Exporting pays off - Doradus Corp. re-orients itself to international marketplace - company profile

Business America, Jan 14, 1991

EXPORTING Pays Off

Only eight months into exporting, and Doradus Corporation of Minneapolis is already selling 95 percent of its products to Europe. The 27-employee firm makes communications packages for laptop computers, including modems, keyboards, displays, and software.

"We had technical reasons for moving toward foreign markets," Colleen Prince, Doradus' export manager, explained. "Our communications protocol is more appropriate to systems in Europe and Asia than in the United States. The U.S. market was falling by the wayside. It was becoming obvious to us that our products were just not right for the U.S. market--we had to do something."

Prince hopes that the firm will soon be able to boost its sales in the United States. However, even when that happens, she expects exports will stabilize at 60 to 70 percent of total sales. So far, Doradus has sold its products in Italy, Switzerland, Canada, France, Germany, and Denmark.

The venture into foreign markets was "our first dip into the water," Prince said. "We now are in the stage of getting approvals for our modems by communications authorities in each country."

Where did the firm go to learn the ropes?

Prince went to the Minneapolis District Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, where she worked with trade specialist Mary Hobbs. She used the Agent/Distributor Service to locate prospective agents in 10 different countries. Already, Doradus has signed seven agents in Europe and Asia; serious talks are in progress with potential agents in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The prospects developed by the service have been personally visited by Doradus' chief executive officer, Larry Perlick, who formed the company in 1972. (Any company can buy the service for $125 per country/market through any of the Commerce Department district offices listed on the last page of this magazine).

Last year, Doradus participated in three Commerce Department catalog shows in Canada which have resulted so far in 13 leads.

Is exporting hard?

"We found it was easy to make the contacts and get started," Prince said. "The prospective foreign business partners were very willing to talk to us and learn more about our products.

Prince considers the fax to be an important facilitator in international business. "I love the fax system," she said.