Export Development and Promotion: The Role of Public Organizations

Companies succeed in international markets because of their competitive competence which, in large measure, is based on the level of knowledge and skill they bring to their international marketing activities. Public organizations in the export development and promotion field play a facilitating role in this process. Their mandate is to enhance the know-how of exporters and thereby assist foreign market entry, development and expansion. The interaction between these public organizations and the companies they exist to serve is the subject of this book. The book is wide-ranging and up-to-date. The work ofresearchers from 11 countries (in both the developed and developing world) is represented which means that a variety of perspectives are contained in the book. These contributions present the latest thinking on this important matter. The authors of each chapter are objective in their approach. Consequently, considerable attention is paid to the performance of the public organization support programs and activities. Each researcher comes to his/her own conclusions based on the individual work undertaken, but readers will fmd that certain common themes run through many ofthe chapters. The key objectives of the book are: 1. To provide academic researchers with a current and comprehensive treatment of the role played by public organizations in export development and promotion. 2. To expose professional readers (officials in relevant public organizations, consultants in the private sector or in international agencies) to a view of their field of interest that might be broader and more critical than normal.

I Export Development and Promotion and Public Organizations: The State-of-the-Art.- One Export Promotion and Public Organizations: State-of-the-Art.- Two Challenge and Response: The Rise of State Export Development Policies in the U.S.A..- Three Export Promotion Organizations in Developing Countries: Their Role, Scope and Function.- II Challenges in Export Development: Some Regional Perspectives 73.- Four Nontraditional Exports in Costa Rica: An Exploration of Public Policy Issues.- Five Barriers to Exporting: An Exploratory Study of Latin American Companies.- Six Export Promotion Policies in Spain and Other E.E.C. Countries: Systems and Performance.- Seven Italian Exporting SMFs and Their Use of Support Services.- III Evaluating the Role of Public Organizations in Export Promotion.- Eight International Trade Fairs: Firms and Government Exhibits.- Nine Evaluation of Export Promotion Measures: A Survey of Scottish Food and Drink Exporters.- Ten Public Support to Export Consortia: The Italian Case.- Eleven International Marketing and Government Export Promotion in the Netherlands.- IV A Case For Successful Intervention: Some New Initiatives.- Twelve Changing Small Firms' Attitudes to Exporting: A Case Study of Successful Intervention.- Thirteen Two Educational Initiatives in Public Support for Export The Victorian Export Market Development Program, Australia. John Onto and Nigel Hamley The European Marketing Program, Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland..- V Export Promotion and Public Organizations: Present and Future Research.- Fourteen Export Promotion and Public Organizations: Present and Future Research.- References.