Going Global: How Europe Helps Small Firms Export

In the battle for global economic competitiveness, America's small and medium-sized businesses are at a significant disadvantage. Every major industrial nation in the world has developed a well-integrated system of public and private sector export assistance programs aimed specifically at the small and medium-sized businesses that make up the foundation of any economy. Every nation, that is, except the United States. Federal and state agencies and private organizations routinely urge small firms to export, but no coherent strategies guide these exhortations, and the resources committed to the task are paltry compared with the investments made by our competitors. In this groundbreaking book, William Nothdurft explores the principles that underlie European programs to help small and medium-sized firms export, and presents practical, policy-oriented guidance for creating high-yield export assistance programs in tough economic times. In a fresh, and compelling style, Going Global addresses five key questions at the heart of the export challenge: Why don't more small and medium-sized firms export? Who should be helped with exporting? What forms of assistance work best under which conditions? Where and by whom should assistance be delivered? And how should export assistance be financed? Having analyzed some of Europe's most innovative public and private sector initiatives, Nothdurft presents ten practical lessons for creating high-yield export assistance programs. He explores each lesson in detail and presents examples of programs under way in Europe to illustrate each lesson. In concluding, Nothdurft urges government and industry officials to think strategically about trade development andbegin building a public-private export assistance infrastructure capable of meeting the global trade challenge head-on.