Every day US products are exported to every corner of the world, adding up to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods and services exported each year. Many of these exports are completed by small and medium-sized business. The US Department of Commerce estimates export revenues from SMEs in 2007 at $312 billion, up from $102.8 billion in 1992, with SMEs representing 30.2 percent of total exports in 2007. This growth is indicative of boundless opportunity for the international entrepreneur. Used vehicles, vitamins, lighting fixtures, specialty beverages, cosmetics, medical supplies, and construction equipment are a few possibilities among hundreds of thousands. Following are a few resources to identify US companies with export potential.
The US Commercial which is the export trade promotion unit of the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, produces Commercial News USA, a bimonthly publication promoting US goods and services for export. US companies with products and services meeting minimum US-content requirements are able to advertise in Commercial News USA.
The publication is sent around the world to readers in nearly every country. For anyone interested in identifying opportunities in international trade development, this magazine is an outstanding resource. Every business listed is interested trying to expand their export business and looking for new business partners. Electronic subscriptions are available for the United States, and both electronic and printed versions for anyone outside the USA. Past issue archives, and well as listings by industry are available on the US Commercial News website.
Another directory of US companies with export potential is The Export Yellow Pages, which is also produced in cooperation with the US Department of Commerce, through a partnership with Global Publishers LLC, a publisher of business directories based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Thomas Net provides an extensive listing of industrial suppliers in the US and Canada. Basic listings are offered for free, and the the directory contains hundreds of thousands of companies. Searches are efficient and user-friendly.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Kiva: Supporting Entrepreneurs Worldwide Through Microfinance
This blog aims to reach readers interested in the intersection of international business development and the entrepreneurial process. As such, some of you will be interested in learning about Kiva which provides a way for anyone that can spare $25.00 to participate directly in the growth of small business around the world.
There are many skilled, experienced, and hard-working entrepreneurs with opportunities to grow their businesses, but who have no access to reasonably priced financing. Most commercial banks must turn down such small loans simply because they would lose money on them. Such loans require a very high administrative cost and high risk relative to the amount of potential return for the lender. It normally makes more business sense for a lender to fund one large loan to a more stable borrower than to process a hundred small loans even if the smaller loans total up to a larger dollar amount. Regrettably, financial reason does not permit consideration of such measures as relative need, direct impact on a family, and equality in opportunity. The unfortunate but realistic result is that generally those who need money the most are the least likely to get it, and those that can prove that they need money the least are able to get money the easiest. The process of microfinance makes it possible for people without little or no collateral or credit to get access to fairly priced small value loans.
Kiva provides a platform for micro-lending that connects individual lenders and borrowers by compiling loan opportunities from well established microfinance institutions around the world. Users are able to research loan requests from entrepreneurs and small businesses around the world. The lender can see pictures of the borrowers, read about their lives and businesses, and understand their goals upon receiving their loan. Loans can be made for as little as $25.00, and the lender receives updates and reports about the impact of their loan.
Loans go directly to borrowers via Kiva's microfinance partner institutions. Thanks in part to the support of PayPal providing free payment processing, Kiva is able to give 100% of your loan directly to borrowers. Although it may seem that this type of loan would be very risky, the payback rate is actually very high. When your loan is paid back, you have the option to withdraw your money, or to give back through another loan. Please have a look at Kiva's website and consider lending.
There are many skilled, experienced, and hard-working entrepreneurs with opportunities to grow their businesses, but who have no access to reasonably priced financing. Most commercial banks must turn down such small loans simply because they would lose money on them. Such loans require a very high administrative cost and high risk relative to the amount of potential return for the lender. It normally makes more business sense for a lender to fund one large loan to a more stable borrower than to process a hundred small loans even if the smaller loans total up to a larger dollar amount. Regrettably, financial reason does not permit consideration of such measures as relative need, direct impact on a family, and equality in opportunity. The unfortunate but realistic result is that generally those who need money the most are the least likely to get it, and those that can prove that they need money the least are able to get money the easiest. The process of microfinance makes it possible for people without little or no collateral or credit to get access to fairly priced small value loans.
Kiva provides a platform for micro-lending that connects individual lenders and borrowers by compiling loan opportunities from well established microfinance institutions around the world. Users are able to research loan requests from entrepreneurs and small businesses around the world. The lender can see pictures of the borrowers, read about their lives and businesses, and understand their goals upon receiving their loan. Loans can be made for as little as $25.00, and the lender receives updates and reports about the impact of their loan.
Loans go directly to borrowers via Kiva's microfinance partner institutions. Thanks in part to the support of PayPal providing free payment processing, Kiva is able to give 100% of your loan directly to borrowers. Although it may seem that this type of loan would be very risky, the payback rate is actually very high. When your loan is paid back, you have the option to withdraw your money, or to give back through another loan. Please have a look at Kiva's website and consider lending.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Market Research Case Study:
Export of US Made Pet Products
Export of US Made Pet Products
This posting shares some brief market research gathered online using easily accessible information. The goal is not to produce a comprehensive list of contacts, it's simply to provide a brief conjecture of readily acquirable information, with some actual examples and to discuss the process and methods used to find contacts which could be applied across other industries.
Pet products was chosen arbitrarily as a general industry focus, with the goal of gathering potential contacts for a hypothetical US supplier looking to grow its export business. The list of companies gathered is posted at the end of this entry. For companies looking to grow their US sales, or for foreign manufacturers interested in selling in the US, a good starting point is the Pet Industry Distributor's Association, online at http://www.pida.org. This list produced here was gathered without any experience or special knowledge of pet industry and without a particular focus within the industry. The list has been limited to companies with websites. There is a mix of distributors and retailers of pet products with varying specialties which have not been vetted or screened other than a brief glance at and quick assessment of their websites.
As a starting point we identified with a basic search a manufacturer of pet products that has already established an export network for their products, coming up with Chris Christensen Systems pet shampoo products. Their website contains a list of international distributors which were entered into a list to begin a database of contacts. From this list, each individual distributor listed was searched to find other sites where these same distributors are listed. Through this process of cross-referencing one can form a seemingly endless list of contacts. Naturally, the idea is to choose the more relevant companies for your particular needs and thereby find more companies that would fall into that same category of interest. To find producers of a similar product to yours you might try searching the World Wide Pet Industry Association's Pet Industry Resource Guide which has an extensive listing of product categories and corresponding companies listed.
Other places to check for company lists are corresponding industry trade shows and associations. Often their websites contain lists of exhibitors and members and links to other resources available to the public. Some examples of pet industry trade shows are Pet South America, Global Pet Expo, Zoo Russia, and Pet Fair Asia. Examples of industry trade associations are the American Pet Products Association, The Pet Industry Association of Australia, and and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.
According to your particular product and regional focus, there may be more specific resources. For example if the product being marketed were a line of aquarium lamps, and Australia was identified as a market that you wanted to pursue, you could start to focus in and find contacts by searching a keyword like aquarium through the Pet Industry Association of Australia online at http://www.piaa.net.au. For Great Britain, the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association has a database of importers, consultants, manufacturers and retailers at http://www.ornamentalfish.org/. If you wanted to focus on Japan you might try contacting the Japan Aquarium Fish Association http://www.jafa-net.org. Ornamental Fish International is an organization based in The Netherlands which has a membership directory that enables searches by country, online at http://www.ornamental-fish-int.org. Once you have identified some particular contacts that look promising, these can be cross-searched to find more companies that are similar.
Gathering potential contacts is not difficult. Real challenges and work come with knowing where to focus efforts, getting in touch, communicating the right information, following up, and developing relationships with time. For our hypothetical company working to export a US-made product, the US Department of Commerce US Commercial Service offers export assistance services. They have trade specialists that are available to assist with exporting, and also have market research available to registered users. As an example they have an article about Italy's pet products market, which even includes best product prospects for Italy: http://www.buyusa.gov/italy/en/pet.html.
With some analytical searching and thoughtful implementation of information readily available it may be possible to find potential business partners online on your own with a little time and effort. Here is the list that was created, and following it a customized search tool with related sites that might help find information for your specific topic within the pet industry.
Country Company Website
Australia Pet Network www.petnetwork.com.au
Australia W.A. Show Pet Supplies www.iinet.net.au/~wasps
Australia Rudducks www.rudducks.com.au
Australia KADAC www.kadac.com.au
Australia Paddo Pets www.paddopets.com.au
Austria Dogstyle www.dogstyle.at
Belgium Transgroom www.transgroom.com
Belgium Impextraco www.impextraco.com
Bosnia Mambo www.mambo.hr
Brazil Pet Steps www.petsteps.com.br
Brazil Costasul www.csul.com.b
Brazil Elan Trade www.elantrade.com.br
Canada Ren's Pets Depot www.renspets.com
Canada Just Gifted www.just-gifted.com
Canada Naughty Dogge www.naughtydogge.com
Canada Leis Pet Distributing www.leispet.com
Canada Triton Animal Supplies www.tritonanimal.com
Canada Centaur VA Animal Health www.centaurva.com
Canada Hudson Sales Agency www.hsapetsupplies.com
Chile Fainvet www.fainvet.cl
Chile Polo Vet www.polovet.cl
China Bejing Artex International Trading www.artexchina.com
China Lucky Pet www.hsapetsupplies.com
Colombia Agro Camp www.agrocampo.com.co
Czech Republic Enigmatic Vittoria www.evittoriamaltese.cz
Czech Republic Profikosmetica www.profikosmetika.cz
Denmark Pit Stop for Pets www.pitstoppets.dk
Denmark Boxadan www.boxadan.dk
England North Pet www.NorthernPet.com
Finland Koiratarvike DIO www.koiratarvikedio.fi
Finland Paula Forsbacka TMI www.forsbacka.biz
France Chadog www.chadog.fr
France Jika www.jika.fr
German HandundPfote www.handundpfote.com
Germany Animonda www.animonda.de
Germany Beautiful Cats and Dogs www.beautyfulcats.de
Greece Dimitra & Eleni Agianni www.petsfood.gr
Holand OTSL www.otsl.eu
Hungary Vetri-Care www.vetricare.hu
Ireland Chanelle www.chanellegroup.ie
Ireland Glenkrag www.glenkrag.com
Ireland Christies Direct www.christiesdirect.com
Israel Professional Beauty for Pets www.pet-beauty.com
Israel Pet-Vet www.pet-vet.co.il
Italy Tibi Groom www.tibigroom.com
Italy Taku Botique www.takuboutique.it
Italy Vetefarma www.vetefarma.com
Japan Trihope Corp www.dogs-sense.com
Japan Daishin Corporation www.daishincorp.com
Korea Hubpet www.daum.net
Korea Pet Korea Co www.petkorea.co.kr
Latvia Dognet www.dognet.pro
Lithuania Kika www.kika.lt
Malaysia House of Groomers www.houseofgroomers.com
Mexico Moon's Aquariums www.moonsaquariums.com.mx
Mexico MAICO www.maicodemexico.com.mx
Netherlands Easy-Groom www.easy-groom.com
New Zealand Show Thyme www.showthyme.co.nz
New Zealand Brooklands V.I.P Pet Products www.brooklands.co.nz
New Zealand Petware www.petware.co.nz
Norway Hiawatha's Dog Supply www.hiawatha.no
Norway Paghanini Engros www.paghanini.no
Norway Hund-1 www.hund-1.no
Poland Dog Cosmetics www.dogcosmetics.pl
Russia Mar's Performanse www.marsperformance.ru
Scotland D & V Supplies www.dandv.co.uk
Singapore Nilton Enterprises, LLC www.nilton-enterprise.com.sg
South Africa Smart Pet www.smartpet.co.za
Spain Hasi & Asha www.hasiandasha.com
Spain Healthy Pets www.healthypets.es
Spain Setter Bakio www.setterbakio.com
Sweden Magic Coat Power www.coatpower.se
Sweden Haromi AB www.haromi.se
Sweden Gibbon www.gibbon.se
Switzerland Espadon Shop www.espadon-shop.ch
Turkey Club Safari www.clubsafari.com.tr
United Kingdom Petcetera Etc. www.petcetera.co.uk
United Kingdom Vital Group www.vital-group.co.uk
United Kingdom National Veterinary Services www.vetwholesaler.co.uk
United Kingdom PP Enhancements www.ppenhancements.co.uk
United Kingdom Centaur Services www.centaurweb.co.uk
United Kingdom SPH Supplies www.sphsupplies.co.uk
Pet products was chosen arbitrarily as a general industry focus, with the goal of gathering potential contacts for a hypothetical US supplier looking to grow its export business. The list of companies gathered is posted at the end of this entry. For companies looking to grow their US sales, or for foreign manufacturers interested in selling in the US, a good starting point is the Pet Industry Distributor's Association, online at http://www.pida.org. This list produced here was gathered without any experience or special knowledge of pet industry and without a particular focus within the industry. The list has been limited to companies with websites. There is a mix of distributors and retailers of pet products with varying specialties which have not been vetted or screened other than a brief glance at and quick assessment of their websites.
As a starting point we identified with a basic search a manufacturer of pet products that has already established an export network for their products, coming up with Chris Christensen Systems pet shampoo products. Their website contains a list of international distributors which were entered into a list to begin a database of contacts. From this list, each individual distributor listed was searched to find other sites where these same distributors are listed. Through this process of cross-referencing one can form a seemingly endless list of contacts. Naturally, the idea is to choose the more relevant companies for your particular needs and thereby find more companies that would fall into that same category of interest. To find producers of a similar product to yours you might try searching the World Wide Pet Industry Association's Pet Industry Resource Guide which has an extensive listing of product categories and corresponding companies listed.
Other places to check for company lists are corresponding industry trade shows and associations. Often their websites contain lists of exhibitors and members and links to other resources available to the public. Some examples of pet industry trade shows are Pet South America, Global Pet Expo, Zoo Russia, and Pet Fair Asia. Examples of industry trade associations are the American Pet Products Association, The Pet Industry Association of Australia, and and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.
According to your particular product and regional focus, there may be more specific resources. For example if the product being marketed were a line of aquarium lamps, and Australia was identified as a market that you wanted to pursue, you could start to focus in and find contacts by searching a keyword like aquarium through the Pet Industry Association of Australia online at http://www.piaa.net.au. For Great Britain, the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association has a database of importers, consultants, manufacturers and retailers at http://www.ornamentalfish.org/. If you wanted to focus on Japan you might try contacting the Japan Aquarium Fish Association http://www.jafa-net.org. Ornamental Fish International is an organization based in The Netherlands which has a membership directory that enables searches by country, online at http://www.ornamental-fish-int.org. Once you have identified some particular contacts that look promising, these can be cross-searched to find more companies that are similar.
Gathering potential contacts is not difficult. Real challenges and work come with knowing where to focus efforts, getting in touch, communicating the right information, following up, and developing relationships with time. For our hypothetical company working to export a US-made product, the US Department of Commerce US Commercial Service offers export assistance services. They have trade specialists that are available to assist with exporting, and also have market research available to registered users. As an example they have an article about Italy's pet products market, which even includes best product prospects for Italy: http://www.buyusa.gov/italy/en/pet.html.
With some analytical searching and thoughtful implementation of information readily available it may be possible to find potential business partners online on your own with a little time and effort. Here is the list that was created, and following it a customized search tool with related sites that might help find information for your specific topic within the pet industry.
Country Company Website
Australia Pet Network www.petnetwork.com.au
Australia W.A. Show Pet Supplies www.iinet.net.au/~wasps
Australia Rudducks www.rudducks.com.au
Australia KADAC www.kadac.com.au
Australia Paddo Pets www.paddopets.com.au
Austria Dogstyle www.dogstyle.at
Belgium Transgroom www.transgroom.com
Belgium Impextraco www.impextraco.com
Bosnia Mambo www.mambo.hr
Brazil Pet Steps www.petsteps.com.br
Brazil Costasul www.csul.com.b
Brazil Elan Trade www.elantrade.com.br
Canada Ren's Pets Depot www.renspets.com
Canada Just Gifted www.just-gifted.com
Canada Naughty Dogge www.naughtydogge.com
Canada Leis Pet Distributing www.leispet.com
Canada Triton Animal Supplies www.tritonanimal.com
Canada Centaur VA Animal Health www.centaurva.com
Canada Hudson Sales Agency www.hsapetsupplies.com
Chile Fainvet www.fainvet.cl
Chile Polo Vet www.polovet.cl
China Bejing Artex International Trading www.artexchina.com
China Lucky Pet www.hsapetsupplies.com
Colombia Agro Camp www.agrocampo.com.co
Czech Republic Enigmatic Vittoria www.evittoriamaltese.cz
Czech Republic Profikosmetica www.profikosmetika.cz
Denmark Pit Stop for Pets www.pitstoppets.dk
Denmark Boxadan www.boxadan.dk
England North Pet www.NorthernPet.com
Finland Koiratarvike DIO www.koiratarvikedio.fi
Finland Paula Forsbacka TMI www.forsbacka.biz
France Chadog www.chadog.fr
France Jika www.jika.fr
German HandundPfote www.handundpfote.com
Germany Animonda www.animonda.de
Germany Beautiful Cats and Dogs www.beautyfulcats.de
Greece Dimitra & Eleni Agianni www.petsfood.gr
Holand OTSL www.otsl.eu
Hungary Vetri-Care www.vetricare.hu
Ireland Chanelle www.chanellegroup.ie
Ireland Glenkrag www.glenkrag.com
Ireland Christies Direct www.christiesdirect.com
Israel Professional Beauty for Pets www.pet-beauty.com
Israel Pet-Vet www.pet-vet.co.il
Italy Tibi Groom www.tibigroom.com
Italy Taku Botique www.takuboutique.it
Italy Vetefarma www.vetefarma.com
Japan Trihope Corp www.dogs-sense.com
Japan Daishin Corporation www.daishincorp.com
Korea Hubpet www.daum.net
Korea Pet Korea Co www.petkorea.co.kr
Latvia Dognet www.dognet.pro
Lithuania Kika www.kika.lt
Malaysia House of Groomers www.houseofgroomers.com
Mexico Moon's Aquariums www.moonsaquariums.com.mx
Mexico MAICO www.maicodemexico.com.mx
Netherlands Easy-Groom www.easy-groom.com
New Zealand Show Thyme www.showthyme.co.nz
New Zealand Brooklands V.I.P Pet Products www.brooklands.co.nz
New Zealand Petware www.petware.co.nz
Norway Hiawatha's Dog Supply www.hiawatha.no
Norway Paghanini Engros www.paghanini.no
Norway Hund-1 www.hund-1.no
Poland Dog Cosmetics www.dogcosmetics.pl
Russia Mar's Performanse www.marsperformance.ru
Scotland D & V Supplies www.dandv.co.uk
Singapore Nilton Enterprises, LLC www.nilton-enterprise.com.sg
South Africa Smart Pet www.smartpet.co.za
Spain Hasi & Asha www.hasiandasha.com
Spain Healthy Pets www.healthypets.es
Spain Setter Bakio www.setterbakio.com
Sweden Magic Coat Power www.coatpower.se
Sweden Haromi AB www.haromi.se
Sweden Gibbon www.gibbon.se
Switzerland Espadon Shop www.espadon-shop.ch
Turkey Club Safari www.clubsafari.com.tr
United Kingdom Petcetera Etc. www.petcetera.co.uk
United Kingdom Vital Group www.vital-group.co.uk
United Kingdom National Veterinary Services www.vetwholesaler.co.uk
United Kingdom PP Enhancements www.ppenhancements.co.uk
United Kingdom Centaur Services www.centaurweb.co.uk
United Kingdom SPH Supplies www.sphsupplies.co.uk
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Sunday, October 4, 2009
San Diego Tijuana International Business Resources Search Engine
This customized search engine will search only carefully chosen sites related to international business in the San Diego-Tijuana region. Search keywords related to your specific topic of interest to find local organizations, contacts, events, and information. Thanks for giving it a try, and if you have sites that could be useful to include please suggest them.
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