Exporting and Trade
Here, savvy women entrepreneurs share practical tips and advice.
Striking Global Partnerships
Key success factors for finding great global partners were presented at a
workshop put on by the Organization of Women in International Trade-Toronto (www.owit-toronto.ca).
The getting-to-know-you stage:
1. Get clarity on vision and strategy.
Both potential partners need a clear understanding of each
other's longer-term vision and strategy to ensure these will
mesh well for mutual benefit.
2. Understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. Will these complement each other?
Focus on what your company is good at and how you can leverage
this for the advantage of both parties. And make sure your
partner is willing to do the same.
3. Check the "social factor".
Would you want to go out for dinner or a glass of wine with
these people? You may have to spend hours, days and weeks
together over the course of the partnership. Is there "synergistic conversation" i.e. can you learn from each other? And respect
for each other? Remember, it's all about relationships.
4. Similarly, ensure a "cultural fit". Thanks to our cultural diversity, many Canadian
women entrepreneurs are great at dealing successfully with
a broad range of people. But consider whether your staff might
have problems dealing with a partner from what we'd perceive
as a more "sexist" culture. A fit between company cultures
is important too. Is yours informal and free-wheeling while
your potential partner's is strictly hierarchical and run
from the top down? Problems could be in store.
Looks good so far but look deeper:
1. Do some due diligence.
Review your potential partner's audited financials, infrastructure,
information technology and so on to ensure they are in a solid
position, are investing in future growth and can fully leverage
your relationship.
2. Check references. Don't
just operate from your "gut instinct" that these are good
people to be in business with. Check with some of their customers,
suppliers and other third parties with experience in dealing
with your partner-to-be-maybe.
3. Investigate some more.
Look at articles in the business and trade press, contact
industry observers and investment analysts (if the company
trades stock publicly). Find out whether the company is considered
a market leader in their country. How fast are they in getting
products to market or responding to change? Can they turn
on a dime?
Doing the deal
1. Get your partner working.
Ask them to prepare a strategy for rolling out your product
or service in their country. Give them some examples of problems
and challenges you encountered at home and see how creative
they'd be in addressing similar obstacles in their market.
2. Line up your lawyers.
Find excellent legal counsel, with international experience,
to help you build a strong partnership agreement, clause by
clause. And make sure you have an 'out' clause.
3. Refine strategies and policies.
Work out details such as who the key contacts are for both
organizations, what are the policies and procedures for keeping
in touch and reporting on problems and progress, who has decision-making
on what, who is managing PR globally, etc.
4. Spend more time together.
This is an important time to build trust between individual
staff members at both partner companies, to experience each
other's culture, to solve problems and come up with new ideas
together. Don't stint on time here: you're laying the groundwork
for a successful, long-term partnership.
Creating Successful Global Brands
Brand leadership today is all about creating strong emotional relationships in order to win. That's the advice from Tim Love, former Vice-Chairman International, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York and a specialist in global brand building, who shared his perspective on the importance of branding in international markets at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Organization of Women in International Trade (www.owit.org) held in Calgary in September 2003.
According to Tim, whether you're dealing with "local only" business, or engaged in multinational/ global business, globalization is affecting marketing strategy. In addition, economic changes, the technology revolution, the shift from the knowledge economy to the attention economy, and international trade restructuring and worldwide changes in community and family structures have all changed how brands and consumers relate. While we used to think in terms of "think global, act local", a new marketing perspective is needed because borders do not exist quite so definitively today.
Tim's new perspective is: "Think Like the Sun". While the sun seems to go down each night, suspending its activity until dawn, that's not what really happens. The sun doesn't go up and down; it's the earth that revolves. Like the sun, our brands and businesses are making contact with consumers somewhere all of the time. Instead of focusing on borders and geography, it requires us to focus on brands, markets and consumers and to better appreciate cultural differences. This perspective asks us to embrace the dynamics of globalization in the global village.
Successful brands in the future will need to have an enhanced emotional relationship. Brand evolution has gone from product to trademark, trademark to brand, brand to trustmark…and now, trustmark to "lovemark".
How do you do this? Keep things simple, recommends Tim. Here are his seven key tenets to global brand building:
- Symbols, sounds and visuals speak louder than words - When you're dealing across borders, cultures and languages, these are the most powerful communication devices. While words can be difficult to translate, and need to be crafted culturally, symbols, sounds and visuals are emotional.
- Design is becoming a key element in relationship building - Good design communicates feelings and emotion and is therefore incredibly important in building lovemark relationships.
- Build brand equity - Start by determining the essence of each brand and what your customers think, not what you think. Without that essence, the brand doesn't live as a continuous brand across geographies and cultures.
- Ensure consistency - Differentiate and stick to it. You need a campaign vs. one-off executions. Consistency is imperative in building lovemark relationships.
- Use teamwork - This is a very important concept in going forward in this new world of global brands, as it's something that doesn't come naturally between geographies, countries and individuals globally.
- Harness consumer-learning power - Harnessing consumer learning power from around the world can actually deliver a competitive advantage to your brand. Learnings from other geographies can help you by giving great impact to the overall strategy for your brand.
- Be holistic - Use all forms of communication that people are consuming these days. And while it isn't just television, you better have TV in the plan if you are competing for peoples' love, as TV is still a very involving medium.
Around the World in Many Ways: Globalization and Business Leadership
What do you need to go global? A panel of women exporters at Women's Odyssey, the annual conference of The International Alliance, held in Toronto shared perspectives on fundamental strategies and practices you need to employ to enjoy sustained global success. Here is a selection of their tips:
From Rosanna Magnotta, Executive VP, Magnotta International, Vaughan, Ontario
- Look for unique products or services to sell. For example, Magnotta's ice wine - a true Canadian product - has been a popular export.
- Be aware of regional and cultural differences and modify your products/services to fit these.
- Understand your target markets, particularly customs, tariffs, rules and regulations. A consultant can be helpful in these areas; remember, it's ok not to do it all yourself.
- Be sure to check the references of foreign agents or distributors you would like to use. Ensure they are strong in the background you need.
- Ensure that potential partners for joint ventures have a successful track record, are financially responsible and have similar ethics. If you're in doubt, don't proceed.
- Invest in the human factor. Budget for face-to-face meetings with international partners and develop relationships. That handshake can make the difference.
From Ellen McGregor, CEO, Fielding Chemical Technologies Inc., Mississauga
- Have credentials or hallmarks - such as ISO certification - to go global.
- Understand your growth tolerance. Be aware of the effect of global growth on your human resources and financial capital, and be prepared.
From Ellie Rubin, Author, Toronto
- Use storytelling as the number one strategy when entering a new market. Focus on the story of how you built your business and vision and frame it in local nuances. Minimize barriers and celebrate differences.
- Build cachet - i.e. your intangible brand - to build credibility and a buffer against market changes and fluctuations over which you have no control.
- Try to use a team approach to bring all the skills and attributes that may be needed.
- Put everything in writing when you first go into a deal, then go forward with complete trust.
- Amalgamate into the culture of your prospective client by doing your research in advance.
- As quickly as possible, bring someone from your staff (not a senior employee nor a sales person) to a new market, so they will appreciate and share the challenges with other staff back home.
- Surround yourself with champions - people who will give you footnotes on companies with which you want to do business elsewhere.
From Christine Rowland, President, Blue Cat Design, Port Hope, Ontario
- With today's technology, you can build effective relationships without face-to-face meetings. One of Canada's first Web site developers, Christine has never met over 90% of her clients and yet they have been with her for a long time.
- Use the Internet as a targeted sales tool to market internationally by having a Web site that is search-engine friendly. A prospective foreign buyer won't find you if you don't have key words that are localized.
- Build a content rich site and offer translated versions of it if you want to go foreign markets.
- Offering an e-mail newsletter on your site and asking people to subscribe to it is an excellent strategy to gather names of international prospects and expose them to your expertise.
Women Entrepreneurs in Trade Initiatives
Landmark Canadian research, programs and events that are encouraging more women to export.
A number of groundbreaking initiatives which support women's trade activities and encourage more women to export have been undertaken over the last several years, which the RBC Royal Bank has been proud to sponsor or support. These include:
- The first-ever Team Canada Businesswomen's Trade Mission to Washington, D.C. in 1997. Over 120 women entrepreneurs came together to find out more about exporting to international markets, to enhance their networks and to explore potential market opportunities and business partnerships in the mid-Atlantic States.
- Canadian Businesswomen's Trade Mission to Los Angeles in March 1999. Over 75 Canadian women entrepreneurs returned home with contacts, inspiration and deals after participating in this event, hosted by Kim Campbell, then Consul General of Canada in L.A.
- Canada/U.S. Women's Trade Summit in Toronto in May 1999. This historic gathering of 250 export-ready Canadian and U.S. businesswomen and policy makers included business matching between delegates, workshops offering practical strategies and policy discussions with senior government officials about trade barriers for women. Designed to help women tap into the lucrative export market between Canada and the U.S., the week-long Summit was the largest event of its kind in the world promoting women entrepreneurs.
RBC Royal Bank was also one of the sponsors of research undertaken in 1998 by the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service to examine women in exporting. Key findings were presented in the landmark 1999 report, Beyond Borders: Canadian Businesswomen in International Trade. Heralded internationally for its demonstration of women's economic impact, this study highlights how to better support women exporters and maximize their potential in the global marketplace.
Another initiative supported by RBC Royal Bank was the start-up of the Organization of Women in International Trade - Toronto, the first Canadian chapter of a worldwide organization dedicated to increasing global trade opportunities for women. Membership benefits include networking, business development, education and training.
Growing Globally: Advice from the Exporting Front-lines
Shared wisdom from women exporters, courtesy of the Beyond Borders report.
Whether you're an experienced exporter or just thinking about new markets, you'll find plenty of inspiration and practical advice in Beyond Borders: Canadian Businesswomen in International Trade. This landmark report, released by International Trade Canada and supported by RBC Royal Bank, is the result of research based on 254 questionnaires and 54 in-depth interviews with Canadian women business owners. Report highlights include perceptions of success and the strategies women business owners employ in building their export markets.
Here's an excerpt from Beyond Borders:
Q: "If you could give one piece of advice to another business owner who was considering exporting, what would you say?"
A: (Top five suggestions, in order of frequency of responses):
1. Do your homework. You should know something about...
- The rules and regulations of exporting
- Brokerage fees and customs
- How government can assist in exporting
- Regulations, such as NAFTA certification
- The size and nature of your target market
- What kind of firm pricing strategy you need to have in place before meeting with clients.
"I've made some mistakes in terms of not doing my homework well enough. You need to be very clear about all of the expenses and costs, and make sure you are working with the best people possible so that you know your business in that country...."
2. Enlist the help of others. Solicit input and advice from as many sources as possible: clients, suppliers, trade commissioners, foreign tax services and community economic development personnel, for example. Also...
- Work with a network, subcontractor or co-operative
- Keep asking questions until you get the answer that feels right
- Don't try doing everything yourself
- Find out what others' experiences have been.
"Ask for help, ask for help, ask for help. One day at a time.... It's all a huge pile of gobbledygook at first but then it's one little step at a time. Ask. Ask the post office. Ask customs. Stir things up on your own."
3. Know your markets. To better understand your markets, exporters advise you to:
- Understand cultural differences
- Quote in local currency
- Start with a broad sweep of the market (to build understanding) and then concentrate on your best prospects.
"Do some market research to see if a new product or service is appropriate and look at the nuances. There are subtle nuances in every country and culture."
4. Go for it! Survey respondents believe the opportunities are there if you...
- Don't be afraid, be persistent.
- Take a calculated risk but only invest as much as you can afford to lose
- Set your goals and work towards them.
"You just have to be very persistent... there is a huge amount of business out there. It's a question of knowing your specific skills... and going after those niche markets."
5. Ensure your financial security. Novice exporters need to remember that exporting...
- Is a long-term investment
- Requires cash flow to finance transactions that may be held up during production or in receipt of foreign receivables
- Requires strong financial management skills.
"Think about how quickly you are going to be able to recoup your losses because if you need instant cash, don't bother exporting."
For the complete on-line text of Beyond Borders: Canadian Women in International Trade, go to www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/businesswomen/beyondborders
-en.asp.
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