About the author: Aines (Linda.aines@uvm.edu) is Business and Export Specialist at the University of Vermont Extension, Rutland, Vermont. She is the developer and manager of "The International Link" Web Homepage which is an aid for exporters wanting to actively trade electronically.

Abstract
Recent advances in telecommunications have placed the very small business and the individual in a playing field where they can compete neck and neck with large corporations in reaching a very large audience. This presents opportunities for extension and outreach programs to retrieve, and manage such International Marketing information, and to offer training or technical assistance to agricultural businesses. An active and effective method of marketing on the Web is to use the thousands of websites with bulletin boards containing lists of importers, manufacturers, distributors, buy/sell offers, or foreign traders. Products requested or offered through these websites range from raw material or industrial goods to cosmetics, herbal teas, foods, or household items--anything goes!

The "e" in e-commerce might as well mean "export" rather than electronic. Much has been written about e-commerce and its impact on small business. The Internet, the World Wide Web, Home Pages and E-mail. All have become household names. All of these forms of computer telecommunications are interrelated and provide a forum where individuals can find, share, solicit information or exchanges, and market their goods. The Internet and the World Wide Web, the Internet's repository of web pages and publications, can give small and large companies an international presence. Some surveys find that the typical US Company can expect 30 percent of its Web traffic to come from overseas (Forrester, 2001.)  The survey conducted by Forrester Research, found that international e-commerce transactions involving U.S. companies will rise from the $167.1 billion recorded in 2000 to $369 trillion in 2004. The survey further indicates that by going on-line with international communications and transactions, businesses save between 5 and 39 % of costs, or an average of 15%. Furthermore, the Internet is playing an increasingly important and valuable role in generating contacts that may lead to direct export sales (Kriz, 2000.) This article argues that Extension can serve as an important host for export development programs that aid small rural and ag-related businesses.

The decade of the 1980's was a period of phenomenal growth in entrepreneurship, home businesses, and women-owned businesses. During that era, domestic marketing became very competitive as Extension's clientele explored more ways to create their own jobs, become self-sufficient and started small businesses. In the late eighties and early nineties, awareness of export programs grew and more businesses inquired about opportunities to market to foreign countries. Export education and assistance were in high demand. In recognition of these needs, I developed an export assistance program within my University's Extension System, making it the first international trade resource in Vermont. The Center provided extension-type education, one-on-one counseling, a resource center with Internet connections and trade leads programs.

In just a short period of time, the Internet emerged from the exclusive domain of federal research laboratories and academic researchers to the global platform for modern business communication. Subsequently, the World Wide Web (WWW) became part of the Internet offerings to the commercial sector. The World Wide Web has had a profound effect on the way daily business is conducted, even for very small rural business. Through the World Wide Web, many barriers to new markets, resources, and competitive positioning can be reduced or eliminated for traders globally. In a nutshell, the "Web" has added a new frontier to business marketing that is both lucrative and inexpensive. In this new frontier, the size of the business is irrelevant, thus giving small rural businesses an opportunity to compete with more seasoned business for their niche markets in foreign countries.

• International information; 
• Educational and skill building programs for small businesses, such as workshops and conferences;
• One-on-one counseling;
• Publishing a statewide Export Guide;
• Network building (i.e., creating international trade communities with email lists, websites, etc.); 
• Training other trainers in international export services;
• Market research;
• Website with links to trade leads and traders' bulletin boards;
• International extension and export training in developing countries. 

Recent advances in telecommunications have placed the very small business and the individual on a playing field where they can compete neck and neck with the large corporation in reaching a very large audience. However, to use such opportunities, small businesses need a great deal of coaching, demonstrations, counseling, and handholding. This is Extension's natural role.

In making the transition to electronic marketing, clients must focus on one-to-one marketing and niche marketing. E-marketing is different from other types of marketing. It is not mass marketing or target marketing, which are "one-to-many" communications with a message designed for a large identified audience. E-marketing is "one-to-one" marketing or one-to-one communication with individualized messages and medium for individuals (Allen, Kania, and Yaeckel 1998.)

The Internet is a relationship-intense platform that makes it possible for companies to provide interactive communication with individuals one-to-one and to motivate and nurture customers into a bond that brings repeat business. It is like doing business the old fashioned way, only we are doing it on a hi-tech basis. Chances are that the business owner will need to engage in personal dialog with customers prior to any sale---the beauty of Internet technology is that it is now possible to converse on line, while showing the product on-line. This is a major breakthrough and a big cost savings, eliminating the need for repeat foreign travel to obtain the sale (Allen, Kania, and Yaeckel 1998.) Once export sales are achieved, E-mail helps provide better service to consumers and makes it possible to send consistent and frequent global promotion messages to customers. E-mail helps businesses stay in contact with overseas contacts, while avoiding problems associated with international calls, and enables exchange of documents (Kriz, 2000). It is also vastly different from the mass marketing used by businesses during past decades. Building one-to-one relationships or interactivity is the area in which the Extension clientele needs the most coaching and education. Academia has been using the Web for many years to share knowledge, thoughts and ideas. Businesses and producers, on the other hand, tend not to think of communicating this way and need instruction on "one-to-one marketing" of their products or services online.

There are several ways of marketing a business or product on the Web. The first is creating a company web site or "Home Page"--- an electronic description of the business and/or catalogs of the business' product offerings. Having a Web Site is akin to opening a retail store, except that the store is in Cyberspace. Web home pages are being added to the World Wide Web by the thousands every day, and this rate is accelerating. Web sites can generate substantial customer interest for companies. And businesses are reporting increasing export sales as a result of their presence on the Web. However, a Web site is a passive method of marketing--like waiting in your store for someone to drop in!

In my Extension export programs, clientele are shown a more active and effective method of marketing on the Web. They are guided to the many websites with trade leads or buy/sell offers, and sites containing lists of importers, manufacturers, distributors or access to foreign traders. There are hundreds--or more likely thousands--of websites with bulletin boards for professional traders, importers, exporters, manufacturers, and affiliated services for global trading. Products requested or offered through these trade websites range from raw material or industrial goods to cosmetics, herbal teas, foods, or household items. Any product can be marketed! Such trading sites, are put on the Web by government and private, non-profit organizations. They not only facilitate trade by providing a platform for buy and sell offers but also provide opportunities to establish business contacts with buyers, manufacturers, exporters, importers, and associations.

For examples, visit The Import-Export Bulletin, and electronic bulletin board which features daily "Offers to Sell" and "Offers to Buy" located at URL address http://www.iebb.com or Alibaba, one of the largest professional business bulletins http://www.alibaba.com. Or visit Trade Port, another premier international trade website http://www.tradeport.org with information, news, trade leads, shows or events, jobs listings, etc. and Global Agribusiness Information Network http://www.fintrac.com/gain/ with leads and a posting board for the Agricultural sector.  Usually there are no fees for using these sites but registration is usually requested before browsing for free.  Another popular international trade site with many trade lead is the United Nation's Electonic Trade Opportunities home page http://www.wtpfed.org/eto_s.html featuring trade leads from more than 140 United Nation Trade Point Development Centers and 900 affiliated trade bodies all over the world.  At such trade websites, traders can post their own offers to buy or sell, thereby creating an ad for their product which can potentially reach millions of readers at little or no cost.  The posting of a trade lead at a few sites often leads to further exposure on other web sites or in print newsletters that pick up trade leads to add to their own publication of offerings.

Market Research is an important part of doing business in other countries. Conducting market research and learning the basics of exporting can now be done online. Many federal and state agencies have websites with information, but the small producer needs help in sorting through the abundance of available information (Kriz, 2000). The "International Link" has two special sections: Market Research and Ag Research. The Market Research Section has links to websites with research reports on countries, regions, and products which represent opportunities in these countries for U.S. companies. For example, the Access Global Business Intellibase, http://www.agte.telebase.com, is a powerful on-line resource designed to help visitors find and use the business, economic and trade information needed to gain a competitive advantage in international markets . For agricultural businesses, the research site AgriBiz.com, http://www.AgriBiz.com provides free information resources for the global agricultural community. The standard source for finding reliable market intelligence from most countries worldwide that exporters will need in order to export, and are allowed to trade with, is the U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Export Portal, http://www.export.gov. This site is designed as a one-stop information source, and it contains the U.S. Government's repository of market research reports prepared by U.S. embassies around the world. These are only examples of what can be found in the Market Research section of this website. Many of the research reports found on these sites also provide names of relevant offices to contact, or importers for the product. The Ag Research section, likewise, contains large amounts of information.

State governments and non-governmental organizations such as chambers of commerce chose the more traditional form of assistance when they created their own International Trade Offices to serve their members: educational workshops, seminars and trade missions. This gave the UVM Extension Service an opportunity to fill a gap by offering the more non-traditional and labor-intensive means of one-on-one export assistance to small businesses and producers. Some universities and their extension programs can lead the way in adopting new technologies, such as information technologies. For instance, as other Export Service Providers become more numerous, the Extension Service can move aside and provide assistance to the Service Providers themselves by bringing them together into a network. By creating the Alliance List, an on-line community, service providers could exchange information and coordinate among themselves, thereby reducing duplication of services. Likewise, a linkage to exporters, statewide, was achieved by means of an E-mail list called the Export List. Such electronic lists form effective online communities that can target consumers with specific and focused needs (Allen, Kania, and Yaeckel 1998.) In the Export list, programs or events can be quickly broadcast. This is an excellent opportunity for extension specialists to provide online education about exporting to a specific audience. Exporters can make inquiries for assistance or information and very efficiently, without loss of time, obtain answers from service providers with the necessary expertise. By creating such communities, the extension specialist provides an invaluable service: more efficiency in service provision, less duplication, more collaboration, and better relationships between exporters and service providers.

Figure 1: Specialists as Facilitators and Knowledge Brokers

(Source: Work Frontiers International, http://www.workfrontiers.com )

By nature, extension specialists are ready facilitators and knowledge brokers. They gather information and intelligence from the field (from the individual participants and the Collective Intelligence) in which they work and teach. They are trained to put that knowledge to work, creating ever-growing "Communities of Practice" which further contributes to the Collective Intelligence.

The Web audience's size is difficult to estimate because it is expanding so rapidly, but the US e-commerce audience alone is believed to be hundreds of millions of individuals. Other countries lag behind but are catching up fast. Western Europe is expected to reach hyper growth within the next two years (Forrester 2001.) This is an opportunity for small business unlike any ever experienced before.

Extension education is needed to provide knowledge transfer and technical assistance to agricultural and rural businesses that have potential to export their products. Rural entrepreneurs wish to reach out to foreign markets as they face increasing domestic competition and as the Internet brings markets closer to small, limited resource producers:

• E-Business is creating new markets and new ways for foreign buyers and sellers to find each other;

• The Internet is making possible the rapid creation of new-types of enterprises that are more competitive;

• New revenue streams are possible for established companies that will utilize the internet to develop more efficient methods of marketing and getting products to international customers; and

• With the Internet, companies can offer an improved level of customer service and customer interaction, which enables them to expand their markets to other countries.

Extension is known as an "agent of change" and it has a strong presence in rural areas. There are opportunities to help extension's traditional clientele of rural, agricultural, and land-based enterprises position themselves for the global economy. Without this technical assistance, rural businesses and small ag-related enterprises risk lagging behind and staying on the other side of the digital divide and global integration. Economic development and export development go hand-in-hand for many reasons. Communities with the tools and skills to compete in the global economy are at a distinct advantage over communities that do not have or use these tools and skills.

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