Exporting 101 – Oct. 27, 2011

On Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 NSBA and the Small Business Exporters Association (SBEA)—the international trade arm of NSBA— held an issue briefing teleconference on exporting, “Exporting 101.” With nearly 100 people dialing-in to the call, the expert speakers on the line discussed the challenges they have faced as well as provided various recommendations to new and growing exporters.

The speakers during the call addressed the following issues:

• David Ickert of Air Tractor, Inc. facilitated the call and outlined a number of resources he and his company have used to start and grow their international exporting;
• Don Williams of Princeton Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia discussed doing business on several continents as well as the unique challenges with exporting professional services and maintaining an international office;
• Peter Bowe of Ellicott Dredges in Baltimore, Maryland talked about doing business with foreign governments, how to best utilize various trade promotion agencies, and the need to be very aware of the ramifications of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act;
• Phil Jeske of Air Tractor, Inc. in Olney, Texas talked about the challenges posed by the language barrier in doing international business as well as cultural sensitivities and how to make export finance options work for your business;
• Dr. Tomas Hult of the International Business Center (IBC) at Michigan State University and the Academy of International Business urged callers to first determine if their business is truly ready to export and ensure they have the proper infrastructure to handle global operations.

Following the prepared remarks of the experts, callers were invited to ask questions which spurred discussion on real-world experiences and recommendations. Although the speakers attepmted to address all the questions, there were too many to be covered in the alloted time. Please click here to view the answers to any follow-up questions that were not addressed during the call.

If you were unable to tune-in to the call last week, please click here to visit our Issue Briefing page where you can listen to the one-hour podcast of the call.