North Dakota Trade Office: Advising a Pasta Exporter

In September of 2020, an international business executive at the North Dakota Trade Office was asked by a client company, Dakota Growers Pasta Company Inc., to advise it on how to increase pasta exports to South Korea. Like many other firms in North Dakota, the client faced a number of hurdles to building successful export businesses. These included limited exposure to foreign markets and limited expertise in trade-related regulations and processes, as well as logistical issues. In his role, the business executive aided local companies’ efforts to develop and sustain export businesses. The client company now needed to find a new distributor to grow sales in the South Korean market, but selecting the right one required deciding which market segment to focus on first. The business executive had to determine what advice he should he give to his client company about expanding in South Korea.