Utilizing government resources: Utah firms get a boost.

• Author: Horowitz, Alan
• Position: Utah-based Jetway Systems, Protective Technologies, and WordPerfect Corp. receive government aid for foreign trade activities

UTILIZING GOVERNMENT RESOURCES

Overseas markets seem foreign to many Utah firms, and not just because they're in foreign countries. Customs, regulations, competition, and consumer tastes differ from those found here, leaving new locals willing to venture beyond U.S. boundaries.

Yet there are boundless opportunities abroad, and even very small firms can take advantage of them. "If they're good companies here, if they have good products, it's going to be worth their while to go overseas," comments Lark Maximo, information specialist in Utah's Office of International Business Development.

There's lots of government help available to small- and medium-sized firms willing to take a chance on capturing overseas markets. Several Utah firms, using government resources, have enjoyed notable success.

Jetway Systems is a case in point. Based in Ogden, the firm manufactures passenger boarding-bridges that connect airport terminals to airplanes. With annual sales of about $70 million, the firm holds 85 percent of the domestic market and 40 percent of the international market.

Jetway Systems freely uses government assistance, and the company has been singularly successful doing so. According to Barbara Hermann, vice president of marketing, the firm frequently employs information compiled by the Department of Commerce for its market research. Not only that, it has commercial attaches from the Commerce Department collect information for it, such as names of decision makers, foreign government agencies that could be of help, and the itineraries of contacts they need to reach.

Practical Help

Much "help" available to businesses from the government is in the form of instructions and abstract information. Yet, in international business, the government is quite willing and able to describe not just what needs to be done, but also to become actively involved with the project. Government agencies will subsidize a firm's presence at trade shows, help it meet foreign government regulations, and promote the company to foreign buyers.

Jetway Systems benefitted from this first-hand when Utah's, Office of International Business Development brought the firm together with a Middle Eastern country's official responsible for making the final decision on a large purchase of passenger boarding-bridges. The buyer told Dan Mabey, director of the office, "I'm glad to see the state is so supportive of this business. I think I'm going to look very favorably at [the Jetway]...