Australian ‘born global ’ service exporters have good business acumen, innovation and a focus on quality providing a competitive advantage in international markets. ‘Born global ’ businesses are those that, from the beginning, pursue global rather than domestic opportunities
Research commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which captured responses from over 200 Australian business between March and July 2020, sheds light on the exporting experience of ‘born global ’ service exporters, and the factors that underpin their success on a global stage.
Some 83 per cent of Australian ‘born global ’ businesses find their first exporting experience as highly or moderately successful. The success of ‘born global ’ services exporters is focused around three common themes:
- developing in-market networks and strong competitiveness
- saving costs through scalable services and remote delivery; and
- global facing industries, limited regulatory barriers and operations in low risk markets.
‘Born global ’ service exporters share many of the challenges faced by other Australia exporters, such as time zones/distance, exchange rate, administration/red tape, and taxes. However, due to the characteristics of ‘born global ’ business leaders, and as exporting is so intrinsic to the business, there was greater preparedness and capability to plan for and overcome export barriers that were a greater challenge to others.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has tested all Australian businesses, the survey found optimism in the export sector. Many survey participants reported COVID-19 impacts to business including downturn in revenue, disruptions to supply chain, and weakening demand. However, close to half (47 per cent) looking to exploit opportunities presented by COVID-19.
The study will support the implementation of the Services Exports Action Plan – a partnership between industry and government resulting in the first national strategy to boost broader services exports that compliment export strategies on international education and tourism. The revised Services Exports Action Plan will be launched in the first half of 2021 and provide further actions to improve Australia ’s services exports competitiveness.
The study Research into the experiences of Born Global services exporters is now available.
