An Austrade survey of 434 Australian and British exporters showed that 22 per cent of exporters made contact with their overseas distributors through friends or other acquaintances, while 21 per cent knew the overseas distributor from a previous job or business. Social networks explained the market entry, not market forces and strategic plans. This partly explains some of the links between immigration and export growth. Much of Australia s success as an export nation in recent years is due to the efforts of the many post-war immigrants who ended up leading successful companies. The names Abeles, Parbo and Adler come to mind.
Personal connections help exports.
Meeting and greeting, getting connected, building networks and making you and your firm known is a good way to start. With any business relationship, like a personal one, you go through well-defined phases. First you become aware of each other as possible partners, then you start interacting, go through a trial phase and, if the relationship deepens, some level of ongoing commitment results. Of course, break-ups can happen at any point along the way if things don t work out. This does not mean that if you are serious about looking for growth overseas you abandon the screening and planning processes presented by the textbooks.