of a firm’s managerial characteristics,
most notably the education, perceptions, experience, international exposure, and export
commitment of firm decision-makers. Finally, the firm’s unique stage of export
involvement should be taken into consideration, and several scholars have argued that
47
export assistance providers should focus on new-to-export firms, where services are
likely to have the greatest impact.
As alluded to in the examination of USEAC promotional activities conducted
above, the organization often seems to focus on larger, more experienced, and exportready firms. In fact, on more than one occasion I participated in CITD counseling
sessions in which Ms. Gordillo instructed less experienced clients not to contact the
USEAC until they had overcome their preliminary obstacles and were completely ready
to begin exporting. Mr. Tastard also instructed me to carefully prescreen potential clients
before scheduling them for an appointment with him. At the minimum, this involved
ascertaining that the client’s business was domestically established and successful enough
to make the leap into foreign markets. Ultimately, any client that was persistent in
wishing to speak with Mr. Tastard was scheduled for a consultation appointment,
however smaller or less-established firms were often treated with a fair amount of
impertinence by Mr. Tastard.
This attitude may reflect an organizational philosophy on the part of the USEAC
that larger and more experienced firms are in a better position to take full advantage of
the cost-saving benefits of available services, and therefore better candidates for USEAC
export assistance activities (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 80). On the other hand, the
USEAC’s apparent reluctance to assist smaller or less experienced firms may also be a
manifestation of its partnership with the CITD, and a strategic effort to provide
specialized assistance between the two organizations (discussed in detail in the next
section of this chapter). In fact, CITD clients were almost always smaller or newly-
48
formed businesses with little or no export experience. Furthermore, nearly all of the
work I completed for CITD clients involved researching information that would be
particularly useful to new-to-export firms. As mentioned in chapter one, this included
information on: export regulations and documentary requirements; export product
classification systems; logistical or financial resources; local suppliers of products (for
clients starting an export business from scratch); and seminars and workshops for the
beginning exporter.
As might be deduced from the aforementioned USEAC screening process and the
organization’s emphasis on working with export-ready firms; the background,
international experience, perceptions, and export-commitment of firm managers were
evaluated by Mr. Tastard in order to measure the firm’s potential for export success and
to gauge the appropriateness of USEAC sales promotion services. As was the case with
smaller and less-experienced firms, clients with less experience or commitment to exports
were often thought of as better suited to the introductory information and educational
services provided by the CITD.
On the other hand, the Sacramento USEAC is highly involved in sponsoring and
promoting international trade shows and trade missions to foreign markets, which impart
experiential (rather than informational) market knowledge to managers. According to the
literature, these types of activities increase managerial expertise and decision-making
skills, as well as managerial abilities to formulate strategies, evaluate opportunities, and
establish foreign contacts (Singer and Czinkota, 1994, pp. 55-56; Fischer and Reuber,
2003, pp. 71-72, 79). However as previously discussed, these events may be
49
inappropriate (or too costly) for the smaller and new-to-export firms which have the
greatest need for export assistance services.
USEAC Efforts to Engage in Consultation, Coordination, and Specialization
The trade-related public policy literature has emphasized the importance for
export assistance providers to engage in formal consultation with the larger business
community and informal consultation with individual clients in order to appropriately
target client needs and to involve them in the design, development, and modification of
export assistance services. Furthermore, export assistance providers should strive for
increased coordination, collaboration, and specialization among federal and nonfederal
government agencies, industry and trade associations, business development
organizations, financial institutions, and private-sector service providers in order to
provide clients with the most effective and streamlined export assistance possible.
At the various workshops, seminars, and business development meetings which
the USEAC participates in on a regular basis, representatives from the larger business
community are afforded the opportunity to voice their export-related questions and
concerns to Mr. Tastard in a formal setting. These representatives may consist of
executives of local firms as well as community business leaders from various municipal
chambers of commerce or economic development associations. Although there is a lively
exchange of ideas in these settings, there is no outward attempt on the part of the USEAC
to include the business community in the design, development, or modification of its
export assistance services. According to the literature, formal mechanisms for engaging
50
the business community in this regard might prove useful, especially when considering
the fact that USEAC export assistance efforts should be targeted toward the small and
medium-sized businesses that typically attend these events (Seringhaus and Botschen,
1991, pp. 124, 130).
On the other hand, informal consultation between USEAC representatives and
clients takes place on a regular, if limited, basis. Many of the consultation sessions which
I participated in began with Mr. Tastard asking the client a question such as: ‘how can we
help you today?’ Clients were then afforded the opportunity to express their needs and
concerns, with Mr. Tastard interjecting periodically in order to steer the conversation
toward a discussion of available USEAC services. However, in some cases it became
clear that the client was not particularly interested in the sales promotion services that
Mr. Tastard was offering. Rather, they had hoped that they could receive help with some
specific problem or concern that Mr. Tastard was not willing or able to assist them with.
In these cases, the meeting ended with somewhat of an impasse between the two parties,
or a half-hearted, noncommittal agreement to initiate a USEAC sales promotion service.
In contrast, CITD consultation sessions were receptive to a much broader scope of
client needs and concerns. Ms. Gordillo patiently addressed a wide range of problems
presented to her by inexperienced clients that in many cases, were utilizing CITD
services in order to obtain assistance with starting an export business from scratch. It
seemed that she would provide an answer, suggestion, or promise for future clarification
for every question, problem, or concern that was brought to her by a client. In this
regard, comprehensively addressing the ongoing informational needs of a single CITD
51
client could require multiple counseling sessions and many hours of research over the
course of several months.
The importance of collaboration with other public and private-sector service
providers which has been emphasized within the literature has also been addressed by the
Sacramento USEAC on several fronts. The organization is not only co-located with the
CITD, but also with the SBDC of Greater Sacramento, an organization partially funded
by the SBA which provides training and assistance to clients in all aspects of small
business startup and management. The USEAC’s federal government partners include
the SBA, the Ex-Im Bank, the USDA, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
(OPIC), and hundreds of domestic and international U.S. Commercial Service affiliate
offices (Sac USEAC, 2009). The Sacramento USEAC has also partnered with privatesector financial institutions including City National Bank, Comerica Bank, M&T Bank,
and TD Bank; as well as export training, consulting, and management agencies including
Allocca Enterprises and SPAP Company LLC. In addition, the USEAC has partnered
with Baker & McKenzie for legal services; Global Linx Telecommunications; and FedEx
for logistical concerns (Sac USEAC, 2009). Finally, the Sacramento USEAC has
partnered with the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA), a
nonprofit organization comprised of 13 state-funded agricultural marketing and
promotion agencies; as well as several municipal chambers of commerce and business
development organizations too numerous to mention.
That said, the USEAC-CITD partnership which is referred to throughout this
report is the Sacramento USEAC’s most significant example of coordination with another
52
export assistance provider. In some respects, this partnership seems to exemplify the
collaboration and specialization which is highlighted within the literature as an integral
component of export assistance strategy. It helps to prevent the “overstretching” of
USEAC resources while allowing for tailored and individualized services to be provided
to firms based on their organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics
(Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994 pp. 79-80). Smaller and less experienced companies are
assisted by the CITD with a broad array of consultation services and informational
resources for the new-to-export firm. On the other hand, more experienced and
domestically well-established firms are assisted by the USEAC in developing and
implementing international marketing strategies that will lead directly to export sales.
However in some ways, this collaboration between the two organizations seems
poorly defined. This is evidenced by the fact that the CITD is not introduced or
identified as an official partner on the Sacramento USEAC website (According to Mr.
Tastard, this is because the CITD’s dual mission of providing export and import
assistance does not mesh with USEAC goals). Furthermore, there is no formal
mechanism in place which is aimed at identifying the unique organizational, managerial,
or export involvement characteristics of clients and funneling them toward the
appropriate organization for their needs. At the beginning of my internship, I was often
confused about the parameters of the USEAC-CITD partnership and the designated
functions of each organization, and I would imagine that many clients have felt the same
way. At a minimum, a formal description of the partnership along with an explanation of
the specialized export assistance roles of each organization would seem to be in order. In
53
addition, an initial consultation with Mr. Tastard and Ms. Gordillo outlining what clients
can expect from each organization as they grow and become more committed to
exporting would be useful.
USEAC Efforts to Provide Customer Satisfaction to Client Firms and Importers
The literature on export assistance strategy has highlighted the importance for
service providers to adopt the fundamental marketing concept of a customer satisfaction
philosophy in order to increase client commitment to exports and inspire confidence in
the information and services they offer. In this regard, export assistance providers should
be pleasant, courteous, and honest, and should strive to treat all clients with equal respect.
Furthermore, export assistance staff should be competent, skilled, knowledgeable, and
responsive to the unique needs and concerns of clients. Finally, services and information
should be delivered promptly and within the agreed upon timeframe while being
accurate, up-to-date, and tailored to meet the needs of individual firms. On the other
hand, service providers should also assist their clients in adopting a customer satisfaction
philosophy toward foreign importers. In this regard, export assistance providers should
offer services which help their clients to meet the needs of importers of U.S. goods.
I was fortunate enough to participate in several consultation sessions between
Sacramento USEAC clients and Mr. Tastard. From this experience I would say that Mr.
Tastard’s particular strengths were his knowledge, experience, and expertise in
developing and implementing international marketing strategies. In other words, if a
client owned a successful business that was absolutely export-ready, Mr. Tastard could
54
quickly suggest an appropriate target market (or several) and provide effective strategies,
tools, contacts, and resources which would enable the client’s firm to enter the market
and generate international sales. In the case of these serious, committed, and exportready clients, I would contend that the Sacramento USEAC delivered prompt, skilled,
and effective customer service.
However as previously alluded to, Mr. Tastard could be quite discourteous with
non-export-ready clients, or those who sought assistance with problems outside his area
of expertise. In my experience, Mr. Tastard would give a less experienced client his full
attention and offer them his honest opinions about their situation. At the same time, he
might plainly dismiss their particular needs and concerns, saying something to the effect
of, ‘well, that’s not really what I do here.’ In addition, Mr. Tastard’s demeanor with nonexport-ready clients was often quite gruff. On more than one occasion, I witnessed him
offering astonishingly blunt constructive criticisms to clients that may likely have been
interpreted as inappropriate or insulting.
In contrast, Ms. Gordillo was always courteous, respectful, and attentive to the
needs of CITD clients that came to her with a vast assortment of needs and concerns.
Many of these clients were in the early stages of starting an export business from scratch,
and had very little prior business experience. At times, often as a result of their
inexperience, CITD clients’ informational or market research requests were overly
specific, unreasonably ambiguous, or otherwise problematic or counterintuitive.
Nevertheless, their desires were taken seriously and every effort was made to address
their needs and accommodate their requests.
55
In light of the literature which emphasizes that export assistance personnel should
be competent, skilled, and knowledgeable in order to inspire confidence in the
organization and the information and services it provides, it is worth mentioning again
that eight out of the nine Sacramento USEAC employees are student interns serving on
six-month terms (Toften and Rustad, 2005, p. 689). Although Mr. Tastard acts as the
main point of contact for clients and oversees most aspects of USEAC export assistance
services, interns often conduct day-to-day customer service activities or promotional
campaigns that bring them into frequent contact with clients. That said, a more
knowledgeable and experienced staff would almost certainly have a positive influence on
client perceptions of the USEAC, and add to the organization’s overall effectiveness.
As mentioned above, the literature has also underscored the importance for client
firms to adopt a customer satisfaction philosophy toward foreign importers, and for
export service providers to assist them in doing so. In a study which measured the
attributes which U.S. firms could best improve upon in order to meet the needs of foreign
importers; sales effort, communication, providing technical advice, providing parts
availability, and gathering market information made up the top five (Czinkota and Ricks,
1981, p. 75). Interestingly, the top two attributes on this list might be considered
particular specialties of the Sacramento USEAC. The organization’s emphasis on sales
promotion and early-stage communication services such as trade and catalogue shows,
trade missions to foreign markets, the International Partner Search, and the Gold Key
Executive Appointment Service illustrates this point. In addition, the USEAC is able to
provide world-class market research and up-to-date market information through U.S.
56
Commercial Service Country Commercial Guides and its network of international trade
specialists overseas. On the other hand, assistance with providing technical advice and
providing parts availability are not particular specialties of the Sacramento USEAC. In
this regard, the organization may need to place a greater emphasis on assisting clients
with long-term communication and logistical concerns. With some coordination, these
areas might be appropriately addressed with the help of telecommunications and logistics
partners such as those mentioned above.
USEAC Efforts to Conduct Accurate and Meaningful Impact Assessments
According to the literature on export assistance strategy, service providers should
conduct accurate and meaningful impact assessments, while being careful to avoid selfserving positive evaluations of their efforts based on unreliable evidence or incomplete
data. In addition to examining their influence on quantitative or ‘hard’ performance
measures such as export sales growth, service providers should also analyze their impact
on qualitative or ‘soft’ performance measures such as managerial awareness,
competency, and knowledge. Furthermore, impact assessments should focus on signs of
intensified export involvement such as new customers, increased transactions, or
expanded markets. Finally, export assistance providers should recognize that there are no
universal criteria for program effectiveness. They should therefore conduct a series of
separate evaluations at both the firm and program levels, which might also serve as the
basis for the replacement, modification, or elimination of ineffective programs.
57
As discussed in chapter one of this report, Sacramento USEAC impact assessment
and reporting procedures consist of the drafting and submission of ‘Highlights’ and
‘Export Successes.’ Highlights seem to be an example of impact assessments which
measure the organization’s effect on the ‘soft’ performance measures of firms. In other
words, Highlights document that as a result of the USEAC’s participation in a seminar,
workshop, or other event, firm managers gained awareness of export benefits and
knowledge of the availability of export assistance services. In many cases, Highlights
also document that new clients or partners were identified as a result of the event in
question.
On the other hand, Export Successes focus mainly on ‘hard’ performance
measures, most notably the export sales which a firm was able to generate as a result of
USEAC assistance and services. However, Export Successes may also examine signs of
intensified export involvement, as evidenced by the fact that they must be classified
within the ‘New to Export,’ ‘New to Market,’ or ‘Increase to Market’ categories. In
addition, Export Successes may also refer to the USEAC’s effect on a firm’s ‘soft’
performance measures by documenting that the awareness, competency, and knowledge
which the firm gained through its relationship with the USEAC led directly to its export
sales.
As previously stated, there were a minimum number of Export Successes which
the Sacramento USEAC was expected to report on a yearly basis, and as the deadline for
this quota approached, Mr. Tastard placed a high level of urgency on the investigation
and drafting of these documents. As a result, I believe that some of the Export Successes
58
reported by the USEAC approximated the “self-serving post hoc rationalizations” which
have been warned against within the literature (Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, p. 52). For
example, in many cases Mr. Tastard would place ‘courtesy’ telephone calls to clients in
order to learn about their recent export sales. He would then instruct me to utilize the
CTS database in order to research all of the USEAC’s activities for that client. Often the
USEAC had not worked with the client in several years, or had never assisted them with
the market where the recent export sales took place. Nevertheless, a justification for an
Export Success was inevitably formulated by Mr. Tastard. In many cases, the
Sacramento USEAC’s impact on a firm’s recent export sales would be described in terms
of training and counseling which had taken place several years earlier. In this regard, it
seemed that an Export Success could be written for any client which the USEAC had
assisted (at any time and in almost any capacity), as long as the client had generated
recent export sales.
As stated above, the literature has also emphasized the importance for service
providers to conduct impact assessments at both the firm and program levels. That said,
it might be argued that Highlights address the program level by focusing on the
organization’s commitment to planning and participating in a variety of seminars,
workshops, and other events. On the other hand, Export Successes might be said to
examine the firm level by addressing the firm’s background, its relationship with the
USEAC, and its recent export sales. However a more comprehensive effort to separately
address the firm and program levels may be in order. For example, the USEAC might
focus on the program level by examining the utility of each of its export assistance
59
services individually, possibly rating them from most-effective to least-effective in order
address program strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, impact assessments might focus
on the firm level by examining how firms with varied organizational, managerial, and
export involvement characteristics stand to benefit from USEAC activities. These types
of impact assessments would certainly be more in-depth and meaningful than Highlights
and Export Successes, and better suited at formulating the basis for the replacement,
modification, or elimination of ineffective programs.
60
Chapter 4
EVALUATION
The analysis of the Sacramento USEAC’s policies and operations conducted in
the preceding chapter has identified several areas where the organization appropriately
meets the criteria for effective export assistance as highlighted within the trade-related
public policy literature and discussed throughout this report. However in other areas, the
organization falls short of properly addressing these criteria in ways which may reduce its
overall effectiveness and undermine its success. That said, this chapter will seek to
clarify the salient findings of the analysis conducted in chapter three and to further
illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of the Sacramento USEAC’s export assistance
activities.
Evaluation of Promoting Awareness of Export Benefits and Services
Through its sponsorship and participation in low-cost and community-oriented
workshops, seminars, business development meetings, and other local events, the
Sacramento USEAC appropriately targets small, medium-sized, and new-to-export firms
in efforts to promote awareness of the benefits of exporting and the availability of export
assistance services. However the USEAC largely emphasizes the direct benefits of
exporting (i.e. increased export sales) and the availability of sales promotion services (i.e.
trade and catalogue shows, trade missions to foreign markets, and the Gold Key
Executive Appointment Service) during these events. In addition, the Sacramento
USEAC devotes considerable resources to promotional campaigns (via mass email,
61
telemarketing, and the USEAC website) for international trade fairs and trade missions to
foreign markets which are often too costly or otherwise inappropriate for smaller and
non-export-ready firms.
A review of the pertinent literature has shown that the USEAC would achieve
greater success in reaching small, medium-sized, and new-to-export firms by promoting
awareness of the indirect benefits of exporting (i.e. improved overall sales growth;
greater flexibility, resiliency, and competitiveness in domestic markets; and opportunities
for future increases in export sales) in order to alleviate managerial concerns with
increased risks and decreased profits at the early stages of the export involvement process
(Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 649). Furthermore, the USEAC would be wise to devote
fewer resources toward promoting awareness of sales promotion services targeted at
larger and export-ready firms, and more resources toward promoting awareness of
services which are likely to be utilized by small, medium-sized, and new-to-export
companies. Examples of these types of services include: educational workshops; market
research; counseling and training; and assistance with financing, logistics, legal
procedures, documentary requirements, and marketing strategies.
Evaluation of Tailoring Export Assistance to the Needs of Individual Firms
Despite the fact that the Sacramento USEAC’s mission is to promote increased
export involvement among small and medium-sized U.S. firms, the organization often
seems to focus on larger, more established, and export-ready firms. This is evidenced by
the USEAC’s decided emphasis on sales promotion services which are likely to hold the
62
greatest utility for firms with mature organizational, managerial, and export involvement
characteristics. As discussed in the previous chapter, the Sacramento USEAC gives scant
attention to smaller and less experienced companies. In fact, its promotional efforts,
consultation services, and export assistance activities are all strongly oriented toward the
needs of export-ready firms. It seems that the USEAC is operating under the (probably
correct) assumption that focusing on more experienced firms will yield the most
immediate impact in terms of export sales growth. However, the trade-related public
policy literature has clearly emphasized the argument that service providers should focus
on smaller and less-experienced firms, where export assistance is needed most
(Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991; Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992; Singer and Czinkota, 1994;
Rosa, Scott, and Gilbert, 1994; Czinkota, 1994; Moines, 1998; Gencturk and Kotabe,
2001).
In this regard, the SBA has encouraged the USEACs to address the issue of
providing export assistance to non-export-ready firms by adopting a program called the
Export-Trade Assistance Partnership (E-TAP) (Nelson, 1999, p. 6). Under this initiative,
USEACs are tasked with identifying non-export-ready firms and encouraging them to
apply for the E-TAP program. Once accepted to the program, firms would receive
comprehensive in-classroom export training from a consortium of federal and nonfederal
export assistance providers. Firms that wish to export after completing this training
would then receive one-on-one follow-up assistance from the USEAC as well as
discounts on USEAC sales promotion services (Nelson, 1999, p. 6). Although the E-TAP
initiative demonstrates the federal government’s awareness of the importance of assisting
63
non-export-ready firms, the program has thus far been implemented on only a limited
basis at select USEAC locations, not including Sacramento (Nelson, 1999, p. 6).
That said, the needs of smaller and non-export-ready firms are meaningfully
addressed through the Sacramento USEAC’s partnership with the co-located CITD. As
discussed in chapter three, the CITD is dedicated to assisting clients with a full range of
information and services tailored to meet the needs of less-experienced firms. In
addition, the CITD works to promote awareness of the export services which are
specifically targeted to non-export-ready firms, such as workshops and seminars for the
beginning exporter. Furthermore, the CITD does not engage in the sales promotion
activities which are aimed at export-ready firms and conducted exclusively by the
USEAC. The USEAC-CITD partnership is clearly a significant component of USEAC
efforts to tailor export assistance to the needs of individual firms. However as will be
discussed in the next section, this is a collaboration which needs further definition.
Evaluation of Consultation, Coordination, and Specialization
As discussed in chapter three, the Sacramento USEAC engages in formal
consultation with the larger business community through its participation in workshops,
seminars, business development meetings, and a variety of other local events. However
there is no outward attempt on the part of the USEAC to involve the business community
in the design, development, or modification of export assistance services. According to
the trade-related public policy literature, USEAC programs might significantly benefit
from obtaining the business communities input in this regard (Seringhaus and Botschen,
64
1991, pp. 124, 130). On the other hand, the organization engages in informal
consultation with individual clients on a limited basis. In actuality, USEAC consultations
place a strong emphasis on the sales promotion services which are offered by the
organization, rather than the particular desires of individual clients. In contrast, CITD
consultation sessions are much more receptive to a broad assortment of client needs and
concerns. This may reflect another critical component of the USEAC-CITD partnership,
which will be discussed in further detail below.
Chapter three has also identified coordination with government agencies and
private-sector service providers as a particular strength of the USEAC, which has forged
partnerships with federal, state, and local export promotion and business development
organizations; private-sector export assistance providers; and financial institutions. In
addition, the USEAC has collaborated with private-sector legal, logistical, and
telecommunications service providers. That said, the organization’s most significant
effort at coordination is its partnership with the CITD. As discussed above, this
collaboration allows for the specialization (with regard to tailoring export assistance to
the needs of individual firms) that has been identified within the literature as a critical
element of an effective export promotion policy (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, pp. 79-80).
However as discussed in chapter three, the USEAC-CITD collaboration is poorly
defined, and would benefit greatly from a formal description of the partnership, an
explanation of the compartmentalized services offered by each organization, and new
consultation activities designed to educate clients on these issues.
65
Evaluation of Providing Customer Satisfaction to Client Firms and Importers
As discussed in the previous chapter, the Sacramento USEAC provides skilled,
timely, and effective customer service to firms which possess the organizational and
managerial characteristics necessary for utilizing the USEAC’s market strategy
formulation and implementation services. However the organization’s approach to lessexperienced and non-export-ready clients is often unaccommodating, discourteous, and
dismissive. Furthermore, the fact that eight of the nine Sacramento USEAC employees
are interns serving on temporary assignments suggests that clients are not always
receiving expert customer service from competent, knowledgeable, and skilled
individuals.
On the other hand, the CITD treats firms with varying organizational, managerial,
and export involvement characteristics with equal amounts of respect, and makes every
effort to address each client’s specific needs and concerns. In comparison to the USEAC,
the CITD more consistently provides good customer service which often translates into a
positive perception of the service provider, confidence in the information and services it
offers, and an increased commitment to exports (Toften and Rustad, 2005, pp. 685-686).
This seems to be another area where the USEAC stands to benefit from its collaboration
with the CITD, and an additional reason why the USEAC-CITD partnership needs further
definition.
Chapter three has also discussed the USEAC’s ability to assist client firms in
providing customer satisfaction to foreign importers. According to the trade-related
public policy literature, the top attributes which U.S. companies can improve upon in
66
order to meet the needs of foreign importers are: sales effort, communication, providing
technical advice, providing parts availability, and gathering market information (Czinkota
and Ricks, 1981, p. 75). In this regard, the USEAC’s distinct emphasis on providing
sales promotion and early-stage communication services, as well as its ability to provide
accurate and up-to-date market information, can be seen as particular strengths. On the
other hand, the USEAC will need to place a greater emphasis on services which address
the long-term communication and logistical concerns of clients in order to adequately
assist them with providing technical advice and parts availability to foreign importers.
One place to start would be forging new partnerships and strengthening existing
collaborations with private-sector telecommunications and logistics service providers.
Evaluation of Conducting Accurate and Meaningful Impact Assessments
As previously discussed, the Sacramento USEAC’s impact assessment and
reporting procedures consist of the drafting and submission of ‘Highlights’ and ‘Export
Successes.’ Highlights appropriately comment on the qualitative or ‘soft’ performance
measures (i.e. export awareness, competency, and knowledge) which the USEAC
provides to firms at workshops, seminars, business development meetings, and other
events. According to the literature, these ‘soft’ performance measures are critical to a
program’s overall effectiveness, and especially important to firms with early-stage
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics (Seringhaus and
Botschen, 1991, p. 117; Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 82).
67
On the other hand, while Export Successes focus heavily on ‘hard’ performance
measures such as export sales, they also appropriately address signs of intensified export
involvement such as increased transactions, new customers, or expanded markets. In
some cases, Export Successes also emphasize the importance of ‘soft’ performance
measures by documenting that the USEAC provided counseling and training (cultivating
awareness, competency, and knowledge) which ultimately led to export sales. However
as discussed in chapter three, Export Successes often seem to devolve into self-serving
and unsubstantiated attempts at justifying USEAC policy and affirming the
organization’s effectiveness. The trade-related public policy literature has warned
against these types of “…post hoc rationalizations,” and emphasized that in many cases,
accurately establishing causality between specific export assistance services and eventual
export sales is a complex and challenging task (Gencturk and Kotabe, 2001, p. 52;
Seringhaus and Botschen, 1991, p. 117; Kotabe and Czinkota, 1992, p. 640).
The literature has also emphasized that rather than applying a “global measure of
impact assessment,” service providers should gage their effectiveness through separate
evaluations at both the firm and program levels (Cavusgil and Yeoh, 1994, p. 83). In this
regard, the USEAC might focus on the program level by assessing each of its services on
an individual basis in order to identify program strengths and weaknesses. On the other
hand, impact assessments at the firm level might examine how firms with varied
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics can utilize and benefit
from USEAC services. Finally, these types of impact assessments should form the basis
for the modification, replacement, or elimination of ineffective programs.
68
Chapter 5
RECOMMENDATIONS
Chapters three and four have analyzed and evaluated the Sacramento USEAC’s
policy and day-to-day operations with regard to the five criteria for effective export
assistance which have been highlighted within the IR literature and detailed in chapter
two of this report. Several of the USEAC’s particular strengths, weaknesses, and
limitations have been discussed in this regard. Drawing from this analysis, and
specifically from the areas for improvement which have been identified in chapter four,
the following recommendations for advancing the Sacramento USEAC’s operational
effectiveness are proposed:
1. During workshops, seminars, business development meetings, and other events,
USEAC presentations should promote awareness of the indirect benefits of
exporting such as improved overall sales growth; greater flexibility, resiliency,
and competitiveness in domestic markets; and future opportunities for
international sales. Managers of smaller and new-to-export firms are often
concerned with the increased risks and decreased short-term profits which may
occur at the beginning stages of the internationalization process. For this reason,
a discussion of the indirect benefits of exporting might assuage their fears and
inspire added enthusiasm and commitment to exports.
2. The USEAC should devote greater resources toward promoting awareness of
services targeted at smaller, less experienced, and new-to-export firms. These
69
services include: market research; counseling; seminars and workshops for the
beginning exporter; and assistance with financing, logistics, documentary
requirements, legal procedures, and marketing strategies. Currently, the USEAC
heavily emphasizes sales promotion services (which are targeted at established,
export-ready firms) within its public presentations and its mass-email,
telemarketing, and website promotional campaigns. Shifting resources to
promote a greater awareness of services tailored to smaller and new-to-export
firms would encourage the use of export assistance services by those companies
that need it most.
3. The USEAC-CITD partnership should be more comprehensively defined and
additional mechanisms should be established for clarifying and solidifying the
collaboration and specialization between the two organizations. As discussed in
previous chapters, the CITD is a critical component of the USEAC’s ability to
assist smaller and less experienced firms. In this regard, the USEAC-CITD
partnership addresses several of the factors which have been identified within the
literature as vital to an effective export assistance strategy. These factors include:
promoting awareness of export benefits and services; tailoring assistance to the
needs of smaller, less experienced, and new-to-export firms; engaging in informal
consultation with clients; increasing coordination and specialization between
government agencies; and providing quality customer service. In order to
strengthen the USEAC-CITD partnership, a formal description of the
70
collaboration and an explanation of the specialized export assistance roles of each
organization should be developed and posted on the websites for both
organizations. This information might also be circulated in emails, described in
USEAC presentations, or otherwise distributed to clients. In addition, initial
consultations with clients might include representatives from both the USEAC
and the CITD, as well as a comprehensive explanation of the types of assistance
that clients (with varying organizational, managerial, and export involvement
characteristics) can expect to receive from each organization going forward.
4. The USEAC should formulate strategies and mechanisms which would allow for
the business community to participate in the design, development, and
modification of export assistance services. Currently the organization conducts a
minimal amount of formal consultation with the larger business community
during workshops, seminars, business development meetings, and other local
events. In order to devise more effective and customer-centered export assistance
services, the USEAC should place a stronger emphasis on this type of
consultation, and directly involve the business community in the planning and
development of export assistance programs. This may be accomplished through
actively seeking input during meetings with business development collectives,
industry and trade associations, or employer’s organizations. In addition, the
USEAC should increase its willingness to engage in informal consultation with
clients in order to address their individual needs and concerns. In particular, the
71
organization should strive to conduct meaningful consultations with smaller, less
experienced, and non-export-ready firms which frequently require unique and
personalized forms of assistance.
5. In order to generate enthusiasm for exports and to inspire confidence in the
information and services it offers, the USEAC should improve its ability to
provide quality customer service to its clients. In particular, a greater effort
should be made to treat smaller, less experienced, and non-export-ready firms
with courtesy and respect. As alluded to above, the USEAC should also improve
its responsiveness to the unique needs and concerns of these less experienced
clients, and be willing to tailor its services accordingly. In addition, the USEAC
should ensure that clients are receiving expert, skilled and knowledgeable
customer service by hiring at least one full-time paid employee. Ideally, this staff
member would have international trade experience and be primarily dedicated to
communicating with clients and assisting them with their questions and concerns.
The addition of this employee would potentially mitigate the lack of knowledge
and experience among the USEAC’s volunteer intern staff, and provide clients
with a satisfactory alternative to working directly with Mr. Tastard.
6. The USEAC should also make a conscious effort to assist clients in providing
quality customer service to foreign importers. As previously mentioned, the top
attributes which U.S. companies can improve upon in this regard are: sales effort,
communication, providing technical advice, providing parts availability, and
72
gathering market information (Czinkota and Ricks, 1981, p. 75). Although the
USEAC adequately addresses clients’ sales effort, early-stage communication,
and market research needs, it does not emphasize services aimed at providing
technical advice or parts availability to foreign companies. The USEAC should
therefore seek to assist its clients in meeting importer’s needs by strengthening its
commitment to providing long-term communication and logistics services. In this
regard, the USEAC should work toward forging new partnerships and
strengthening existing collaborations with private-sector telecommunications and
logistics service providers in order offer suitable and affordable long-term
communication and logistics services.
7. The USEAC should make a concerted effort to improve its overall willingness to
tailor export assistance to the needs of individual firms. In this regard, the
organization currently focuses almost exclusively on larger, more established,
export-ready firms, and often neglects to address the needs of smaller, less
established, non-export-ready firms. In fairness, these less experienced clients are
well-served by the CITD within the structure of the USEAC-CITD partnership
(although as discussed above, this collaboration needs further definition).
However the USEAC should also strive to strengthen its own efforts to
accommodate the needs of smaller and less experienced firms. Several
suggestions for improvement in this regard have already been discussed within
the other recommendations proposed in this chapter. These include: promoting
73
awareness of the indirect benefits of exporting and the availability of services
which are particularly important to less experienced firms; conducting meaningful
informal consultations with clients and being responsive to their individual needs
and concerns; and treating all clients with equal amounts of courtesy and respect
regardless of their organizational, managerial, or export involvement
characteristics. In addition, USEAC management should began working toward a
full adoption of the E-TAP program (discussed in detail in chapter four) in order
to provide effective export assistance to smaller, less experienced, and nonexport-ready firms.
8. In order to conduct accurate and meaningful impact assessments, the USEAC
should place considerably less emphasis on Export Successes, which often seem
to be self-serving rationalizations of the organization’s effectiveness based on
insufficient evidence and incomplete data. Rather, the USEAC should strive to
conduct objective evaluations which focus separately on both the firm and
program levels. At the program level, one suggestion would be to evaluate each
of the USEAC’s promotional activities and services on a case-by-case basis. It
might also be useful to devise a ranking system for these activities which would
help to highlight the organization’s particular strengths and weaknesses. At the
firm level, impact assessments might examine how firms with varying
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics may utilize
and benefit from USEAC activities and services. That said, surveys of client
74
impressions of the various services they received and their corresponding benefits
in terms of ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ performance measures would most likely serve as an
effective component of impact assessments conducted at both the firm and
program levels. Finally, these more meaningful and objective impact assessments
should be used to form the basis for the replacement, modification, or elimination
of ineffective programs.
75
Chapter 6
CONCLUSIONS
During my six-month volunteer internship at the Sacramento USEAC, I
participated in a variety of export promotional activities and administrative tasks which
may broadly be characterized as falling within the following five categories. First, I
communicated with clients via email, telephone conversations, and in-office
consultations, and initiated export assistance services on their behalf. Second, I
conducted promotional campaigns for international trade shows, trade missions to foreign
markets, and several other events while utilizing mass-emails, USEAC website postings,
and telemarketing campaigns. Third, I administered the Sacramento USEAC website and
authored, posted, and modified several webpages per Mr. Tastard’s request. Fourth, I
completed mandatory reading assignments and a variety of administrative tasks. Finally,
I participated in USEAC impact assessment and reporting procedures, specifically the
investigation and drafting of Highlights and Export Successes. In addition, I served as an
intern for the co-located CITD, where my work was largely confined to performing
research aimed at addressing the informational needs of less experienced and non-exportready clients.
In creating the broader context for an analysis of the Sacramento USEAC’s
organizational effectiveness, a review of the pertinent trade-related public policy
literature on export assistance strategy has illuminated five criteria as critical to an
effective export promotion policy. First, export assistance providers should promote
awareness of the direct and indirect benefits of exporting and the availability of export
76
assistance services, particularly among smaller and new-to-export firms. Second, service
providers should identify the unique organizational, managerial, and export involvement
characteristics of firms and tailor export assistance activities accordingly. Third, export
assistance providers should engage in meaningful consultation with individual clients and
the larger business community, and strive for increased coordination and specialization
among federal and nonfederal government service providers; business development
organizations; industry and trade associations; private-sector enterprises; and financial
institutions. Fourth, service providers should adopt the fundamental marketing concept
of a customer satisfaction philosophy, and should also assist their clients in fulfilling
foreign importer’s needs. Finally, export assistance providers should conduct accurate
and meaningful impact assessments which should then serve as the basis for the
modification, replacement, or elimination of ineffective programs.
These five criteria for effective export promotion and my personal experience
working as an intern within the Sacramento USEAC have been utilized as the basis to
conduct an analysis of the organization. As a result, several strengths and weaknesses of
USEAC policy and operations have been identified. First, the USEAC regularly
promotes awareness of export benefits and services while appropriately targeting smaller
and new-to-export firms. However, the organization does not emphasize the indirect
benefits of exporting (such as improved overall sales growth; greater flexibility,
resiliency, and competitiveness in domestic markets; and future opportunities for
international sales) or the availability of the export assistance services (i.e. market
research; counseling; seminars and workshops for the beginning exporter; and assistance
77
with financing, logistics, documentary requirements, legal procedures, and marketing
strategies) which are particularly important to the smaller and new-to-export firms it is
targeting.
Second, the USEAC focuses the majority of its attention on firms with mature
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics, while largely
neglecting the smaller and new-to-export firms which have the most significant need for
export assistance. Nevertheless the needs of less experienced firms are appropriately
addressed by the CITD within the context of the USEAC-CITD partnership. However,
this is a collaboration which needs further definition, as well as greater clarification in
regard to the specialized services which are available to clients through each
organization. For example, a formal description of the partnership, an explanation of the
compartmentalized services offered by each organization, and new consultation activities
designed to educate clients on the parameters of the collaboration would be useful.
Third, the USEAC engages in limited formal and informal consultation with the
larger business community and individual clients. However, the organization does not
allow for meaningful input from the business community on the design, development,
and modification of export assistance services. Furthermore, the USEAC is often
unreceptive to the unique needs and concerns of less experienced clients. In this regard,
one way to increase responsiveness to the needs of individual clients would be to bolster
the USEAC-CITD partnership as described above. That said, coordination with a variety
of government and private-sector service providers is a particular strength of the USEAC,
and the USEAC-CITD partnership is the organization’s most significant collaboration in
78
terms of providing specialized services to firms based on their organizational,
managerial, and export involvement characteristics.
Fourth, the USEAC generally provides quality customer service to larger and
export-ready firms. However, the customer service provided to smaller and non-exportready firms is of an inferior quality. This is evidenced by the USEAC’s concentration of
resources on assisting well-established companies which are most likely to generate
short-term export sales growth, and its impatience in dealing with clients with early-stage
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics. In addition, the
USEAC’s staff, which consists almost entirely of non-paid student interns, may at times
inhibit the organization’s ability to provide expert, skilled, and knowledgeable customer
service. On the other hand, the USEAC appropriately assists clients in meeting foreign
importer’s needs in the areas of sales effort, early-stage communication, and market
research, but does not devote sufficient attention to assisting clients with the long-term
communication and logistical support necessary for providing technical advice and parts
availability to their foreign customers.
Finally, USEAC impact assessments consisting of Highlights and Export
Successes appropriately address both the quantitative (‘hard’) and qualitative (‘soft’)
performance measures by which the organization may be evaluated, as well as signs of
intensified export involvement such as increased transactions, new customers, and
expanded markets. However, Export Successes largely ignore the complexity and
challenges of establishing causality between services provided and eventual export sales.
They therefore seem to serve as little more than subjective claims of USEAC
79
effectiveness based on insufficient evidence and incomplete data. The organization
would not only benefit from more effective impact assessments, but also from careful
need assessments. In this regard, the USEAC should engage in ongoing efforts to
identify and assess the unique export assistance needs of clients with varying
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics.
These analyses and evaluations have been utilized in order to propose the
following recommendations for improving the Sacramento USEAC’s organizational
effectiveness:
1. Promoting Increased Awareness of Export Benefits and Services
During workshops, seminars, business developments meetings, and other events, USEAC
presentations should promote awareness of the indirect benefits of exporting (i.e.
improved overall sales growth; greater flexibility, resiliency, and competitiveness in
domestic markets; and future opportunities for international sales) as well as the export
assistance services (such as market research; counseling; seminars and workshops for the
beginning exporter; and assistance with financing, logistics, documentary requirements,
legal procedures, and marketing strategies) which are particularly important to smaller
and new-to-export firms. Likewise, USEAC promotional campaigns should focus less on
sales promotion services for export-ready firms, and more on services which are likely to
benefit less experienced and non-export-ready clients, such as those described above.
80
2. Strengthening the USEAC-CITD Partnership and Improving Consultation Efforts
The USEAC-CITD partnership needs further definition, and additional mechanisms (such
as a formal description of the partnership, an explanation of the compartmentalized
services offered by each organization, and new consultation activities designed to educate
clients on the collaboration) should be established which would strengthen the
partnership and clarify the specialized export assistance roles of each organization. In
addition, the USEAC should increase its capacity to engage in formal consultation with
the larger business community in the context of business development meetings,
workshops, seminars, and other local events. In this regard, business leaders should be
encouraged to participate in the design, development, and modification of export
assistance programs. Furthermore, the USEAC should increase its willingness to engage
in informal consultation with individual clients, specifically those with less developed
organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics.
3. Improving Customer Service for Client Firms and Foreign Importers
The USEAC should strive to provide better customer service to smaller, less experienced,
and non-export-ready firms. As mentioned above, this could be accomplished, at least in
part, through strengthening the USEAC-CITD partnership. In addition, the USEAC
should hire at least one full-time paid employee in order to ensure that customers are
receiving skilled and knowledgeable customer service. The organization should also
strengthen its capacity to assist clients in meeting foreign customer’s needs, particularly
in the areas of long-term communications and logistics.
81
4. Targeting Smaller, Less Experienced, and Non-Export-Ready Firms
The USEAC should improve its ability to tailor export assistance to the needs of smaller,
less experienced, and non-export-ready clients. This could be done by strengthening the
USEAC-CITD partnership, and also by focusing on the key areas (as described above) of
promoting awareness of the export benefits and services which are most important to less
experienced firms; conducting meaningful informal consultations with clients; and
providing courteous, respectful, and responsive customer service to all firms regardless of
their organizational, managerial, or export involvement characteristics. In addition,
USEAC management should begin working toward a full incorporation of the E-TAP
program (discussed in detail in chapter four) in order to more effectively address the
needs of smaller, less experienced, and non-export-ready firms.
5. Conducting Meaningful Need and Impact Assessments
The USEAC should conduct more accurate, rigorous, and meaningful impact assessments
at both the firm and program levels, which should then serve as the basis for the
modification, replacement, or elimination of ineffective programs. In addition, need
assessments should be conducted in order to gauge the unique export assistance needs of
firms with varied organizational, managerial, and export involvement characteristics.
This culminating experience project has complemented my academic learning
within the International Affairs program in several ways. While serving as an intern at
the Sacramento USEAC, I was able learn about the strategic role of promoting
international sales for U.S. businesses. Likewise, I was able to witness firsthand the U.S.
82
government’s policies and mechanisms for improving our nation’s balance of trade in
order to maintain economic security and to create and preserve American jobs. By
participating in the USEAC’s export promotion activities, I gained an in-depth
knowledge of the U.S. government’s export assistance policies and day-to-day
operations. I also gathered awareness of the many export assistance strategies and
resources at the government’s disposal, including an expansive network of domestic and
international partners which is often instrumental in assisting U.S. businesses with their
exporting needs.
In addition, I gained insight into the various challenges and problems that U.S.
businesses face as they formulate international marketing strategies and endeavor to enter
into foreign markets. Furthermore, I learned about the many readily accessible resources
which are available to firms for addressing these concerns. Finally, by analyzing the
Sacramento USEAC with regard to the trade-related public policy literature on export
assistance strategy, I have been able to grasp the significance of academic studies which
may effectively serve as the basis for the design, development, and improvement of
government organizations and policies. Notwithstanding the various shortcomings of the
USEAC which have been identified in this study, I was pleasantly surprised by the
frequency with which the organization’s policies directly addressed the criteria for
effective export assistance which have been highlighted within the literature and
examined throughout this report.
83
REFERENCES
Cavusgil, Tamer and Poh-Lin Yeoh. (1994). Public Sector Promotion of U.S. Export
Activity: A Review and Directions for the Future. Journal of Public Policy and
Marketing, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 76-84. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from JSTOR
database.
Chang, Ha-Joon. (2003). Kicking Away the Ladder: Infant Industry Promotion in
Historical Perspective. Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 21-32.
Retrieved 3 November 2009 from EBSCOhost Business Source Premier database.
Crick, Dave and Michael R. Czinkota. (1995). Export Assistance: Another Look at
Whether We are Supporting the Best Programmes. International Marketing
Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 61-72. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from Emerald Full
Text database.
Czinkota, Michael R. (1994). A National Export Assistance Policy for New and Growing
Businesses. Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 91-101.
Retrieved 19 April 2009 from JSTOR database.
Czinkota, Michael R. and David A. Ricks. (1981). Export Assistance: Are We Supporting
The Best Programs? Columbia Journal of World Business, Vol. 16, No. 2,
pp. 73-78. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from EBSCOhost Business Source Premier
database.
Diamantopoulos, A, B.B. Schlegelmilch and K.Y. Katy Tse. (1993). Understanding the
Role of Export Marketing Assistance: Empirical Evidence and Research Needs.
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 5-18. Retrieved 19 April
2009 from Emerald Full Text database.
Dubinsky, Alan J. and Abdalla Hanafy. (1996). The Super Sales Force: Politicians in the
World Market. Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 73-87.
Retrieved 19 April 2009 from JSTOR database.
Fischer, Eileen and A. Rebecca Reuber. (2003). Targeting Export Support to SMEs:
Owners’ International Experience as a Segmentation Basis. Small Business
Economics, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 69-82. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from EBSCOhost
EconLit database.
Gencturk, Esra F. and Masaaki Kotabe. (2001). The Effect of Export Assistance Program
Usage on Export Performance: A Contingency Explanation. Journal of
International Marketing, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 51-72. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from
JSTOR database.
84
Kotabe, Masaaki and Michael R. Czinkota. (1992). State Government Promotion of
Manufacturing Exports: A Gap Analysis. Journal of International Business
Studies, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 637-658. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from JSTOR
database.
Lall, Sanjaya. (1997). Selective Policies for Export Promotion: Lessons from the Asian
Tigers. United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics
Research UNU/WIDER.
Moini, A. H. (1998). Small Firms Exporting: How Effective are Government Export
Assistance Programs? Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 36, No. 1,
pp. 1-15. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from ProQuest database.
Nelson, Benjamin F. (1999). Export Promotion: U.S. Export Assistance Centers’ Efforts
to Support U.S. Businesses. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Tax,
Finance, and Exports, Committee on Small Business, House of Representatives.
United States General Accounting Office. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from
EBSCOhost Business Source Premier database.
Posner, Alan R. (1984). State Government Export Promotion: An Exporters Guide.
Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut.
Rosa, Peter, Michael Scott and Robin Gilbert. (1994). The Internal Change Agent
Approach to Export Training in Small Firms. Journal of European Industrial
Training, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 17-22. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from Emerald Full
Text database.
Sacramento U.S. Export Assistance Center Website (Sac USEAC). Retrieved 1
September 2009 from http://www.buyusa.gov/sacramento.
Seringhaus, F. H. Rolf and Guenther Botschen. (1991). Cross-National Comparison of
Export Promotion Services: The Views of Canadian and Austrian Companies.
Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 115-133. Retrieved
19 April 2009 from JSTOR database.
Seringhaus, F. H. Rolf and Philip J. Rosson. (1999). The Influence of Export Support on
Management and Performance Characteristics of International Trade Fair
Exhibitors. American Marketing Association Conference Proceedings, Vol. 10,
pp.246-247. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from ProQuest database.
Singer, Thomas Owen and Michael R. Czinkota. (1994). Factors Associated with
Effective Use of Export Assistance. Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 2,
No. 1, pp. 53-71. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from JSTOR database.
85
Toften, Kjell and Kirsten Rustad. (2005). Attributes of Information Quality of Export
Market Assistance: An Exploratory Study. European Journal of Marketing,
Vol. 39, No. 5/6, pp. 676-695. Retrieved 19 April 2009 from Emerald Full Text
database.
United States Commercial Service (USCS), International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce. (2007). A World of Opportunity: One Global Network,
Moving Forward 2008. U.S. Commercial Service Marketing Office.
United States Department of Commerce (DOC). (2005). Export Programs Guide: A
Business Guide to Federal Export Assistance. International Trade
Administration’s Office of Public Affairs.
United States Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC). (2008). 2008 National
Export Strategy: The New Global Main Street. U.S. Department of Commerce.