It is important to realise that your firm's export objectives cannot be divorced from your firm's domestic objectives. Exports are simply an extension of your company's current domestic activities. For example, if you are producing and selling perfumes, it would be unwise to suddenly try and export fashion clothing.

Company mission statement and objectives

Your export plan should therefore begin with outlining your firm's current mission statement and business objectives. The mission statement outlines in broad terms what the purpose of your company is, while your company objectives set more specific targets usually for a period of time.

Example of a company mission statement

Beaver Creek is dedicated to growing coffee beans in South Africa from which can be produced coffee of a high quality and of an affordable price. We will work towards producing a range of coffee blends and flavoured coffees that will meet the wide range of tastes of consumers. We will strive to establish successful partnerships with coffee shops throughout the country ensuring that their needs and those of their customers are met, especially in terms of the range, quality and price of the coffees we supply. We will encourage our suppliers, customers and employees to work together to this end and to ensure that the interests and goals of each party are respected.

Constantly striving to supply what the consumer is asking for, we will continually review what is available in the marketplace, and what isn't. Creating new coffee blends and providing new products and services to the areas of need will help ensure our success in a market driven by consumer demand. Success will ultimately be measured by our customers choosing us because of their belief in our ability to meet or exceed their expectations of quality, price, service, and selection.

Example of company objectives

Based on this mission statement, the Beaver Creek's objectives might be:

1. To make Beaver Creek one of the top five suppliers of bulk coffee, coffee blends and flavoured coffees to coffee shops in the major metropolitan areas of Cape Town, Durban. Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg/Pretoria.
   
2. To expand the range of products each year, by introducing at least five new flavours and/or blends each year.
   
3. To achieve quality certification for our coffees in the coming year.
   
4. To increase the extent of land under cultivation for coffee from 1000 to 1500 hectares.
   
5. To sell at least R5 million in product in the coming year.
   
6. To achieve an initial gross profit margin of at least 30%, increasing that by at least 1% per year until reaching our final target of 35%.
   
7. To maintain a solid growth rate of 30% per year for the next five years.

You will see from the above that all of these objectives include measurable targets. Based on these targets you can now prepare a host of actions that will enable your firm to achieve these objectives. These actions will be translated into production, marketing and financial plans.

To get some more ideas on how to prepare mission statements and company objectives, visit the BRAIN website at http://www.brain.org.za and read through some of their sample business plans. You could also try SBA Sample Business Plans - http://www.bplan.com/samples/sba.cfm.

Expanding the company objective to include exports

Based on your initial company mission statement and objectives, the next step is to expand your firm's mission statement and company objectives to accommodate the fact that you plan to export. This you might do by set your export objectives which will expand on your current business objectives. For example, in as far as your firm's mission statement is concerned, you may wish to adapt the mission statement as follows:

Beaver Creek is dedicated to growing coffee beans in South Africa from which can be produced internationally competitive coffee of a high quality and of an affordable price. We will work towards producing a range of coffee blends and flavoured coffees that will meet the wide range of tastes of consumers throughout the world. We will strive to establish successful partnerships with coffee shops throughout the country ensuring that their needs and those of their customers are met, especially in terms of the range, quality and price of the coffees we supply. At the same time, we will endeavour to find partners in other parts of the world that will help us market our coffee to wholesalers and retailers in their host country. We will encourage our suppliers, customers and employees to work together to this end and to ensure that the interests and goals of each party are respected.

Constantly striving to supply what the consumer is asking for, we will continually review what is available in the local and international marketplaces, and what isn't. Creating new coffee blends and providing new products and services to the areas of need will help ensure our success in an international market driven by consumer demand. Success will ultimately be measured by our customers choosing us because of their belief in our ability to meet or exceed their expectations of quality, price, service, and selection.

The above mission statement has been adapted to serve as a basis for the "internationalisation" of the firm. Of course, the mission statement does not state specifically what the firm will do - it only provides broad guidelines as to what the firm would like to achieve. This is quite acceptable, as this is exactly the purpose of a mission statement. The firm's objectives, however, will also need to be adapted to accommodate the planned export activities of the firm. The following additional component could perhaps be added to the list of seven company objectives that we provided above:

8. To establish a market for our coffees in at least two countries and to sell at least 5% of the firm's production in these markets in the coming year, expanding this to ten new export markets and 20% of production over the coming five years.

Setting your export objectives

In this way, your company's mission statement and objectives have been adapted to accommodate your export endeavours. However, it is important to realise that this does not yet represent your export objectives. Your export objectives need to be developed based on what you have set for your company in your mission statement and list of objectives. Your export objectives could look as follows:

1. To embark on an export drive that will enable the company to establish a presence in at least two countries in the first year and to expand this to ten countries over the coming five years.
   
2. To commit 5% of the firm's production to exports for the first year and to expand this to 20% within five years.
   
3. To establish committed partnerships with representatives in the selected target countries that will effectively represent our products in each of the target concerned.
   
4. To establish an effective and efficient export department that will be able to administer the export activities of the firm.
   
5. To work towards becoming internationally competitive and to establishing a global brand that will underpin both our domestic and international business activities.

These export objectives again provide a series of measurable targets and focus on committing the firm to its export endeavours. The rest of the export plan will deal with the marketing strategies and activities that are necessary to achieve these objectives.

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