Exports are an important indicator of global competitiveness.
Serving growing global markets can bolster growth in employment, sales, and market share at innovation-based companies. Also, diversity of markets creates a counter-cyclical hedge against downturns in any single market. Massachusetts and each of the other LTS experienced modest increases in the value of their manufacturing merchandise exports between 1998 and 1999. In 1999 the state s manufacturing exports rebounded more strongly than those of the other LTS and the nation as a whole. This is a sign that the state s manufacturers have recovered from the Asian financial crisis that had a negative effect on the export of goods such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment.