Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/312675
10 | /insight on manufacturing • May 2014 w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m » Colombia Total imports: $59 billion Wisconsin exports to Colombia: $167 million » Peru Total imports: $44 billion Wisconsin exports to Peru: $238 million » Chile Total imports: $72 billion Wisconsin exports to Chile: $476 million The countries A Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation grant will cover part of the cost of the mission, which includes individualized market assessments, partner searches and meetings with companies whose needs match with products or services offered by businesses in the New North. "The Global New North initiative is really about diversifying the customer base or the market base for the New North, so this is really an extension of some of the work that we've done in targeting different markets or new markets for resident business and industry," says Jerry Murphy, executive director of New North. Many companies fall into exporting for no other reason than someone asked them to ship a product internationally, says Tom Baron, associate planner at the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and co-chair of Global New North. "So it really wasn't an awareness – it was more a reaction to something." That's been part of the reason why exporting has remained underdeveloped in the New North, Murphy says. "I think everybody understands that diversifying a market, including new targets who are off-shore, is something strategic," he says. "It's something that should be well- laid-out, logical and should be a complement to the type of business and industry that are our strengths." The exporting study was an attempt to put some strategy into export diversification, he says. "That study essentially said that our cluster industries within the New North genuinely have export market potential, but that won't happen as fast as you might want it to, or as strategically, synergistically or efficiently as you might want it to, without interjecting some organizational capacity," Murphy says. That meant getting local economic development officials involved because they have contact with local markets and know what the capabilities are and then connecting them to the offshore market potential, he says. "The last piece has been oriented to two things: One is recruiting companies to a specific trade venture, and the other is providing tools that would help local developers and companies accelerate their learning curve around what exporting is and is not, and what the available resources are," Murphy says. A lack of awareness has been one of the main barriers to attracting companies to exporting – as well as working through issues such as financing, communication and political stability, Baron says. "We really wanted to just uncover what's happening currently with exporting, where do we see opportunities, and I think we learned quite a bit more than we even thought we would – that to some extent in the region those conversations aren't happening," Baron says. "So part of our work is focused on training or THE WORLD IS YOURS c o n t i n u e d dani long Mark rhoda-reis Jerry Murphy