Identifying New Product And Service Export Opportunities For South Africa Using A Decision Support Model

Abstract

In the face of slow economic growth and development, and the perennial problems of unemployment, poverty and inequality, the South African government and business community have long recognised the importance of growing and diversifying the countrys tangible goods and services export sectors. One of the challenges in designing and implementing effective export promotion strategies is identifying the right markets, given South Africas ever-fluid skills, capacity and trading relationships. The Decision Support Model (DSM) is an export market selection tool that makes use of a sophisticated filtering process to sift through an extensive range of product-/service- and country-related data to reveal those product-/service-country combinations (export opportunities) that are the most realistic and sustainable. The DSM, which has been applied for Belgium, Thailand and South Africa, not only brings greater precision to the export market selection process, but also unveils opportunities that may not have been contemplated before thus supporting the quest for export diversification. This paper examines the role of the DSM for products and the DSM for services, respectively, and illustrates how, using the results from the application of these models, they herald the start of a new era in export market selection and promotion in South Africa.

Relation of Country‐of‐Origin Effect, Culture, and Type of Product with the Consumer’s Shopping Intention: An Analysis for Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Enterprises

“…Based on the above, this article offers a panoramic view of a transcultural study, receiving the perception of tourists of different nationalities about four products related to the local gastronomy. The identification of key markets is a vital question for the future success of a firm, as the mistakes made in this period can be costly [52]. This leads us to our third hypothesis: Hypothesis 3.…”

Identifying the determinants of South Africa’s extensive and intensive trade margins: A gravity model approach

“…Industrialisation and export diversification have been part and parcel of this goal (Viviers et al 2014). The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (2013:16) states:…”

Foreign market selection process as tool for international expansion: Case study for ecuadorian chia seeds exports to the european union

“…), relevant product-specific indicators (number of potential customers, product-specific trade indicators, demand, etc. ), indicators such as political and commercial risk, commercial indicators for the target country (demand for imports and growth of imports over the previous years), indicators for geographical distance, language barriers and international trade agreements (Hisrich 2015, Viviers et al 2014, Sheng & Mullen 2011. It is also interesting to mention at this point that literature indicates that company strategies (e.g.…”

“…Once all data have been compiled, they must be converted to a harmonised standard so that all indicators from every country can be numerically compared with each other. Different methods can be used to achieve this, and each one requires a certain level of perspicacity on the part of the business owner or researcher (Hisrich 2015, Viviers et al 2014.…”

“…A company must, however, make several strategic decisions before initiating its international expansion, one of which is the selection of the most suitable market (Hingley et al 2009, Terán-Yépez & Santos-Roldán 2018. Identifying international markets with preferable conditions is vital for the success of a company, as mistakes made during this stage of the process can be very costly (Viviers et al 2014).…”