Universities in Mexico And Brazil Assist Virginia Companies With Exporting

RICHMOND - The Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s (VEDP) Division of International Trade today announced that two international universities have joined the state’s Global Market Research (GMR) program. The Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City, Mexico and Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paulo, Brazil are the first international universities to participate in the GMR program, which links Virginia businesses interested in exploring international markets with participating graduate business schools.

Earlier this month, teams of graduate students at these two top-ranked international universities completed marketing plans for ERNI Components, Inc. of Chester, E&M Precision Mold & Die, Inc. of Richmond and PrintPack, Inc. of Williamsburg. 

“The market study of consumers was novel and on target,” said Mike Worstell of PrintPack, Inc. “The students understood our objectives and went into great depth with their research.” 

“Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) provided us with a world-class GMR project on the Brazilian telecom market,” said Joe Svetina of ERNI Components, Inc.

Since its inception in 1988, VEDP’s GMR program has provided over 400 international marketing plans to companies throughout the Commonwealth. Student teams, supervised by professors and supported by VEDP international trade managers, provide companies with useful information to begin or expand their export sales programs. The GMR program benefits Virginia’s companies by establishing a roadmap for obtaining international sales, which can then be implemented with the help of VEDP.

In addition to these two international universities, Virginia GMR program participants include George Mason University, James Madison University, Lynchburg College, Old Dominion University, Radford University, Shenandoah University, University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech and George Washington University.

Virginia exports of goods and services totaled $16.4 billion and supported over 200,000 jobs in 2001. For more information on VEDP’s GMR program, contact Butch Sarma, GMR manager, at (804) 371-8195. 

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, a marketing organization, was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995 to encourage, stimulate and support the development and expansion of the economy of the Commonwealth. The Partnership is a state authority, which is governed by a 15-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor. To accomplish its objectives of promoting economic expansion within the Commonwealth, the Partnership focuses its efforts on business development and international trade. The VEDP has offices in Virginia, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Korea and Japan.