Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Survey of Active Exporters to Germany

POR 179-06
Executive Summary

November 30, 2006
Contract #: E60CY-030001/010/CY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background, Objectives and Methodology

The evaluation of the International Business Development (IBD) program in Germany involves various methods to collect information on the relevance, success and cost effectiveness of the program to support Canadian exporters and investors from both countries and science and technology components. This survey is one component of a wider evaluation of the performance of the TCS in Germany. It is being conducted with the objective of being able to make improvements to the services the TCS provides to Canadian companies that are active or are interested in the German market.

The data collection approach used was a telephone survey. The target survey population included Canadian companies that are active or interested in exporting to Germany. All companies contacted for the survey were clients of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. The sample frame was supplied by the Department.

Fieldwork was conducted between October 12 and November 9, 2006. In total, 787 of the 1,830 contacts provided were valid and eligible to participate. From this total, 147 surveys were completed within the allocated fieldwork period resulting in a response rate of 19%. The sample size of 147 provides for a margin of error of +/-6.7%, with a 90% confidence interval.

Summary of Key Findings

The main findings from this survey are as follows:

• A large majority Canadian companies who participated in this survey indicated that they are interested in Germany both as an entry point to the European Union and as a market in and of itself.
• The desire to export is the overwhelming reason Canadian companies are interested in the German market, with most identifying it as their primary interest in Germany. A significant proportion of companies are also interested in participating in trade fairs, events and conferences in Germany.
• A strong majority of companies stated that trade fairs, events and conferences are very important and even critical, especially for developing networks and making sales. An equal proportion felt that it was critical or very important that the TCS be represented at trade fairs, events and conferences.
• There is a relatively high degree of awareness of Regional Offices among the companies that participated in the survey. A majority of those that were aware of the Regional Offices utilised at least one service.
• The majority of clients have not had contact with the mission in Germany. The services considered most important were leads on business opportunities and information on local companies.
• Identification of key contacts, leads on business opportunities and face-to-face briefings were the services that companies stated had the highest impact in terms of their ability to achieve their business objectives in the German market.
• The majority of companies that participated in the survey indicated that they were satisfied with their overall experience with the assistance they received from the mission they dealt with in Germany.
• About one-quarter of the companies in this survey received assistance from the TCS with identifying new business operations and with helping the company to better position itself for business opportunities in the German market. In both cases a large majority of these companies actively pursued the opportunities presented to them by the TCS.
• Just under half of survey respondents have generated revenues from Germany since January 2004. About one-third believed they would not have achieved the same financial results in Germany without the assistance of the TCS.

The following conclusions can be drawn from the survey findings:

• Germany is an important market for Canadian companies who participated in this survey as it serves as an entry point to the European Union, and is also an attractive market itself.
• Trade fairs, events and conferences are viewed as an important activity for Canadian companies that are active or interested in Germany, and it is their opinion that the TCS should be represented at them.
• Satisfaction with the services offered by the TCS is relatively high; however, the impact of the TCS's services to a company in terms of both achieving its business objectives in Germany and seeing potential benefits is lagging.
• While awareness of Regional Offices is relatively high, more needs to be done to encourage companies to use their services.
• The missions in Germany are not heavily used by Canadian companies and need to be more heavily promoted in terms of the services they offer.
• The TCS demonstrably assists a fair share of Canadian companies succeed in Germany.