Exporting
Exporting is perhaps the first step for a company to go global. It is the first of the attempts to understand the international environment develop markets abroad.
Exporting can be direct or indirect. With direct exporting the company sells to a customer in another country. This is the most common approach employed by companies taking their first international step because the risks of financial loss can be minimized. In contrast, indirect exporting usually means that the company sells to a buyer in the home country who in turn exports the product. Customers include large retailers like Wal-Mart or Sears, Wholesale supply houses, trading companies, and others that buy to supply customers abroad.
In a global environment, the sourcing of finance, materials, managerial inputs etc. will also be global. However, with 0.5 percent share in the world trade, India is an insignificant player. There are a number of products with large export potential – but these have not been tapped properly. With a more pragmatic and realistic export policy, procedural reforms and institutional support, with technological development, modernization and expansion of production facilities, India can definitely improve its share in the world trade from its present poor status. There are three strategies to increase export revenue. These are:
- increase the average unit value realization,
- increase the quantity of exports and
- Export new products.
Value added exports assume significance in the context of increasing the average unit value realization. The bulk of India’s manufactured exports constitute the low price segment of international markets. Quality improvement and aggressive marketing is required to enter the high price segments of the markets. This can be achieved by technology imports and or foreign collaborations.
The size of India’s export basket needs to be expanded by adding new products. In order to identify new products for exports, export opportunities needs to be explored and products with high foreign demand also need to be identified.
There are also market segments, and industries which are abandoned by the developed countries on account of factors such as environmental consideration, lack of competitiveness etc. For instance, developed countries are progressively vacating production of a range of chemicals due to higher expenditure on overheads and wages. Yet another strategy available to Indian Companies is Niche Marketing.
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