well I guess if you look at it from another perspective, it will give you an idea, of cost
not much competition in this space
and rack rates almost same
wot is the cost in terms of time, energy and money , if we dont take such representatives help
Let's look at a Company wishing to penitrate another market place, with a product launch.....One with an export department and one without and export department.
Export Consultants time is costing between 50 to 75 pounds per hour. and it's alot of money, so even to have an export department with one consultant, at a guess I would say, 35 to 50.000 a year, to employ a cheap one...with no experience....Plus the costs involved to supply him with the tools of the trade like office and equipment, you will not see much change out of 75.000 pound.
Compared to a company, with no export office, and sell one or two products abroad, and believe they are exporters......They haven't a clue, about the market, they sell too, or the culture involved, they are naive, and stuck in a mindset, of i can do it all, and get no where over several years, there is no planning or updating, the mindset is stuck, with no vision, and the company dies a certain death over time...
One can be a good businessman on ones own patch, but when one is abroad, you have to adapt, to the Countries way of doing business in double quick time, to blend in, traditions and ethics count....
I can tell you of one instance of a European, who was flying into Japan, for a business meeting, the Japanese businessman, was at the airport, to meet the European...and stopped to purchase beer, before coming out of the airport...The japanese businessman feeling insulted, that the European had put beer, before their business meeting, ended the discussion, with the meeting being cancled. Japanese Etiquette is essential, just like anywhere else in the world, respect is the word of business.
Where the other company who is interested in internationalisation, jumps for the opportunity to hire an Export Consultant, either through the Chamber of commerce or a freelancer, which is normally cheaper....
Grants and subsidies are avialble for the intial export attempt, normally by government, and it subsidy varies, for a desk top research and feasibility study of a market. from 35% to 50% for the feasibility study to 50% to 75% for an intensive product launch, of which an Export Consultant will do on the behalf of the company, allowing the break through to setup, an office in that Country if needed.
For a business person wishing to set up in Singapore, he would have to do some comprehensive, research, in the market before, attempting to setup, otheriwse he takes a very high risk venture.
I belive an experienced export consultant, may have a few steps in front of the normal businessman, because the exporter, would normally have cultural backgound knowledge, and a methodology of reaserch, within databases, that the normal businessman, knows, nothing about.
So time = money = which reduces risk. Desk reaserch is normally a 1 month to 3 month evaluation, field reasearch can also vary from 1 month to 6 month, and a startup or product launch would look at 3 years, before, coming to any conclusions, its all about budget, and quality of professionalism employed, to identify risk. and to prioritise the risk, through discussion, with the employer!
This is a niche area of employment, which is taken on by Export Consultants, rather than business development consultants, unless, they have hands on experience of overseas business development, in setting up new projects.
Normally they can work to a budget, to setup a new company and do the risk assessment
