Planning For Export Success

Presented by Andrei Link

Purpose

• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail...

– Anyone disagrees?– Ice-cream horror story

• This workshop has one simple purpose:

To give you the understanding, framework and tools

to complete your own export plan that will

help you avoid embarrassing mistakes and

make more money by exporting your products or services

By 1pm today you will have answers to…

• What is an export plan?

• Why do I need it, again?

• How do I go about creating a good plan for my business covering:

– What to export and where– Meeting key market requirements– Getting the pricing right– Selling effectively and getting paid– Protecting my intellectual property– Building my brand overseas– Helping me manage export risks– Other questions relevant to ME

Key topics

• Introductions

• What and Why

– What an EP is and is not– Why you need it

• Typical Export Plan overview

– External and internal plans– Typical sections

• Step by step guide to developing an EP

– Key concepts you need to know– How to do each step and add content to the sections of the EP– Practical exercises – Examples from your experience?– There may not be time for everything: you will determine what we focus on

Please tell us about yourself

• 30 second introduction:

– Yourself– Your company– Why you want to export/are exporting– What you want from this course

What and Why

• What an Export Plan is:

– A document describing your export strategy through key decisions made and actions to be taken

• What an Export Plan is not:

– A collection of ideas, thoughts and background information relevant to your export strategy (this belongs to planning documents or attachments to EP)

• Why you need an Export Plan:

– “Just do it” rarely works well– Preparing an EP helps you:

• discover opportunities and threats• use limited resources effectively• avoid expensive and embarrassing mistakes

– The journey is as important as the destination!

External and internal Export Plans

• External – for audience outside your Company

– Banks, investors, government agencies, potential business partners– Includes sections about the Company, managers, products– Must disclose as little as possible (assume information leaks!)

• Internal – for people who execute and control your export strategy

– Directors, employees, trusted service providers and partners– Does not necessarily describe the Company and products– Has much more detail, often trade secrets of the Company

• You normally start with an internal plan and then “sanitize it for external consumption”

• Today we will focus on preparing an internal plan

Typical Export Plan sections

• Executive Summary (optional)

• Products and markets

• Purchasers and end users

• Pricing

• Distribution

• Market entry

• Positioning

• Promotion and brand development

• IP protection

• Other legal issues

• Shipping / product delivery

• Getting paid

• Financing export transactions

• After-sales service and product support

• Organisational structure and other changes to business systems and processes

• Risk management

• Roles, budgets, financial projections, timelines

• Background data as reqd.

Step by step guide to preparing an EP

1. Review your overall business strategy

2. Assess your export readiness

3. Do SWOT and PESTE analysis

4. Do initial export market selection

5. Identify market research needs

6. Do market research

7. Refine export market selection

8. Do the 4Ps + 2Cs analysis and planning:

1. Product, Pricing, Promotion, Place (distribution)

2. Customers, Competition

Note 1: Very often, completing a step will

allow you to document decisions

and actions for two or more sections of your

Export Plan!

Step by step guide to preparing an EP - 2

9. Plan market entry / product (service) launch strategy

10.Do plans for:

1. IP protection, product liability and other legal issues2. Shipping / product delivery3. After sales service and support

11. Validate w.r.t. resource constraints and financial feasibility

12.Plan how to finance export market development

13.Prepare budgets, role assignments, action plans and timelines

14.Prepare a risk management plan

15.Prepare executive summary and background data (optional)

16.Make it a living document

Note 2: While the implied sequence is

linear, in reality it’s circular and

iterative

Step 1: Review your business strategy

• Participants Workbook, page 5

Step 2: Assess your export readiness

• Supplementary Workbook, page 2

Step 3: SWOT and PESTE analysis

• Participants Workbook, page 8 -12

• NZTE SWOT worksheet

Step 4: Initial export market selection

• Participants Workbook, page 16 - 22

Step 5: Identifying market research needs

• Inputs:

– Export readiness assessment– SWOT and PESTE analysis– Initial market selection– Export Plan sections

• Backward market researchmethodology:

– What decisions do we need tomake / actions to take?

– What information we need for this?

Step 6: Doing market research

• Secondary research

– General country, market and industry information– Relatively cheap and quick to get, but has limitations– Start with free sources (Internet, NZTE, Export NZ, CECC, CMA, NZSA,

other countries’ data e.g. CIA!)– Complement with paid reports– Identify the gaps that MUST be closed

• Primary research

– Tailored to your needs– Can be time-consuming and generally expensive– Talk to government officials and experts– Engage a professional market research company to do surveys, focus

groups, phone interviews, trial launches, etc etc– Do an in-market visit

Step 7: Refining export market selection

• Same methodology as with the initial export market selection

• Selection criteria and weightings may change based on market research results

• Initial broad markets (e.g. USA) may need to be broken down into individual export markets from which the final selection will be made (California, Colorado, Florida)

Step 8: Do the 4Ps + 2Cs planning

• 4 Ps

– Product– Pricing– Promotion– Place

• 2 Cs

– Customers– Competition

Positioning planning

• Cornerstone of the marketing (and, often, business) strategy

• Deceptively simple when finished, but takes a lot of thinking to prepare

• May have to be different from one export market to another

• Supplementary Workbook, page 3

Pricing planning

• Price setting approaches– Cost plus– Market driven– Consistent with positioning– Should include payment terms,

volume discounts, co-marketing allowances• Getting paid (from least risky to most risky)

– Cash in advance– Letters of credit– Bills of exchange– Buying on account– Consignment

• NZTE pricing worksheet– Pricing terms (Incoterms)– Forward cost calculation (cost-based)– Reverse cost calculation (market driven)

Brand development planning

• What this is about:– Brand – a collection of names, images, colours and sounds as well as

beliefs and expectations associated with a product (service, company, person, country)

– Branding – a systematic process of making the product (service, etc) recognizable and associating the brand beliefs and expectations with it

– A brand is strong when it is well known and has positive beliefs and expectations that make it easy for people to part with their money

• Brand components: values, message, personality, icons and product itself

• Brand icons:– Product / service / company names– Logos (think Nike)– Taglines– Colour schemes (think All Blacks)– Sounds (think Nokia)

Brand development planning - 2

• Important considerations

– The brand strategy is tightly linked to product positioning– Brand icons often need to be legally protected – they are a big part

of your intellectual property portfolio– Successful branding is good insurance against being commoditised– Mistakes are easy to make, very difficult and expensive to correct– Different languages/cultures may have unfavourable meanings for

words or symbols that are absolutely OK in New Zealand– Even simple translations can be a challenge: in Venezuela a

billboard advertising the classic movie Grease announced John Travolta was starring in Vaselina

Terminology of promotion

You see a gorgeous woman at a party. You ask your friend to go up to her and say about you: “He's fantastic in bed”. That's Advertising.

You see a gorgeous woman at a party. You get her telephone number, call her the next day and say: “Hi, I'm fantastic in bed. ” That's Telemarketing.

You see a gorgeous woman at a party. You go up to her and say: “I'm fantastic in bed. ” That's Direct Marketing.

You see a gorgeous woman at a party. She walks up to you and says: “I hear you're fantastic in bed. ” That's Brand Recognition.

Terminology of promotion (now for real)

• Just in case, promotion, advertising and marketing are all different things!

Promotion

AdvertisingPublic

RelationsSales

Promotion

ConsumerPromotion

ChannelPromotion

SalesforcePromotion

MassAdvertising

Direct Marketing

PersonalSelling

Promotion planning tips

• Clarify your goals

• Research the options

• Engage your business partners: advice, co-marketing

• Be realistic

• Define Return On Investment and how you will measure success

• Apply project management discipline

• Make sure to include an expert in local culture and/or experienced in promoting your type of product to your target market

Product/service planning

• Adaptation and/or modification are often necessary

• Internationalization – making a product easy to change for an export market

• Localization – changing a product for a specific export market

• Installation and post-sales service and support are a part of the total product offering; their needs often drive product modifications

• Supplementary Workbook, page 4

Place (distribution) planning

• One of the most important elements of an EP development!

• Distribution options – from simplest to more complex:– Indirect exporting– Exporting through a distributor– Exporting through a representative agent– Manufacturing under license– Franchising– Joint venture– Direct exporting– 100% offshore ownership

• Distributor selection

• Distribution agreements

Indirect exporting

• How:

– Targeting overseas buyer visiting New Zealand– Selling to New Zealand / Aus-based trading houses or

intermediaries– Subcontracting products or services for offshore projects

• Advantages:

– Low investment, low risk– Exporting is handled by people who understand the market

• Disadvantages:

– No control over sales and marketing– Increased losses of profits due to additional intermediaries

Exporting through a distributor

• How:

– Selling through a company based in your export market that buys your goods and resells locally

• Advantages:

– The distributor performs all in-market functions incl. service/support– The in-market risks largely borne by the distributor

• Disadvantages:

– You may be of little interest to a large distributor– Low control over sales and marketing– Often difficult to get out of a bad relationship

Exporting through a representative agent

• How:

– Selling through a commission-based entity based in the export market

– Agents • Advantages:

– Higher profits– Control over sales and marketing incl. branding– Agents are often easier to find than distributors

• Disadvantages:

– Agents may have fewer resources than distributors– You need to provide a big management and marketing support– Higher risk of non-payment

Manufacturing under license

• How:

– You license IP to a firm in the target market– The firm manufactures products / delivers services and pays you a set fee

or royalty• Advantages:

– Very cost effective– More responsive to market needs– Ensures a very strong commitment from the business partner

• Disadvantages:

– Lower returns most of other types of exporting– No or little control over the marketing mix– Intellectual property can be difficult to protect– Can be difficult to audit output and get paid fairly

Franchising

• Entering into a business agreement with a partner to provide a developed business package

• Similar to licensing but has important differences

• Licensing: well-established partner, long-term agreement, payment by royalties, negotiating strength is with the partner

• Franchising: start-up partner, short- or medium-term agreement, payment by management fee, negotiating strength is with the franchisor (you)

Joint ventures

• A joint ownership arrangement in which a new company is formed and owned by you and a local company

• Advantages:

– Good control and understanding of the market– Risks are shared– Takes advantage of the local partner’s resources and networks– Can be financed independently of your other business initiatives

• Disadvantages:

– Take a big effort and serious money to set up– Potential for conflicts is high– Repatriation of profits can be difficult

Direct exporting

• Selling from New Zealand into your export market and dealing directly with your customers from your New Zealand base – no intermediaries!

• Advantages:

– Full control over sales, pricing, installation, support enhances the relationship with the customer

– Can be seen very favourably by buyers from Asia– Works great when need to supply specialised components or

services to a small number of large customers– The major resource required is time rather than money

• Disadvantages:

– Requires significant management time at high levels– Need to learn how to do business in the market

100% offshore ownership

• How:

– Establish a branch, or– Make a “greenfield investment”

• Advantages:

– Very high control over all aspects of business– Higher profits– Often eligible for local market incentives

• Disadvantages:

– Expensive or very expensive: time, money, human capital

Choosing your distribution option

• Standalone Worksheet

Customer and competition analysis

• Customers

– Buyers vs. users– How are my products used

• Competitors

– Firm– Form– Fiscal– Feeling

• Participants Workbook, page 13

Step 9: Plan market entry / product launch

• The market entry plan is driven by the distribution and promotion strategies and combines tactical elements / actions points from both, e.g.

– The order in which segments of the market are entered– The regions in which distributors are recruited– Events in which your and/or the distributors participate– Campaigns that you and/or the distributors run

Step 10: Do plans for:

• IP protection, product liability and other legal issues

• Shipping / product delivery

• After sales service and support

Intellectual property

• Elements of IP:

– Work of authorship (copyright law): written materials, photographs, illustrations, computer software, website content

– Inventions (patent law): devices, compositions, processes incl. business processes

– Marks (trademark law): names, logos, slogans/taglines, domain names

– Designs– Trade secrets: customer lists, pricing/cost data, customer

information and sales practices, business plans, financial data/forecasts, manufacturing techniques, design manuals, production processes/specifications, survey/research data

Intellectual property - 2

• Actions to support your Export Plan development and implementation:

– Consider getting professional help early on– Conduct an IP audit and identify IP in your business and products– Implement measures to protect the IP:

• Internal (inside of your business): register IP, secure confidential information with company/employee policies

• External (dealing with export partners and service providers): conduct due diligence, have necessary paperwork (NDAs etc) in place

– Police your IP: review market, monitor competitor’s filings, use internal controls

– Enforce your IP: take legal and/or other action when necessary and passes the cost/benefit test! (note: legal action = last resort!)

Legal issues

• Product liability – huge issue, esp. for the US

• Export regulations of the New Zealand Government

• Import regulations of the target countries

• Distribution, consignment, other agreements

• “Truth in advertising” and similar; equivalents to Fair Trading Act and Consumer Guarantees Act

• Additional (if required) cover for:

– Professional indemnity– Directors and officers liability

• Be prepared to have to spend money and to get professional help!

© 2008 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Portions © Andrei Link.All rights reserved. Date Published April 7, 2023

International distribution agreement checklist

Abstract

Schedule of Exhibits

1 Details About Distributor

2 Territorial Limitations

3 Exclusivity

4 Minimum Performance Requirements

5 Products Covered by Agreement

6 Price of the Products

7 Risk of Loss

8 Maintenance of Stock and Parts

9 Payment Terms

10 Ordering Procedure

11 Promotional Strategy

12 Anticipated Forward Requirements

13 Expenses

14 Trademarks and Brand Names

15 Product Enhancements

16 Covenant Not to Compete

17 Protection Against "Knock-Offs"

18 Compliance with Law

19 Warranty

20 Products Liability Insurance

21 Customs Clearance and Payment of Customs Duties

22 Confidential Information and Trade Secrets

23 Choice of Law; Arbitration

24 Assignment; Appointment of Sub-Agents

25 Term of Agreement

26 Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedure

27 Arbitration

28 Other clauses, if applicable

Source: R. Auerbach

Shipping / product delivery - physical

• Methods of physical product delivery

– By sea, by air, multi-modal– Trade-offs between costs and schedules

• Documentation:

– Best left to specialists (freight forwarders)– Includes air waybills, bills of lading, commercial and consular invoices,

certificates of origin and inspection, export license, insurance certificates etc• Insurance

– Usually, against loss, damage, delay in transit– When the seller is responsible, get a policy– When the buyer is responsible, the seller should NOT assume that it will be

done – get the confirmation or face a big risk!

Shipping / product delivery – physical - 2

• Packing – must deal with breakage, moisture, pilferage, excess weight

• Labelling usually specified by buyer and must:

– Meet shipping regulations– Ensure proper handling– Conceal the identity of the contents– Help identify shipments– Ensure compliance with environmental and safety standards

• Examples of the required labels:

– Shipper’s mark, country of origin, weight, handling marks, cautionary markings (often in several languages), port of entry, labels for hazardous materials

After sale service / support

• Very often good service is a deal-winner and a basis for effective positioning and repeat business

• Service delivery options:

– At your NZ facility (very rare due to obvious reasons)– By your distributor (cost-effective but quality control is an issue)– By sub-contracted local facilities (more expensive, more control)– At your in-market branch (ideal, if you have one)– Some combination of the above (e.g. multi-tiered support and

service structures)• Remember, service and support can be a source of additional revenue

(think extended warranties)

Strive to achieve excellence in service

Step 11: Validate w.r.t. resources and finance

• Typically, all decisions made in the previous steps will have been made with respect to how much money, time, human capital and other resources are available

• Because of the iterative nature of export planning when different areas may get attention at different time, now is a good opportunity to look at all major decisions made in these areas and check that there is still enough resources to do it all:

– Market research– Export market selection– Product, pricing, promotion, distribution– Market entry and product launches– IP protection and other legal issues

• Often you will find you need more money than you thought!

Step 12: Plan financing export activities

• Export market development is expensive and often requires long-term investments in addition to financing individual export orders

• Factors influencing financing decisions:

– The need to offer favourable payment terms to buyer– The length of time the sale is being financed– Costs of different methods of financing– The need for increased working capital– Sale-related costs vs. long-term investments

• Sources of finance:

– Normal commercial avenues (banks)– Government assistance– Factoring– Multilateral Development Banks (Asian Bank, World Bank etc)

Step 13: Budgets, roles, actions, timelines

• This is a step when you pull everything together and prepare consolidated:

– P&L statement based on sales forecasts and planned expenditures– Cash flow projections and working capital requirements– Budgets based on the above

• On the non-financial side, you need to:

– Review the organisational structure and make sure it will support the transition from serving the New Zealand market to becoming an exporter

– This includes clear role assignments with appropriate responsibility and authority

• From a project / process management perspective, you need to:

– Identify major areas of effort and put them on a timeline– Identify major milestones that will allow you to track your progress against

objectives

Step 14: Prepare a risk management plan

• This can be a separate section or a sub-section in other sections BUT it must be done

• Typical workflow:

– Look at EACH part of your business or element of your export plan– Identify uncertainties and arising downside and upside risks– Look for ways to (a) mitigate downside risks through reducing the likelihood of

occurring and/or reducing the negative impact, and (b) help upside risks happen– Create contingency plans and build them into your Export Plan

• Just a few common areas of attention:

– Financial: damage or loss goods before payment, exchange rate risks, credit risks– Compliance with standards and compatibility with other products in the market– IP, product liability– Non-performance of the business partner

• Make somebody (you?) personally responsible for the ongoing risk management process!

• Do risk analysis and risk response planning early and iterate as you add more detail to plan

Step 15: Finalise your plan

• Prepare the Executive Summary (optional, IMHO)

• Add background data if required for finalising decisions and taking actions documented in the plan (usually, in appendices)

Step 16: Make it a living document

• Establish a process for the Export Plan reviews and updates (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!)

• There must be an owner of theExport Plan responsible for organisingthese reviews and updates andinforming all stakeholders

Pulling it all together

• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail

• A good Export Plan describes your export strategy through key decisions made and actions to be taken and is a key tool for executing this strategy

• Preparing a good Export plan is project in its own right and has to be supported with resources and top management attention

• Consultants are likely to be needed to complete an Export Plan but you are the person to drive it!

• You are not on your own – there is a mountain of resources, many of them free!

Where To Next?• Copy of this presentation is available on request

• Participants Workbook has additional templates

• Coaching

• Contact NZTE Offices (Tel 0800 555 888) for export assistance

• Visit www.marketnewzealand.com and www.nzte.govt.nz (links to NZ Government agency sites, country checklists, various guides, Auerbach materials)

• Visit www.business.govt.nz and www.exported.co.nz

• Visit www.unzco.com/basicguide/ - very valuable exporting guide + links to a host of information sources and databases (often free)

© 2008 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Portions © Andrei Link.All rights reserved. Date Published April 7, 2023

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(out of the country until 14 June)