Export Promotion Programs Research Articles

Export demand for U.S. pecans: Impacts of U.S. export promotion programs

Export demand for U.S. pecans: Impacts of U.S. export promotion programs

An Evaluation of State Sponsored Promotion Programs

In this analysis, we test hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of government export promotion programs on firm export success by examining the relationships between program offerings and state exports. We find that: (1) trade shows are positively related to direct exports, (2) trade missions are negatively associated with high-tech growth exports, (3) foreign offices are not associated with exports, and (4) objective market information programs, such as computer-generated trade leads, are negatively associated with direct exports. Implications for business are offered as are directions for future research efforts.

The Effect of State Appropriations on Export-Related Employment in Manufacturing

State governments use economic development programs to strengthen the economic bases of their states, increase tax revenues, and preserve and increase job opportunities. Export promotion organizations are a key element of these programs. This article attempts to partially address the lack of evaluative literature regarding the effectiveness of export promotion programs by providing an analysis of the relationship between state appropriations and export-related employment in manufacturing. The findings support the suggestion that state appropriations for export promotion result in higher employment for firms that are directly involved in exporting their products overseas. No evidence is found of a relationship between appropriations and employment in firms that produce the components of export products.

Export decision-making in small firms: the role of organizational learning

The United States government and many state governments are promoting exports of technology and services in order to strengthen the nation's trade balance and increase its world market share in critical industries. Environmental technology and services have been targeted as an industry with strong export potential. Small- and medium-sized U.S. environmental firms, however, earn only a small percentage of their revenues from international sales. Many obstacles seem to inhibit small firms from responding positively to U.S. export promotion policies, but many of the problems may be rooted in their organizational paradigms and perceptions of external business conditions. This study analyzes how the organizational paradigms of small environmental service firms influence their competitive orientations and interpretations of the opportunities or threats involved in exporting. Our survey found that when these small firms value organizational learning they are more likely to consider exporting as an opportunity and more likely to act on that interpretation. The findings imply that it is not enough for export promotion programs to address small firms' concerns with economic results, they must also enhance their perceptions of the value of learning from exporting.

The effect of export promotion on U.S. trade performance: An analysis of industry internationalization

This article examines the effect of export promotion on the U.S. balance of trade by investigating the trade patterns of U.S. industries. Industry concentration, shipment volume, and capital expenditure are found to have a major effect on industry trade performance. For most industries, increased exports are accompanied over time by rapidly growing imports, resulting in a gradually increasing industry-specific trade deficit. By differentiating highly competitive industries, the authors conclude that export promotion programs will contribute more successfully to trade deficit reduction if industry segmentation approaches are used.

Export demand for US orange juice: Impacts of US export promotion programs

Export demand for US frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) was estimated with special focus on the impacts of export promotion programs based on annual observations from 1984 to 1992. The study was based on exports to France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Results indicate that own-price, real exchange rate of the importing country in most cases, and trend had a negative relationship with US FCOJ exports; while the price of Brazilian FCOJ exports, the real income (GNP) of the importing country, and export promotion programs were positively related to US FCOJ exports. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Manufacturer versus trading company export behavior: The US processed fruit industries

Government export promotion programs are ultimately intended to increase exports of US products over the long run; however, empirical testing to determine the most efficient way to attain this goal is limited. Regression results from a time-series of five processed fruit industries indicate that direct exporters -- processors who themselves handle exports -- are far more likely to maintain export levels over time than trading companies. Generic promotion expenditures are found to increase only indirect exports, and indirect exports have a very limited effect on future direct exports. These results indicate that efficient export enhancement policy should encourage direct exporting by food processors. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Export Attitudes and Behaviour in India:

A predominating concern of the researchers examining India's poor export performance has been with the price related macro economic variables. Even the thrust of India's export promotion policies and programmes has been on enhancing price competiveness and profitability of export operations. Little attention has been paid to developing an understanding of the firms' export attitutdes and their international marketing planning and organisational activities which have been found to be important determinants of firms' export involvement and performance in the empirical studies in other countries. In order to fill this informationa gap, a pilot study of selected manufacturing Indian firms was undertaken. The present paper discusses major findings of the study and lists alongside the implications for export policy formulation, development of corporate plans and future research in this area.

Export decisions of food processing firms in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma

This research presents the results of a survey of food processing firms in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The differences between exporters and nonexporters, and the factors that contribute to a firm entering the export market were focal points of the survey. Results include the finding that despite slight differences in firm size, age of primary product, or other demographic or firm characteristics, managerial apathy is one of the largest impediments to increased midwest food product exports. Firms are also concerned about dealing with the perishable nature of their product. The study also found that export promotion programs are popular but perhaps misdirected. The kinds of services offered are in line with what exporters like, but do not address many of the obstacles widely experienced by these firms. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Export decisions of food processing firms in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma

This research presents the results of a survey of food processing firms in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The differences between exporters and nonexporters, and the factors that contribute to a firm entering the export market were focal points of the survey. Results include the finding that despite slight differences in firm size, age of primary product, or other demographic or firm characteristics, managerial apathy is one of the largest impediments to increased midwest food product exports. Firms are also concerned about dealing with the perishable nature of their product. The study also found that export promotion programs are popular but perhaps misdirected. The kinds of services offered are in line with what exporters like, but do not address many of the obstacles widely experienced by these firms. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

BIG EMERGING MARKETS AND U.S. TRADE

United States history is steeped in trade and trade debate, from the pivotal role of the Boston Tea Party in shaping the United States as a nation to the recent debate over the merits of U.S. ratification of the present version of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations. It is no surprise, then, that the U.S. Department of Commerce is actively involved in promoting exports. In 1993, President Clinton announced a national export strategy for the United States, described as “a comprehensive plan [that] upgrades and coordinates the government's export promotion and export finance programs to help American firms compete in the global marketplace” (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1994). In particular, the strategy identifies past problems with U.S. trade promotion efforts and recommends improvements upon current ones. This includes enhancing existing trade finance programs such as the Exim Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and creating the Tied Aid Fund to help U.S. firms compete on a level playing field. As an outcrop of this initiative, the Commerce Department identified 10 foreign nations as the big emerging markets (BEMs) of the upcoming century, markets where the potential for trade growth is the greatest.

Export assistance

Provides comparative empirical evidence drawn from studies carried out in the USA and the UK respectively. Indicates that even allowing for the time period between studies, differences exist in how managers from both US and UK exporting companies rate three sets of attributes in their international marketing effort. These sets of attributes are: those that are believed to be desired by importers; the possibility for improving performance of these factors by a change in emphasis by executives in the exporting firms; and the support required by firms in order to assist export activities. An implication of this research is that even allowing for the time difference between the two studies, the respective governments were not offering the type of assistance required by exporters within their countries. Questions the provision of export promotion programmes and suggests that policy makers must recognize that in order to make the best use of their limited resources, assistance should be focused on helping exporters meet the requirements of importers.

A comparative analysis of export promotion programs for US wheat and red meats

Comparison of the US government's non-price promotion programs for wheat and red meat exports reveals fundamental differences in trade and market development strategies for bulk versus value-added products. While the majority of wheat promotions have consisted of trade servicing and technical assistance activities in a variety of lesser developed countries, red meat promotions have primarily taken a generic consumer approach, focusing on only a relatively small number of higher developed countries. The timing of this analysis is critical, given that the survival of the promotion programs depends on pending reauthorization under the 1995 Farm Bill. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Public Sector Promotion of U.S. Export Activity: A Review and Directions for the Future

Public sector promotion of export activity is gaining increasing importance in the face of the ongoing quest for global competitiveness and growing expenditures for such activity by individual states and the federal government. What are the principles of effective export promotion and assistance programs? What should be the features of a comprehensive public sector initiative to stimulate exports? Drawing from experience of past programs in the United States and other countries, the authors attempt to shed light on these questions.

FINANCING: AN IMPEDIMENT TO EXPORTING BY SMALL AND MEDIUM FIRMS

The purpose of this study, based on a survey of 354 Florida companies, was to identify and assess the importance of factors that limit exports, with particular focus on the different types of export financing that were the most difficult to obtain. Statistical analysis was used to determine the significance of responses given by different sized firms. Four of the top five factors that limited the ability to export were related either to the unavailability of export financing or the lack of available information on export opportunities. Foreign buyer credit and various unsecured loans were the most difficult to obtain. Public and private policymakers should reevaluate their export promotion programs and make the changes necessary to eliminate the various obstacles to exporting.

US overseas market promotion: An overview of non-price programs and expenditures

This study gives an overview of the US government non-price export promotion programs. FAS data on the Cooperator and Targeted Export Assistance (TEA) Programs were examined to identify how program expenditures have been allocated among activities, commodities, and regions. Analysis shows that while a significant portion of the TEA funds have been spent in highly developed countries, Cooperator Program promotions have been conducted worldwide. Traditional commodities (grains and oilseeds) received 55% of Cooperator funds, and horticultural products received 53% of the TEA allocations during the 1986–1988 period. The majority of TEA promotional activities have been consumer-oriented.

Exchange rate policy impact on export performance: What we can learn from the Turkish experience

Export promotion policies, and specifically export pricing policies through foreign exchange rates, have a strong impact on export performance. The economic liberalization and export promotion policy of the Turkish government since 1980 served to underline this relationship. The liberalization program in Turkey has initiated the search for new export markets and a new export product-mix. Empirical findings suggest that the change in the product mix of exports induced a statistically significant increase in the price elasticity of exports supply. This result indicates that failure to keep relative domestic prices of exportable products competitive through realistic exchange rates limits the success of export promotion programs, and hence the performance of exporters.

International Orientation as a Precondition for Export Success

Every country, particularly if it depends on foreign trade to such a high degree as the Federal Republic of Germany, has a vital interest in exploiting all its export opportunities. The authors have developed a measurement concept focusing on the foreign orientation of business managers. Their empirical research suggests that as many as one-third of the small- and medium-sized firms with a primarily domestic focus in their country could be turned into successful exporters. The paper not only reveals obstacles to exporting as perceived by the managers of these companies, but also points to specific measures to improve the efficiency of existing export promotion programs.

Program impact evaluation: Application to export promotion

Program Evaluation as a methodology is discussed and its application to government export promotion programs examined. Although export promotion tends to be reviewed from time to time by government, a wide range of approaches of varying degrees of sophistication and comprehensiveness are found. The outcome often is noncomparable data of limited usefulness to the policy maker accountable for government programs, and inconclusive findings as to the impact of such programs on target users. This paper addresses these issues and proposes a pragmatic approach to the evaluation of program impact.

Information acquisition and export entry decisions in small firms

Consistently low usage of export promotion programs and incentives has been observed among small firms. This has led researchers to argue that these firms operate on a limited information basis and deprive themselves of cheap export market knowledge. This study disputes these conclusions and finds that small firms discriminately use alternative sources to acquire foreign market information and assistance. Furthermore, such information acquisition, irrespective of source, is found to have a substantive and significant association with new export market entry. The implications of these findings for government export policy, small firm decision makers, and export literature are explored.