Topics >  Running a Business >  Growth Strategies > 

Growing Your Business by Going Global

Lessons from a company that leapt unwarily into foreign-distribution, plus intelligence on Saudi Arabian markets.

JANUARY
This Month
Market Intelligence
The Saudi Arabian markets are extremely receptive to American goods and services, but you need to learn to play by an unfamiliar set of rules. (below)

* * *

Company Profile
In its early days Acme Corp. (not its real name), now a $100-million public company, leapt unwarily into unprofitable foreign-distribution agreements -- twice. (page 3)

* * *

On the Road
Your appearance at trade shows can help you establish your company internationally -- if you come well prepared. (page 5)

* * *

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
"For the past 50 years the U.S. has taken the lead in the reduction of world-wide barriers to international trade. That policy contributed to our own prosperity. But the expectation of that was not the sole or indeed the major reason for our policy. The economic benefits for us were always indirect and difficult for any individual to foresee, whereas the dislocations involved for particular sectors were easy to dramatize. What carried the day for liberal trade policy was the case beyond the addition of some tenths of a percent to the national income of the U.S. It was the recognition that, in addition to serving our economic interests, liberal trade policy was an application of American principles, an expression of American concern for the well-being of others, and above all that it made a contribution to the stability of the world we live in."

-- Herbert Stein, "No Need to Be Scared of Nafta," the Wall Street Journal, September 28, 1993. A former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Stein is an American Enterprise Institute fellow

* * *

"Science is the search for truth -- it is not a game in which one tries to beat his opponent, to do harm to others. We need to have the spirit of science in international affairs, to make the conduct of international affairs the effort to find the right solution, the just solution of international problems, not the effort by each nation to get the better of other nations, to do harm to them when it is possible."

-- Linus Carl Pauling, No More War! (Dodd Mead, 1958)

* * *

"No nation was ever ruined by trade."

-- Benjamin Franklin

* * *

"Most people think of giant companies when they hear the word 'transnational.' But increasingly middle-sized and even small businesses operate in the world economy rather than in one or two countries. It is actually easier for the middle-sized and even for the small company to operate without much regard for national boundaries. Unlike large companies they are politically barely visible."

-- Peter Drucker, The New Realities (Harper & Row, 1989)

* * *

"The Department of Commerce is really helpful in terms of filling out the forms and getting everything straight. For the vast majority of products, you don't need any special export license. Years ago it used to be more onerous. Now it's in the best interests of the United States to help people export. The Commerce Department is not a bureaucracy interfering with your work. It's actually helping to some degree, and certainly not hurting. It's making it as simple as possible for small companies to export."

-- Ron Seide, director of marketing, Kingston Technology

---

SAUDI ARABIA: VEILED OPPORTUNITIES

By Donna Fenn

In January 1991 Larry Ethridge had a Saudi visa in his passport, a plane ticket to Riyadh, and a letter of intent from a prominent Saudi engineering company. Though war was imminent, the president of then $12-million Topro Inc., based in Denver, was determined to keep his appointment with Prince Abdulaziz bin Ahmed, an influential board member of National Engineering Service & Marketing Ltd. (NESMA). Several months earlier Ethridge had met a representative of NESMA at a U.S. Department of Commerce -- sponsored trade show in Denver. Shortly thereafter, the rep sent a letter of intent and indicated NESMA's commitment to sponsor Ethridge's entry into Saudi Arabia. Ethridge wasn't about to let that visa expire. His flight landed in Saudi Arabia a scant eight hours before the first U.S. air strikes on Baghdad, and for the next 10 days, as retaliatory Iraqi Scuds exploded over Riyadh, he conducted business. Topro won a $1.5-million contract -- a coup Ethridge attributes at least in part to wartime camaraderie and his meeting with Prince Abdulaziz.

Read more:

What You're Not Doing to Maximize Profit (But Should Be)

Redbox's Smart Move: What You Can Learn

What Makes a Company Resilient?

Sign-up for our Small Business Success Newsletter

Email Address: