The American Export Trading Company: Designing a New International Marketing Institution

While recent legislation provides the legal basis for the development of American export trading companies, the law leaves decisions regarding operating characteristics and export services to the private sector. To provide guidance for those developing trading companies, this article analyzes the relationship between basic operating characteristics and the mix of export services provided by export management companies, the closest existing American institution to trading companies. The findings suggest that the operating decisions regarding both the type of product exported and the supplier represented have fundamental implications for the export services that American trading companies must be able to provide.