So far, our discussions have focused on SMEs, which certainly account for the large majority of businesses in Canada. When a business with 10 employees gets into the export business and the boss leaves for a week to check out the market in India, this person is away from the business for a whole week.
In the past few years, I've found that people have been giving up on fact-finding missions to focus on their everyday North American activities.
This is a barrier to exporting. I received a document from your services, in the newsletter you sent out two days ago. It was a survey asking businesses to share their main barriers. It covers everything we just talked about, such as knowledge, internal resources, financial capacity, knowledge of logistics and standards, and legal knowledge. Essentially, you have to surround yourself with the right people.