Export Readiness Checklist

Page 1

Assess your company’s export readiness

Mission and business planning

Is the legal structure appropriate for your enterprise? (Is your company registered as a CC, Pty/Ltd or Yes 1 Partnership?)

Do you have a written mission statement and do all your employees understand it? (See “Section 2: Planning Yes 1 for export success”, page XX.) No

Do you have a written business/marketing plan covering 12 to 24 months? (See “Section 2: Planning for export Yes 2 success”, page XX.)

Is your plan being implemented and monitored properly? (Are there proper weekly or monthly reports on Yes 2 production/sales/business development?)

Do you understand the importance of doing it right first time and are you committed to this? (Have there been Yes 2 repeated problems with planning, delivery, or other activities?)

Are your production facilities adequate to provide a safe work environment for your workforce and a smooth Yes

Could you increase your production by about 30% or more at short notice? (Say, two to three months.) Yes 2

Do you have a formal product quality assurance/control system, with written records and reports? Note that this Yes 2 is relevant for all products, irrespective of type. (See “Section 4: Using the export marketing mix”, page XX)

Does your product comply with any recognised South African (SABS) and/or international standards and/or Yes 2 specifications and is compliance regularly audited? (If this is totally irrelevant rate at 2.)

Do you have an accurate product costing system based on a bill of materials?

Total score for first two sections 20

If your score is below 15, seek help from a business consultant and/or CSIR, SABS, SEDA (depending on where your weakness is) before continuing with your export plans. If your score is 15 or above, continue with the questionnaire.

Your rate
No
0
0
Partly No 1 0
Partly No 1 0
Partly No
0 Production
Partly No 1 0
Yes 2 Partly 1 No 0
1
2 work flow?
Is your production consistent in volume and quality?
Partly
No 0
1
No
0
Partly
1
Partly No
0
1
Partly
No 0
Yes 2
1

Financial management

Do you have a recent audited or certified financial report for your business (including a balance sheet and profit/ Yes 2 loss statement and explanatory notes)?

If your score for this section is below 8, seek help from a financial or accounting consultant before continuing with your export plans. If your score is 8 or more continue with the questionnaire.

If your score is below 7, ask for help from a business consultant before you continue with your export plans. If your score is 7 or above, continuethe questionnaire.

Marketing

Do you have a marketing strategy/marketing plan for your local market that consistently covers the main Yes 2 marketing aspects of product, price, distribution and promotion?

0 Do
No 0 Do you prepare a budget annually? Yes No 2 0 Did your turnover grow last year? Yes No 2 0 Did you have a net profit? Yes No 2 0 Score for this section 10
No
you have an efficient internal accounting system producing monthly financial performance reports and cash Yes 2 flow overviews?
Human resources and organisational structure Does your company have the resources and experience to handle administrative matters efficiently? Yes 2 Partly 1 No 0 Do you have efficient communications systems (telephone, fax, e-mail)? Yes 2 Partly 1 No 0 Do you respond quickly (within 24 hours) to enquiries, complaints, etc.? Yes 2 Partly 1 No 0 Do you have clear and up-to-date job descriptions for your employees? Yes 2 Partly 1 No 0 Are your workers trained for their jobs? Yes 2 Partly 1 No 0 Score for this section 10
Partly No 1 0 Did you
marketing
(sales
year? Yes No 2 0 Do you have a person
for marketing? Yes No 2 0
meet your
objectives
targets) last
responsible

Marketing continued

Do you receive regular outside information relating to your markets?

Have you analysed which market segments are the most attractive (which buyers yield the most profit consistently)?

Do you regularly develop new products and do you have a recorded procedure for product development?

Do you have a realistic pricing policy based on an accurate product costing system?

If your score for this section is less than 9, consider marketing/business training before you start exporting. If your score is 9 or more continuethe questionnaire.

If your score is less than 4, you need export training. If your score is more than 4, you are ready to go.

Note that the total score for this export readiness checklist is 60 and your company could be assessed as ready to go with a score of 43. If your score is less than 60 you can see the areas where you need to introduce some improvements to increase your chances of success.

Yes
Partly 1 No 0
2
Yes
No
2
0
No
Yes 2 No 0 Score for this section 14
Yes 2
0
Have you achieved any exports? Yes 2 No 0 Do you have any export experience? Yes 2 No 0 Do any employees have recent export administration experience? Yes 1 No 0 Are you registered as an exporter? (See
Yes 1 No 0 Score for this section 6
Exporting
page 9)

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