Small firms missing out on export opportunities

[peterjhale]

Small businesses could be missing out on valuable export opportunities because they are failing to be proactive when it comes to language skills, writes Vicki Taylor.

A survey of more than 1,000 exporters by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found poor language skills and lack of cultural awareness of overseas markets were causing valuable deals to be lost — with 77 per cent of respondents admitting this was the case.

While half of those asked said they had a formal language qualification, 80 per cent said they couldn’t conduct business dealings overseas in even one foreign language.

It also found 63 per cent had no strategy to develop their language skills.

Through the survey the BCC identified several export personalities. Those that it termed the ‘opportunists’ were found to be the least successful exporters while ‘enablers’ were the most successful.

Opportunists — those who simply respond to approaches from overseas customers rather than initiate export sales — were found to least value language skills.

Enablers — those who adapt their products, services and literature to meet the needs of a particular market — were found to place the highest importance on foreign languages.

Only 33 per cent of the respondents identified as opportunists were found to have an export turnover of more than £500m, whereas 77 per cent of enablers were found to have an export turnover exceeding this level.

In addition, the export sales of opportunists were found to be declining by £50,000 each year, while enablers were increasing their export sales by more than £290,000 in the same period.

Lewis Sidnick, the BCC policy adviser for education and skills, said small businesses could increase their export opportunities by being more proactive.

He said taking a language refresher course and doing more research into intended export markets were both things they could do to help themselves.