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W
hen Harley-Davidson wanted to sell its motorcycles
in Brazil in the mid-1990s, it discovered the
exorbitant duties on the fully manufactured bikes
— about 27 percent — would make its product cost prohibitive for the
average buyer.
"We followed what other companies were doing,"
says Roxanne Baumann, director of global engagement for the Wisconsin
Manufacturing Extension Partnership, who at the time was manager of
international parts, accessories and licensed products at Harley. "If you
did a knockdown of that product, and had some assembled content in
Brazil, you could come in at a much lower duty — sometimes 2 or 3
percent."
Not only that, but the product had a higher acceptance level
since people there knew it had at least some local assembly.
Unfamiliar
territ ry
B Y N I K K I K A L L I O
Venturing into
exporting takes
planning, guidance –
and a little fortitude
