International Trade committee  Perhaps I can pick up on the follow-up side because it's more than just measuring. It's also poking the companies. Basically someone comes out and looks promising, but they've gone back, and you haven't heard from them, so follow up and say, “Hey, I thought you were going to do s

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  We're situated in Toronto, but we do that in any place in Canada if the company is willing to pay for Skype or transportation. Carleton does something similar, and there are other universities around the country. This is information flow, you need to find out about them. That's t

International Trade committee  It would be dollars, it would be percentage. I would have the trade commissioner service on the ground keeping track of who's come out, what have they done, and following up. This is an example from my own experience. A Canadian company went out to Thailand, made a deal with a Th

International Trade committee  I would think that would be a good way to do it, with each of the trade commissioners in each of their territories giving a report back.

International Trade committee  I see the strategy as definitely effective. What worries me is that I see a lot of great strategies, but a strategy is only as good as its implementation. For this to work, you do have to put the resources in. And the other thing I would be very concerned about is that this does

International Trade committee  On the mentoring side, it's not only mentoring the students, it's also mentoring with companies that have done it. But, on the students side, it's not true that they don't have experience. If we're talking about the MBA level, they come in with experience. If you're at the underg

International Trade committee  Yes, I think we have missed some opportunities. Canada, compared to many of the Asian countries, for example, is very far behind. I'm working with Korea at the moment, and Canada just isn't in sight. SMEs need a couple of things where government can help. Because SMEs are usua

International Trade committee  If there are no resources I have no trust. If you want this to succeed, you have to put in resources, both financial and talent, as one of the other witnesses said. It's very important. On the trade commissioner service, when trade commissioners on the ground come fresh out of C

International Trade committee  Okay. I'll just offer my list of key success factors for SMEs to be successful internationally: good product or service, building relationships and reputation, maintaining a technical edge, being strategic, developing local knowledge, and being adaptable. On the government front,

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. My apologies for being late. Just in time seems to work for the auto industry, but when you apply it to the airlines, it doesn't work quite as well. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be here today to comment on the GMAP. There are man