"SELLING ABROAD Article from Altoona Mirror (2/20/2000) ______ Harald Dertinger _____

According to the experts, the booming economy is making many U.S. companies myopic. By focusing all their sales efforts on markets at home, they may be missing the boat leaving for international shores.
There is help available for Pennsylvania businesses. Expert help in the form of 15 foreign consultants working exclusively for the state offer businesses advice needed to gain a competitive edge in international markets. Covering topics as diverse as what products to sell, where to find buyers and how to negotiate trade deals, the state's "private" consultants are based in 15 countries around the globe.

Through Team Pennsylvania Export Network, a Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission trade promotion initiative, the state has offered expert consultation for most of the last two decades. The good news for local companies is state taxpayers pick up the tab. According to Donald Bonk, international trade program manager of the network office, the advice is free, the contacts are real and the foreign markets are clamoring for more "Made in the U.S.A." items.

When (Gov. Tom) Ridge first came into office there were only four export offices for the state around the globe. Now we have 15 experts who travel here at least once a year to give advice and help local companies develop their export potential." The export network maintains overseas representatives in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Israel, South Africa, Peoples Republic of China, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

Representatives from Europe and the United Kingdom recently visited Altoona with important advice to Americans high on the current boom. They said now is the time to build for the future, because the party can end at any moment. "All economies are cyclical", said Richard Northcote, Team Pennsylvania's representative in the United Kingdom. "And the U.S. economy is far too parochial."

"Establishing an export market now is a good hedge against a fluctuating economy. Companies that export are far stronger than those that don't. So on the whole you need to look at a balance between domestic sales and exports." Northcote was joined recently with his counterpart from Belgium, Anne-Marie Wolters, at the area offices of the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission. Offering advice on business plans, market niches and shipping strategies, the duo met with several regional companies looking to expand.

They say modernized Europe is ripe for growth. Target companies in demand include those manufacturing of unique products, bio-tech firms, software developers and those catering to environmentally friendly governments termed "green" parties.

One such company, which caught the eyes of the experts already, has some export experience in Asia, Canada and Mexico. Directors of Making the Environment Cleaner Chemicals in Mundys Corner said they are now looking to Europe to market their unique industrial cleaning products. MEC Chemicals is a major distributor of eco-friendly products used primarily in industry for cleaning parts and manufacturing facilities.
Northcote and Wolters said the company's niche market fits well with Europe's "Green" parties. Made from safe food-grade acids, which are not considered hazardous chemicals, the cleaning agents are safe to ship and well received as a replacement for harsher degreasing agents.
"Right now 10% of our business is exports", Dave Hirko, MEC Chemical's office manager, said. "We'd like to get to 25%. I just feel there's so much potential." "Currently we are in the exploratory stage of our business. We've sent samples - as far as being a major part of our business yet - no", he said." MEC came up with a big catalog", Wolters said. "Their main problem was that they were offering all kinds of products. We had to narrow down their product line to just five products to give them a better chance."

"Exporting may not be for everybody", Hirko said of his company's forays into foreign markets. "If you do decide to pursue this route, there's a lot of work to do shipping catalogs and samples and making contacts. And an important tool is to get on the Internet. People just expect it these days - especially customers in other countries. One thing that surprised me is that most people (around the world) now communicate in English."
In addition to products with emphasis on the green initiative, Northcote and Wolters said Europeans are also looking for wood products. Many hardwoods found in North America are not readily available on the European market.

Locally, high technology provides one company with a willing market, especially in emerging third-world economies. Successful for many years Systems With Reliability has grown its export market to 43% of its sales. A manufacturer of broadcast antennas for both televisions and radio markets, the SWR Corporation, headquartered in Ebensburg, has won the 1999 Governor's Export Excellence Award.
Dave Edmiston, vice president of sales, said his company looks to help emerging economies. "Countries moving out of the third world into an industrial market are seeking to establish a television and radio presence", he said. "Many times establishing television becomes a big priority for new governments."
Systems With Reliability has sold its products to buyers in the Philippines, Senegal, Brazil and currently is courting Taiwan.

Edmiston credited the experts at Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission with helping his company's export program grow. Established in 1968 and bought by local investors in 1990, SWR began to focus on exports in 1993.
"The expertise is there, you just have to ask", he said of the Team Pennsylvania Export Network. "We have actually nearly doubled the amount of export trade coming out of the Altoona area since 1993."

"U.S. products enjoy a good reputation for quality", Northcote said. "But they still have to be competitive."

The Southern Alleghenies program began in the 1960s as part of President Johnson's war on poverty. In the mid-1980s, a federal grant provided the funding to start the export program. Currently, there are 10 offices statewide that connect business with the international trade directors the state retains.

The regional Altoona office of Team Pennsylvania Export Network serves Blair, Cambria, Bedford, Somerset, Huntingdon and Fulton counties. "An increasing number of local companies in the six-county region are becoming exporters for the first time or are expanding their current trade", Bonk said.

(For more information, check Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission's Web site at
www.sapdc.org/teampa or call 1-888-PA EXPORT.)