Businesses are most successful when they diversify the products and services they offer and the customers they serve. Sometimes that means conducting business overseas. And the public and private sectors in Pennsylvania are taking additional steps to grow the presence state companies have in foreign markets.
“We have to go after these opportunities,” says Wilfred Muskens, the state's deputy secretary for international business development. “Otherwise other states will.”
He notes that even in the economic downturn, companies in the state are seeing an increase in exports. Part of this is because of the growing international demand for Pennsylvania coal, but the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries are also shipping goods overseas. Overall, China is the fastest-growing market.
The Team Pennsylvania Foundation recently hired Lindsay Michael, a former export specialist with the SEDA-Council of Governments in Lewisburg, as its international initiatives manager. This new position, which is funded by private industry, involves helping guide international trade development.
Michael will also work with a new advisory board that is hoped to be set up by the end of the year and that will be overseen by TeamPA. Muskens says this board will have about 15 members representing various industries and regions of Pennsylvania. It will provide suggestions on how the state can most effectively increase overseas business for companies in the state, guiding the state's Office of International Business Development.
“We are going to be strongly guided by their recommendations,” Muskens says.
He adds that his department is seeking private funding for these initiatives to cushion the impact on the state budget.
Source: Wilfred Muskens, Department of Community and Economic Development
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen