Small businesses can boost exporting capability by taking on international trainees

April 15, 2011

As American consumers remain hesitant to spend disposable income in the wake of the recession, many small and midsized businesses are hoping to get into the lucrative export business.

Not only will doing so allow businesses to prosper while they wait for domestic demand to recover, but exporting to markets that are currently more active may create domestic jobs and help the recovery along. In fact, small businesses in the U.S. are expected to make up two-thirds of the jobs created in an economic recovery, analysts say.

Exports made up 11 percent of the U.S. economy last year, USA Today reports, but small and midsized business products only made up 30 percent of total exports. This appears disappointing, as companies of this size produce approximately half the country’s gross domestic product.

According to the news source, one of the problems small businesses run into is challenges with cross-cultural communication. Many managers don’t know where to start when it comes to entering the global business world.

According to a survey conducted by the Commerce Department – which is participating in a national push to boost the exporting capacity of America’s small businesses – small companies’ biggest concern about entering the international market is that they don’t know how to identify potential consumers and sell to them. Language and cultural barriers were also cited by many respondents as a reason for small firms’ hesitation to supply their products globally.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, also points to lack of knowledge about cross-cultural communication as a factor that is keeping American small businesses from tapping overseas markets, according to the news source.

Some analysts say that opening international offices may help small businesses get their footing in global markets, but it’s still a large investment that many small businesses may find too risky.

Alternatives to opening foreign offices do exist. Companies who want to gain international knowledge within their U.S. workforce can recruit individuals from other cultures and thereby boost the company’s confidence and ability to operate in global markets. Hiring international trainees doesn’t require a small business to take on the financial risk of opening an international location, but it does allow the company’s staff to be exposed to other cultures and learn about differences in how business is done in other countries. Interns can be hired from the global region in which the small business is hoping to expand, allowing workers to become familiar with the language, customs and culture that they’ll encounter once they enter the market in that nation.