Export Orientation of Sports Goods Industry in Punjab

In today's business world exports have started to play an important role. Many companies have recognized the importance of conducting business activities outside the home country. Industries that were strictly national in scope only a few years ago are dominated by a handful of global enterprises. The present research was undertaken with the objective to study the export orientation of the sports goods industry in Jalandhar (Punjab) and to examine the factors affecting export orientation. To achieve the objectives, a total of 30 units exporting sports goods were selected from a list of 263 units as given by the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council (SGEPC). The respondents were chosen on random basis. It was found that for all the issues related to marketing activities, these units had an ethnocentric approach with few exceptions like identification of foreign markets, product pricing and channel selection in which regiocentric orientation is followed. The main forces driving export in sports goods industry are quality, cost and market demand. On the other hand, cost, market difference and capital requirement are the major forces restraining export of sports goods. The major problems plaguing the sports goods industry in Jalandhar are lack of brand name and competition from other exporting countries like China.