About Us: The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, March 5, 1996

Plan Helps Exporters Fish Abroad From Docks at Home

By Stephanie N. Mehta
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
(Copyright (c) 1996, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

HATE TRAVEL? A new program could help exporters who get homesick. The Commerce Department and FTS Inc., a private-sector trade company in Orlando, Fla., have developed a system that will allow small companies to explore exporting opportunities without leaving the U.S. "It's the trade mission that you don't go on," says Laura Kolbe, a program director for FTS. "We'll do the legwork for you." Under the plan, approved by the Commerce Department last month, FTS will represent as many as 50 small companies at a trade show in Italy this spring. FTS also will work with the department's trade office in Italy to produce customized market-research reports for program participants. After the trade show is over, participants will receive a list of potential distributors for their products. Many small companies remain loath to export their products because they lack the time, money and knowledge of foreign markets that exporting requires, Ms. Kolbe says. According to the department, small companies now account for about 96% of U.S. exporters, but generate only about 30% of the export volume. The program, which costs participating small companies $2,500,is the first such offering by the Commerce Department. Traditionally, the agency sponsors trade missions or arranges interviews with potential trading partners for entrepreneurs who want to travel overseas. The agency also offers to distribute U.S. company catalogs at foreign trade shows. If the Italian project succeeds, the Commerce Department wants to replicate it at trade shows in other countries, says Robert A. Taft, deputy assistant secretary for international operations in the department's commercial service arm. Because it isn't especially costly or time-consuming, the program may prompt more small businesses to explore export strategies, he adds.