Export marketing - relationships, not numbers
Tim Ambler
Exporting is important – to individual companies and to the economy. Tim Ambler looks at the conventional data-driven practices recommended by textbooks and government bodies and concludes that building personal relationships with importers is a more efficient and effective approach.
In an increasingly global world, one might expect the focus of marketing to switch from domestic to international – particularly in light of the government's focus on exports as the salvation for the economy – but this does not yet seem to have been the case. Many commentators, including HSBC chief economist...