International Trade: A Small Business Primer. Growing Businesses.

The United States' declining share of world trade is connected with the fact that hundreds of thousands of medium- and small-sized businesses are ignoring trade and exports. The cure for their fear of the unknown is information and education. Exports have a number of advantages: increased profits, spread of overhead costs, smooth seasonal fluctuations, increased productivity and competitiveness, tax advantages, and extended product life cycles. In many ways, international trade is not different than expanding into a new region of the United States. It is different in some ways: new needs and tastes; different forms of distribution duties, quotas, licenses; more complicated and costly shipping, documentation, and insurance; and different financing and payment terms and methods. The best place to begin is at the nearest office of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its International Trade Administration offers information services through Commercial Information Management System in three categories: identification and assessment of markets, contact services, and promotion. Books on exporting are available from the government. Other useful government agencies are the Export-Import Bank of the Small Business Administration and the District Export Council. Individual states are becoming increasingly active in encouraging, stimulating, and servicing medium and small businesses that wish to explore and expand into exporting. World Trade Centers, local trade associations, private consultants, export management companies, and private trade firms offer market research services and other support. (YLB)