Small Firms Don't Look Abroad for Business? Not so!

Inc. published an article on small businesses indicating that they are opting NOT to do business overseas and I absolutely disagree.

Here's part of what the article said:

"Just 13 percent of more than 600 businesses across a range of sectors made foreign sales in the past three years. However, the numbers improve for small manufacturers, with 39 percent saying they made overseas transactions."

Want to know the real exporting facts on U.S.A. small businesses? They are as follows:

• There are more than 230,000 small businesses exporting in the United States alone.
• The number of small business exporters rose 250 percent from 1987 to 2001.
• About one of every five U.S. factory jobs depends on exports.
• Exports mean new customers and more than 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States.
• Small businesses with fewer than 500 employees export roughly U.S. $182 billion a year or 29 percent of all exports.

Source: GlobeTrade.com's report "The World Is Your Market: Small Businesses Gear Up For Globalization," to be released August, 2004.

If you want to read the complete article along with my sound-off, visit: Small Firms Don't Look Abroad for Business?