An Interview with Gerry Morrissey, Head of the Irish Trade Board in North America.
With an island economy, Ireland’s ability to sustain itself has always been linked to the skill of selling its products and services at home and abroad. The Irish Trade Board aims to help Irish companies do just that. Efforts are in full swing worldwide and nowhere more aggressively than in the United States under the leadership of Gerry Morrissey. A career marketer, with extensive experience selling Ireland in Asia and the Middle East, Morrissey, who just marked his first year anniversary as head of the Trade Board in North America, shared some thoughts with Irish America:
Exports: In Ireland, when you talk about exports, you’re really talking about two different kinds. First, there are the exports produced by multinational companies who control their own markets and manufacture goods for exporting globally.
These exports account for around £12 billion. Then there’s the £3.43 billion in exports that are created by home-based or “indigenous” companies. These are either locally-owned or foreign-owned companies that are operated and controlled in Ireland.
The indigenous companies tend to be twice as job-intensive as the multinationals and they employ anywhere from a handful of people to several hundred. The Trade Board provides them with operational and marketing services. Recent government figures show that, for the second year running, indigenous exports outperformed expectations. Only five years ago, these smaller companies accounted for just half of their present levels.
Companies: When people think of Ireland’s industries they mostly tend to think only of clothing or food and beverages — that’s what we’re most famous for. How-ever, the companies that show the fastest export growth are in the electronics and engineering fields, such as: tomato-sorting machinery that goes to the Mediterranean and the Pacific; hand-held instruments which detect crash damage in car bodies; components and services used to create the British/French Channel Tunnel; automated printed circuit boards to Spain; agricultural equipment to the Middle East; and color-separation services to publishing houses in the United States.
Even in the face of an unexpectedly deep and long recession, these companies have clearly demonstrated that they can withstand arecession in Ireland’s primary markets. The main reason they have been able to do this is because of sustained investment in building up strong market positions in these countries.
European Market: By far the greatest area of growth for companies in Ireland is the Single European Market. This will continue to be so in the future. Ireland has become very comfortable doing business there. The numbers break down as follows: 50 percent of our exports go to mainland Europe; 30 percent to Britain; 10 percent go to North America; and 10 percent go elsewhere in the world, including Japan. Because the numbers in Europe are so impressive, the Trade Board is very committed to improving business there.
Some recent EC activities include the opening of a new office in Berlin dedicated to servicing the eastern part of that country. Germany already accounts for 13 percent of our total exports, and the numbers continue to grow. This is quite impressive when you consider that just two decades ago we only had a few companies operating there, and now we have nearly 200. There are approximately 20 Irish Trade Board offices around the world, from Beijing to Brussels. We have also created a network of subregional offices to provide even more accessible marketing services to local Irish industries.
North America: Last year, the value of Ireland’s total exports to North America was £1.455 billion. Indigenous manufacturing and services exports contributed an estimated f400 million to this figure.
Nowhere is a strong promotional approach to marketing more important than in the United States, where image is everything.
One of the major challenges we face is the attitude of many American merchandisers who are only interested in what we can do for them during the two weeks around St. Patrick’s Day. Important as that time of the year is for us, we have a lot more to offer. Recently we helped arrange a very successful meeting between 70 consumer-goods exporters and over 200 U.S. and Canadian store buyers at a special event in Atlanta. Basically our promotional message is: Don’t buy us because we’re Irish. Buy us because we’re good.
We have also developed other direct consumer marketing initiatives, through mail-order and cable television channels, outlets which have generated new customers for a wide range of Irish products.
The Irish Stores: In the United States there has recently been a proliferation of stores specializing, many exclusively, in a wide variety of Irish merchandise. Every Irish store offers a wealth of all things Irish together with friendly, caring service and a warm Irish welcome, and they do an excellent job of promoting Irish goods in America.
One final word to readers of Irish America: Visit an Irish store and discover for yourself many great shopping ideas and opportunities.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the October 1992 issue of Irish America. ♦
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