One of my favourite aspects of editing Dynamic Export is having case studies. Whereas the main article is usually an instructive piece, the case studies represent a working example of how things do and don’t work in the export world. And I’d be lying if I said I like things pretty; with case studies, the more warts the better.

I have therefore been impressed with the fallout of the GFC. For a while there was a lot of analysis and mulling over the who should take the blame, as well as who should pick up responsibility, but since that initial period a number of case studies have emerged on both failures and survivors, a veritable mine of lessons learnt.

Two publications I’ve been enamoured with are Design Victoria’s The Case for Export and NSW Business Chamber’s Engaging China. Neither are just glib success stories about businesses with a token line about some minor difficulty: both contain some really good examples of potential problems that any business may encounter and how the subject worked through the issue.

Learning from your mistakes is important; learning from others’ mistakes is ingenious. I’d encourage all exporters to learn from any experience they can. Network, share war stories and don’t forget to pick the brains of those successful, established exporters out there.