Profiling Managers to Improve Export Promotion Targeting

Abstract

One of the major criticisms of government export promotion schemes in many countries is that they tend to be poorly targeted. Awareness levels about export schemes among managers of companies at exporting or pre-exporting stages of internationalization are often quite low, and the perceived usefulness of schemes may decline as companies internationalize and their needs become more specific. One solution may be to develop a better understanding of the needs of managers who make export market development decisions, and to target segments of managers (rather than companies) who share similar strengths and weaknesses. This study attempts to address these concerns by devising a typology of senior international marketing managers. The most senior marketing decisionmakers in a broad, multi-industry sample of New Zealand exporting firms were surveyed. The results of the cluster analysis suggest that groups of managers who share similar characteristics can be identified and profiled, based on shared international business attitudes and similar levels of knowledge and skills. This appears to be a useful method of segmenting international marketing managers to determine what sort of educational and export assistance particular groups may require.