Reminder: Technology Strengthens American Trade

©iStock/metamorworks

U.S. economic growth and job creation depend on the ability to sell beyond America’s borders because 95% of consumers live outside the United States.  Moreover, U.S. businesses that export tend to grow faster, create more jobs, and become more resilient in the face of a changing economy.

Read on to learn more about growing small business exports.

Small Business Exports Have Increased Under Obama's Watch

iStock/Thinkstock

Small business exports have increased under the current U.S. administration's watch, but other areas for business owners, such as, obtaining loans, cutting red tape and lowering healthcare costs have shown no improvement.

Read Scott Shane's commentary for Businessweek here.

Small Businesses Increase Their Share of Exports

iStock/Thinkstock

According to new data published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, small businesses have increased their share of exports in the two years.

Companies with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 35 percent of exports in the third quarter of 2011, according to preliminary figures from the Census Bureau. That’s up from about 32.8 percent in 2009. The figure, from a report to be released in April, refers only to sales of goods, not services.

Learn more here (under the Exporting sub-head).

Small Business Exports: Where They Stand

iStock/Thinkstock

John Tozzi, our friend and colleague at BusinessWeek, reports on "Small Business Exports Edge Up."

Key comment:

“Ninety-eight percent of U.S. exporters are small and medium-sized enterprises but these exporters have historically represented only 30 percent of U.S. export value,” Tim Truman, a spokesman for the Commerce Department’s International Trade Association, said in an email.

And we are pleased to be quoted (GlobeTrade) in the article as well -- thank you John for including us!

Read the entire article here.  International Trade Update here.

Turning a Goal Into a Reality: Increase SMB Exports

iStock/Thinkstock

John Tozzi, small business reporter for BusinessWeek and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke brainstorm about how the U.S. government plans to boost small business exports. They address three key issues:

1. What stops most small businesses from exporting?

2. How will the Obama Administration double exports in five years?

3. Some people argue that growing exports depends more on the value of the dollar, and there's not much from a policy point of view that the U.S. can do to boost exports.

Read the entire Q&A here.

Be Fearless: Get Out There and Export!

iStock/Thinkstock

Another great (expanded for print version) article on exporting by John Tozzi for BusinessWeek:

Entrepreneurs' Fears May Jinx Obama's Export Push

Here's an interesting issue posed by a small business owner:

Payment isn't the only challenge. Betsy Shields, founder of Breakaway Technologies based in Park City, Ill., sells used computer equipment abroad. Exports made up about 30% of her total sales of $2.4 million last year. Brisk business in Hong Kong and Singapore, though, dried up in 2007, when computer hardware manufacturers "dumped a lot of brand new product over there at pretty low prices," she says. A recent prospect in Tanzania looked promising, but tariffs made Shields' goods too costly.

We are honored to be included in this story. A hat tip and thank you to John for always reaching out to us whenever a feature has to do with global small business.