Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and the Department of Economic and Community Development announced Monday that the state is opening four international offices that will focus on increasing exports from the state. The new development offices will be in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany and China.
ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty says this step is imperative if Tennessee wants to access untapped markets. The overseas offices will help small and medium sized businesses navigate the exporting process by providing market analysis, sales and marketing planning, identification of distribution partners and company matchmaking free of charge. The state’s total export volume has more than tripled in the last decade, and more than 6,400 businesses sold almost $30 billion worth of Tennessee products around the world in 2011.
