Small Biz Export Development

Over the years I've done of bit of export development in products, agriculture and services, and devote a chapter on it in my book. As I mentioned, my wife has tasked me with helping her develop wine export business in Hong Kong, and we have a plan to make customers in China for USA wineries, more later on that. At the same time, I've been conferring with Hong Kong academics on the topic of China-based small business export development, a perspective I would normally not take (my perspective is USA based, small business import export).

While at a trade show in Hong Kong, a past student living in China also approached me on the topic of China-based small business export development. I reviewed the process a USA buyer goes through to find the best place in the world to have a product made, and of course in the case of China that would send people to the HKTDC.Com. Given that, a small buziness exporter should get on the HKTDC.com supplier lists.

The past students makes the observation that the top supplier of a given product may not be interested in working with a newbie USA buyer, at which point the best supplier in the world refers the newbie USA buyer to a small associate company that can serve the USA potential customer well. Let's in this instance call the best place in the world "Big Brother" and the associate company "little brother."

Every industry is a village, and there is a wide range of relationships among the players at any given time. It is not unusual for people in a given industry to refer people around when capabilities match better or there is unused capacity. A world class supplier may have contracted with a small unknown player for some specific project and been pleased with the result. However these relationships form, there are countless permutations as to why they form. I recall when developing glass items, factories constantly referred me on to others who were working in specific areas of expertise. If you went to Paramount Pictures looking for a specific special effects, it is likely they would decline the offer to work with you, but just as likely they would give you the names of two or three small hungry talented special effects maestros.

This is all so common, but I have as yet avoided lecturing on it essentially because it is so natural it will happen as one progresses anyway; on the other hand to present it in class, in my experience, proves to be information overload for the student. Finding the best place in the world as a process is challenging enough without adding the detail of "and you may get referred on..." Why spend 30 minutes more on a topic that people will figure out quick enough on their own anyway?

So if the world is rife with these "little brother/big brother" business relationships, then perhaps I should dwell on them a bit, to lay out some possibilities in small business export development from overseas to USA.

Looking at the problem of say a start-up exporter in Hong Kong, a problem with the HKTDC.com which I like, and alibaba.com, which I do not, is the new company may just be a drop of water in a fire hose flow of information. How do you get noticed? Maybe the trick is to get to an "elder brother biz" that can spin off the little deals to you... the little ideas of the USA start-up importer.

The advice to the small business export start-up overseas is pick your field, and then importune the top players, looking to provide some service, taking on projects too small or unusual for the Big Brother to handle. This is not much different than what I say in the book on chapter eight anyway, but it approaches from another angle which may be illuminating.

I asked my tailor how she got started 40 years ago, and it was a complicated "time and place" sort of thing, where one day she got a call from a tour operator after which she took care of a group of retirees visiting Hong Kong. How she took care of the group pleased the operator, and from there came Flying Tigers pilots, then Naval Officers and referrals and the rest is history She does not even recall how come she got the original call. The lesson there is the most important point is to get started, get in the game. As another fellow suggested, make domestic business first, just so you are in the game when you go calling on "elder brothers."

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