The Export Readiness Assessment is designed to determine a company’s strengths and opportunities when approaching the decision to actively seek international business opportunities. The assessment will gauge a company’s readiness to export based on four criteria:
- Export Resources
- Marketing Methods
- Management Commitment
- Product Potential
A. COMPANY READINESS
- Are you an established presence in your industry domestically?
- How extensive is your current domestic sales outreach?
- How do you sell and distribute your products in the domestic market?
- Do you customarily conduct market research and planning for your domestic operations?
- To what extent do you advertise and promote your products in the domestic market?
- Do any of your current managers or staff have export marketing or sales experience?
- Has your company received any unsolicited inquiries from foreign firms?
- Could you promptly fill any new export orders from present inventory or other sources?
- How would you handle any new or additional export business within your organization?
- What is the current status of your export activity?
- Is your top management committed to exporting as a new or expanded area of activity?
- How much per year could you afford to spend on export development?
- How long would your management be willing to wait to achieve acceptable export results?
B. PRODUCT READINESS
- Have domestic sales of your product grown over the past 3 years (average per year)?
- What is your product’s current share of the domestic market?
- Is your product price-competitive in the domestic market?
- What payment terms would you be willing to offer reputable foreign buyers?
- Does your product compare favorably with domestic competitors in features and benefits?
- Would you be willing to adapt your product and/or packaging to better suit foreign markets?
- Is your product costly to transport over long distances?
- Is any special training required to assemble, install or operate your product?
- Does your product require any special technical support or after-sale service?
- Can your product tolerate harsh or widely varying environmental conditions?
Log on to www.exportingPA.org to complete the Export Readiness Assessment and determine if your company is “export ready”.
