SMEs- When is the Right Time for SME’s to Export?

For everything, there is a right time and going global is no exception. SMEs have a unique developmental trajectory. Each growth stage has its unique opportunities, threats, and areas that need more focus.  It is best to expand globally via exporting at designated developmental stages.  These are the phases where “focused exporting” is a distinct possibility and opportunity.

There are five fundamental SME developmental stages.  They are the  Start-Up, Survival, Break-Even, Success-Harvest and Succession Stages.

Start-Up & Survival Stages: The Start-Up phase is quite simply the beginning. Here is where you identify your services or products, put your business plan, team, and money together and launch. Survival stage is the period in which you are testing the market, your products/services and hopefully, if you have done your homework right and are focused on selling, you are striking encouraging sales metrics.

Break-Even & Success-Harvest Track.  Break-Even is pretty obvious it is where you have experienced real growth in your business. The revenue received match expenditures made. You are now moving steadily toward a profit. It is at this exact stage that exporting and beginning your export process should be taken on with due diligence. Provided you can keep the momentum up in your local market; you can now start looking into expanding internationally. The Success/Harvest Track is the safest time to begin focused exporting.

Succession: The Succession stage is a time of focus on looking for buyers/alliances to sell and or transition a company. At this point, it is a bit too late because a company’s primary focus is set in succession and not necessarily new business development. As overseas business development necessitates a keen focus, this stage is not the best one to start exporting activities unless you have specific strategic reasons for doing so.

The right moments for SME’s to begin the exporting journey are the Break Even and Success-Harvest Stages. These are the opportune phases for developing an export strategy. These are the best moments to start your export journey.  Putting all your exporting eggs into one basket during these two phases brings optimal results!

See Exporting From Failure to Success: 7 Steps To Creating An Export Strategy That Works!