Get the most out of your Inc. online experience by registering and joining the Inc. community today. Get access to all Inc.com content and priority invites to free Inc. networking events in your area.

Login using:


Or login directly through Inc.com

Small Business on a Mission

A quick look at a small-business-only exporting mission established by the Department of Commerce.

By Jerry Useem | 
 

Trade

Picture this unusual sight: a government-led trade mission consisting not of Boeing and Westinghouse executives but of small-business owners. Credit a determined handful of high-tech companies at last year's White House Conference on Small Business with bringing it to pass. Disgusted by the antigovernment venom and myopic self-interest that marked the conference delegation's behavior, they rammed through the eminently sensible recommendation of a small-business-only exporting mission. Despite its long-held view that big-company trade missions benefit small companies through the trickle-down magic of subcontracting, the Commerce Department reacted by leading a weeklong trip to Hong Kong and Singapore last May. "The Department of Commerce is actually bending over backwards to help small business export," gushes Robert Pap, whose 50-employee aerospace contractor, Accurate Automation, was one of 12 companies chosen for the mission. "There's life over there."

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