The Export Readiness Assessment (developed by Maurice Kogon) is based on answers to 23 questions about a company’s present operations, attitudes and products. The questions appear one by one, with several possible answers offered. To enable you to see all 23 questions in context, the entire Questionnaire (excluding available responses) is shown below and may be printed for ready reference.
A. COMPANY READINESS
- A1. Are you an established presence in your industry domestically?
- A2. How extensive is your current domestic sales outreach?
- A3. How do you sell and distribute your products in the domestic market?
- A4. Do you customarily conduct market research and planning for your domestic operations?
- A5. To what extent do you advertise and promote your products in the domestic market?
- A6. Do any of your current managers or staff have export marketing or sales experience?
- A7. Has your company received any unsolicited inquiries from foreign firms?
- A8. Could you promptly fill any new export orders from present inventory or other sources?
- A9. How would you handle any new or additional export business within your organization?
- A10. What is the current status of your export activity?
- A11. Is your top management commited to exporting as a new or expanded area of activity?
- A12. How much per year could you afford to spend on export development?
- A13. How long would your management be willing to wait to achieve acceptable export results?
B. PRODUCT READINESS
- B1. Have domestic sales of your product grown over the past 3 years (average per year)?
- B2. What is your product’s current share of the domestic market?
- B3. Is your product price-competitive in the domestic market?
- B4. What payment terms would you be willing to offer reputable foreign buyers?
- B5. Does your product compare favorably with domestic competitors in features and benefits?
- B6. Would you be willing to adapt your product and/or packaging to better suit foreign markets?
- B7. Is your product costly to transport over long distances?
- B8. Is any special training required to assemble, install or operate your product?
- B9. Does your product require any special technical support or after-sale service?
- B10. Can your product tolerate harsh or widely varying environmental conditions?