Export finance skills for the U.S. and Japanese markets: an Australian agribusiness perspective

It is widely accepted that practical export finance skills are necessary to successful exporting. Nevertheless, there has been little research into the specialized financial aspects of exporting. This research presents the first evidence of the relative importance of practical export finance skills to Australian agribusiness exporters when they export to the U.S. and Japan. We also report on their relative proficiency when exporting to these markets. Data for the study was collected by a mail survey of Australian agribusiness exporters selected from Austrade's Australian Exporter Database. The study found a significant difference in relative skills importance and proficiency between the two markets, with some interfirm variances due to firm size and exporting experience. These findings are of great practical importance in the design of market-specific export finance skills training programs for firms of differing size and exporting experience.