An export plan is the marketing roadmap that guides the company's export drive, indicating which foreign markets to enter and how to do it competitively.
Concept
The export plan is the guide that shows the entrepreneur where to direct his export effort and how to compete with his products and / or services in the international market (safe, increasing and profitable exports) in order to achieve success. (Lerma, p.266)
The Export Plan is the appropriate tool to balance the requirements related to existing opportunities in international markets with the inherent characteristics of the product or service that the company wishes to offer. (Suquilanda, p.111)
An export plan is the written document that presents the master schedule of the activities that a company must carry out to export a certain product. It is not different in many aspects from other sales plans, but you must consider the variables and export and import requirements that will change from one market to another such as: culture. political situation, infrastructure, geography, tastes and consumer preferences among others. The aforementioned factors are uncontrollable for the exporting company, but there are also others that can be controlled. These variables are what make up the marketing mix: distribution, price, promotion and product. (Lasso, p.5)
Advantage
Ochoa (p.1) ensures that, among others, the development within the company of an export plan allows:
- Analyze the internal situation of the company, its product, its sectorial situation and against the competition Detect its main strengths and weaknesses Reflect on the new realities of international trade and how these new scenarios are posed in relation to the exportable supply of Based on this, identify the main opportunities and threats of the external competitive environment Determine in advance the adaptation efforts that the company must carry out and outline an action plan in stages that allow managing the costs involved in working on the opening of a market. These adaptations can range from purely productive aspects to issues related to the use of technologies, communications, packaging, certifications, etc.Select the markets to enter and analyze their potentialities and their barriers or obstacles Evaluate and prepare the logistics and distribution means Analyze the formal aspects of the export process (shipping requirements, shipments, etc.) as well as the financial aspects of the business (forms available payments, costs, financing, etc.) Define the positioning of the company and identify partners or strategic allies that can act as facilitators Establish the costs associated with the task of opening markets Design the action plan to carry out out, allowing the optimization of available resources.etc) as well as the financial aspects of the business (available forms of payment, costs, financing, etc.). Define the positioning of the company and identify partners or strategic allies who can act as facilitators Establish the costs associated with the opening task markets Design the action plan to be carried out, allowing the optimization of available resources.etc) as well as the financial aspects of the business (available forms of payment, costs, financing, etc.). Define the positioning of the company and identify partners or strategic allies who can act as facilitators Establish the costs associated with the opening task markets Design the action plan to be carried out, allowing the optimization of available resources.
Elements
Mercado (p.197) indicates that in the development of a good export plan five tasks are essential:
- Description of the current situation of the business, which implies the elaboration of a detailed summary of all the relevant aspects of its current operations Detection of business opportunities in the international market (product-market research) Evaluation of the international competitiveness of the company and its products or services, by comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the company (mainly with regard to products and services) against competitors in each target market. Determination of the competitive strategy. Based on the information collected in the three previous steps, and using ingenuity and cunning, you will be able to identify and determine actions to improve the operation of your company in new markets,and thus increase the success of your export effort. Formulation of the export plan. Where one or more specific export projects that are promising are identified and described.
Steps for its realization
Roque and Pierdant (p.74) suggest the following:
- Identify the product to be exported Identify the requirements of the target market Identify potential customers within said market Establish and compare export prices Learn about the advantages and requirements of treaties or agreements Match production capacity with demand Prepare the International logistics Adapt administrative structure Identify existing or available capital structure; yAnalyze the competition.
Bibliography
- Roque Pavón, Adrián and Pierdant de la Mora, Pedro. Practically. How to export. Plaza and Valdés, 1996. Lazo Quiñonez, José Gustavo. Design of an export plan for non-traditional products to Europe by air, a specific case of ornamental foliage plants. Rafael Landibar University. Thesis. 2002.Lerma Kirchner, Alejandro E. Development of new products: an integral vision. Cengage Learning Editores, 2010Mercado, Salvador. International Trade I. Editorial Limusa, 2000. Ochoa, Paloma. SMEs and Foreign Trade: Why is an export plan necessary? CEDEX, University of Palermo Suquilanda Palacios, Cynthia Yomaira. Plan to export red oil from African palm to the Venezuelan market, for oil extractors in Ecuador, in the period 2006-2015. Equator Technological University. Thesis. 2006.
