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In case you're invited to dinner on Prince Charles' royal yacht, here's a strategic placement tip from Exabyte Corp.'s Larry Ward, vice president of manufacturing and service.
"First there's a reception line, in which the prince introduces himself to everyone," says Ward, who's been on the yacht twice. The first time, "I intentionally positioned myself at the end so there was no one else for him to move on to."
It worked; Ward had the prince all to himself for a 15-minute chat. One of Prince Charles' duties is to oversee Scotland's economic development. He asked Ward about the level of cooperation he experienced and about his background.
"I'm sure he's been trained to be this way all his life, but he came across as a very normal human being," Ward says.
Take that, Princess Di.
Ward has traveled throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, Russia, Japan and Australia for Boulder's Exabyte, which makes and sells tape storage products. He estimates that 30 percent to 35 percent of Exabyte's revenues are from sales outside the United States. Exabyte won the Governor's Award for Excellence in Exporting in 1995 in the category of large manufacturing firms.
Exabyte is one of many Colorado computer-related companies increasing their overseas business.
Colorado companies export about $3.8 billion annually in computer hardware, software and services to other countries. That's an impressive figure. But you can bet many other firms in this high-tech, entrepreneurial center want to sell overseas and boost those totals.
Colorado, with about 1 percent of the nation's population, commands more than 3 percent of the U.S. high-tech expo market.
Rewards are great: new customers, fresh revenue streams, status among competitors. But foreign operations are expensive and complex, often posing language and cultural barriers, and vastly different laws governing contracts and labor. The postal system may be as alien as the cuisine, complicating direct-mail efforts.
Doors are opening worldwide, says Vice President Miles Baldwin of IHS Group in Englewood. Defense markets have...