Technical assistance and trade servicing to increase overseas demand for grass seed

With few exceptions, the study of market development for domestic and export markets has used program expenditures as a measure of promotional activities. This study examines market development using the novel approach of measuring market development by using the number of personal contacts in export markets as the measure of market development activity. Contacts are divided into those who receive training (technical assistance) versus those who were contacted to facilitate trade (trade servicing). As a method of comparison, this study evaluates import demand in two ways: using market development expenditures as well as the numbers of technical assistance or trade service contacts. The study is applied to the grass seed industry, using cross-section time series data. Among the cross-sectional units are years and countries in which no promotion was undertaken, to improve the statistical significance levels for market development activities. [JEL codes: Q130, Q170, Q180, C230]. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 281-295, 2006.