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With the trade in services playing an increasingly important role in boosting economic growth and development in many countries, governments and business entities particularly in developing countries should be devoting more time to exploring export opportunities for the services sector. However, a major challenge is that the services sector is often not well understood by government, and service providers themselves lack insight into and contacts in foreign markets. Furthermore, many governments concentrate more on the export promotion of products, while giving the services sector relatively less attention. This study investigates how two complementary decision support models (DSMs), for products and services respectively, can help to address the challenge of identifying realistic export opportunities in both these sectors. Specifi cally, the two DSMs, which incorporate a scientifi cally designed fi ltering process, reveal which products and services have the greatest potential in a range of viable markets. This linked approach to identifying export opportunities is an important step in encouraging co-operation between tangible goods producers and service providers, and lays the foundation for the design of mutually benefi cial export marketing programmes. The study also shows how export promotion agencies in South Africa can use the results of both models to develop strategic plans aimed at boosting product and service exports in specifi ed markets, thereby contributing meaningfully to the countrys internationalisation drive. Key words: international trade, products, services, diversifi cation, export opportunities, product-service combinations, decision support model (DSM), South Africa

The Namibian red meat industry is the backbone of the local agricultural sector, contributing almost 75% to total agricultural output. Through its export activities, the red meat industry is also an important generator of foreign exchange. However, Namibia exports its red meat to only a few trading partners, including South Africa (46%) and the European Union (EU) (29%). This is raising concerns because Namibia could lose its preferential (i.e. duty- and quota-free) market access into the EU with the expiry of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) in 2014, while over-reliance on only a few markets increases the export sector's vulnerability to external shocks. Namibia therefore needs to diversify its markets for red meat. The purpose of this paper is to identify new export markets as realistic alternatives to the traditional main markets of South Africa, the EU and Norway. A Decision Support Model (DSM) was applied as the market selection tool in this study. The DSM consists of four fi...

In the face of slow economic growth and development, and the perennial problems of unemployment, poverty and inequality, the South African government and business community have long recognised the importance of growing and diversifying the countrys tangible goods and services export sectors. One of the challenges in designing and implementing effective export promotion strategies is identifying the right markets, given South Africas ever-fluid skills, capacity and trading relationships. The Decision Support Model (DSM) is an export market selection tool that makes use of a sophisticated filtering process to sift through an extensive range of product-/service- and country-related data to reveal those product-/service-country combinations (export opportunities) that are the most realistic and sustainable. The DSM, which has been applied for Belgium, Thailand and South Africa, not only brings greater precision to the export market selection process, but also unveils opportunities that may not have been contemplated before thus supporting the quest for export diversification. This paper examines the role of the DSM for products and the DSM for services, respectively, and illustrates how, using the results from the application of these models, they herald the start of a new era in export market selection and promotion in South Africa.

Despite the surging demand for imports in South America in recent years, South Africa’s exports to the region have shown relatively low growth. A contributing factor is the prevalence of trade barriers between South Africa and various South American countries. The aim of this study is, firstly, to measure the trade barriers to South Africa’s exports to South America and, secondly, to identify high-potential export opportunities in the form of product-country combinations that can best surmount such barriers. The investigation, which uses a reconstructed Decision Support Model (DSM), reveals that Brazil, Argentina and Chile offer the greatest potential as export markets (in US$ terms) for South Africa, while the most promising product categories are transport-related goods, minerals, vegetables and chemicals. The results of this study should be a useful guide to South Africans planning export initiatives in South America.

South Africa needs to advance its industrialisation process and diversify its exports if it is to enhance its global competitiveness ranking and meaningfully tackle the double scourge of unemployment and poverty. The pharmaceutical industry makes a significant contribution to the countrys economy, and has a growing international footprint. However, export activity is largely centred on Southern and Eastern Africa, while markets in other parts of the world remain largely untapped. A longstanding concern of the government has been that export market selection has not been conducted in a scientific manner. Added to this is the problem of limited resources on the part of export promotion organisations. A Decision Support Model (DSM), originally conceived by Cuyvers et al. (1995) and then developed for the South African environment by Viviers, Steenkamp, Rossouw, and Cuyvers (2009, 2010), was used in this study to identify those export opportunities with the greatest potential for the South African pharmaceutical industry. Through a systematic filtering and elimination process, the DSM revealed that there are a large number of export opportunities for South African pharmaceutical products, particularly in Western Europe, North America, and Africa. Such information constitutes an important basis for strategic decision making on the part of industry and government stakeholders.