I would say that one of the big problems with small companies is that they're small and that we're expecting them to be experts in trade, experts in regulatory affairs, experts in HR, experts in product, experts in everything, and they just don't have the resources to do that.
My experience is that, especially in the manufacturing and technology companies, you have innovators or owners of a company who really know their product and really know their technology, but they're not necessarily the experts on selling that technology or that product around the world. Some clearly are, but I think there is an issue, particularly as companies transition from an economy where, let's face it, it was really easy to do business in the United States. It was really easy when you were part of a supply chain and pretty much all you had to do was produce to specification.
Now companies are expected to develop new products for new markets. That requires not only good marketing, experience in international sales, and financing, of course, but you also have to realize that you don't just take a product that you sell here in Canada and easily export it to other countries, or take a product that you produce in Sudbury and think that the oil sands majors are going to find that product useful. A large part of it has to do with understanding what those customers want and making sure you can redesign and develop the product that meets those specific needs. And it's always a question there.
We don't really measure our trade very well because Canadian small companies have made use of trading houses around the world. Those trading houses have traditionally been the large multinational companies that are their customers, and they take their product everywhere around the world. Then you have a small group of companies that have their own particular product and their own technology that are developing and doing extremely well in international markets.
But it's a major problem, and it is financing, it is export support, and it's finding the opportunity there. I think a very large part of it is making sure that the people in the companies think their business isn't getting product out the door; their business is providing a solution for customers. So you have to understand what customers around the world want and how your product or technology can work into that market opportunity, and then do that better than anybody else in the world.