ANALYSIS OF EXPORT PROBLEMS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOR INDIAN ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY AT POWER DISTRIBUTION SECTOR

Export of engineering products is one of major income of the nation. This research article focused on the export problems of Indian Electrical Equipment at power distribution sector. This study has analyzed the different dimensions of export problems perceived by the exporters at power distribution sector of Electrical Equipment industry. The exporter category namely contractors, retailers, traders are selected and their perspectives are obtained. The members of Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturing Association (IEEMA) were considered as population and the primary data were collected from 500 organization’s executives in an exhibition conducted by IEEMA and a well-designed pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the primary data regarding their export problems. The different dimensions of export problems were categorized into procedural problems, informational problems, international marketing problems, export oriented production problems, financial problems, environmental problems, HR problems. The result of the study shows that financial and environmental problems are the major issues in the export of Indian electrical equipments. This research study suggests that exporters should frequently visit foreign countries to have contact with buyer which will improve the performance of export with respect to product quality, technology, brand image, packaging and transportation, adequate attention and resource commitment. And also recommends to export promotion body should open branch offices or tie-up with marketing agencies of different countries to collect the latest information relating to business practices, competitive environment, cultural and social environment, political, economic and other market related information. The present study pointed out the scope for further research like, managerial characteristics and its influence on exports may be studied, conducting further studies in the similar area, pricing, inflation, currency exchange problems to be concentrated and study of marketing behavior from view of importers or buyers to understand their needs and expectations


Introduction
In this era of globalization of the economic environment, International business plays an important role in shaping the social and economic performance as well as the prospects of countries around the world.
International business is of prime importance, especially for developing countries. Hurdles are problems avoiding entrant firms from being established in a particular market. For every firm looking to invest in an international market, it is important to understand what will avoid it from being successful there. Also, for the organization already doing business, it is necessary to know problems to the future development. Some problems fundamental because of the government policies and procedures, and some are concealed problems.
National culture and social forces have the intense political unrest can change their attitude towards foreign companies at any time; in turn, this unpredictability makes an unfavorable atmosphere for the international trade.
Increase in exports provides some benefits to exporter as well as the nation export sector have been termed as a priority sector for Indian Economy. It is treated as an engine of economic growth and an apparatus for employment generation. Government has made every effort to increase export, and raise the volume and value of exports. Better export, enactment leads to do industrial development, economic development, foreign exchange capitals, and satisfactory balance of payment etc. All these benefits will be available only when exports are made at large scale.
According to the article Indian electrical industry (2012), in recent years, electrical equipment's' imports are raised faster than exports.
Sanjeev, (2012) stated that India's total export value is USD 5 billion, which is nearly 1% of total world share of electrical equipment industry and also suggested that if there is detailed analysis of export problems of Indian electrical equipment industry, it will help to increase the Indian electrical equipment industry's export share from 1% to 16 %.
Based on the statement, this research study focused the various export problems related to Indian electrical equipment industry.

Identification Of Export Problems
The study has proposed to analyze the export problems in International market for Indian Electrical Equipment at Power Distribution Sector. The companies in India which have membership in IEEMA and involved in export are considered as respondents.
In this study, the various export related problems are identified and categorized, namely Procedural Problems, Informational Problems, Export oriented Production Problems, International Marketing Problems, Financial Problems, Environmental problems in Export and Human Resource management problems in Export.

Research Objectives
The present work analyzes the identified problems with respect to the demographic variables of the respondents ( Exporters) namely Designation, Exporter Category, Export Volume of the Organization, Years of Experience in Export, Frequency of Export, Ownership of Organization, Employee's Strength, Location of Organization, Distance between Factory and Seaport, Distance between Factory and Airport with various export problems.
T h e o b j e c t i v e s o f t h e p r e s e n t study is to describe the distribution of Respondents (Exporters) accordingly to their demographic variables; to analyze the major problems perceived by the respondents (Exporters) at the Power Distribution Sector in International Market; to examine the factors which determining the problems in Exports of Electrical Equipment; to find out the contribution factors in Export Problems of Indian Electrical Equipment Industry.

Documentation and Export Promotion
Several studies have been conducted world-wide on problems experienced by the exporters in different perspectives in the field of Industrial Equipment Exports. A detailed study on procedural problems in export, documentation and export promotion process are studied by Tarafar (2010) and Mah (2007). Ramachandran et al. (2015) studied about the documents and financial assistance from bank, Time demand in export process and lack of skilled manpower to handle export process. Thomas and Bridgewater (2004), Evirgen et al. (1993) have studied about International Market selection. Jiag and Tian (2009) have studied about export information acquisition and international market entry.
Tarafdar(2010) told that export involves a large number of documents. The exporter will have to arrange export documents required in his country and also all the documents as mentioned in the documentary letter of credit. In India, there are as many as 25 documents (16 commercial and a regulatory documents) to be filled in. The author also told that the Government restrictions compel the exporters to follow certain rules and regulations in the form of licenses, quotas, and customs formalities. Due to such restrictions, new problems develop before the exporters. Even trade restrictions in foreign countries create problems before exporters. Indian exporters face this difficulty of government restrictions and foreign exchange regulations even when trade policy is now made substantially liberal.

Marketing Challenges
S u n d a r a m a n d K a m a l , ( 2 0 1 3 ) investigated the relationship between importers and exporters in international trade. They show that it is important to find potential importers in international business. The study searched the evidence of importer -specific spill over in the decision of manufacturers. The authors found that spill over may vary by both importer and exporter characteristics. This study underlined the significance of spill over from exporting, whose capacity extends beyond the level of export destination, to that of the importing firm. The authors suggested that knowledge and information gains are probably realized when the individual importer and exporter interact.
Ramachandran., et al.,(2015) studied difficulties in export process due to challenges faced by logistics industry in India. They observed the following challenges; transport related challenges, issues of port sector, storage infrastructure related challenges, tax structure related challenges, technology and skills related challenges.
The authors said that very poor roads, multiple checkpoints and slow expressway network development, high turnaround time in ports, inadequate depth at ports, poor storage infrastructure, and poor skill levels are some of the challenges faced by logistics industry. The study concludes that logistics sector should provide valueenabling solutions for manufacturing sectors to promote export process. This study provides clear way for further study of difficulties in export process and lack of skilled manpower to handle export process in regard of logistics industry.

Product Innovation and Modification
Zhang et al (2009) have examined the relationship between product development strategy, product innovation performance and product knowledge utilization. Based on the primary data collection from 103 manufacturing organizations, the pre-sated research hypotheses are tested and researchers have revealed that there is U -shaped correlation between product development strategy and product innovation. At same time it also establishes a positive association between product developments, product innovation, and product performance. This research interpretations support the previous literatures which imply that product innovation performance increases by means of consumption information from network connections. From the survey, it is viewed that information application plays a solid part in the development of new products which in turn encourages export business. This article gave the importance of factors like product innovation, product knowledge and product development, which is helps to study various factors of export related production problems.
Amiti and Khandelwal (2011) studied on import competition and pre-quality product upgrading. According to study, it is important to analyse the factors responsible for country's transaction from low -quality to high -quality products. It is because, high -quality goods production is always considered as a pre-condition for export success and economic development. This research evidenced that countries' import tariffs affect the rate at which they upgrade the products. The study finds that lower tariffs encourage the quality upgrading for products close to the world quality frontier. But lower tariffs discourage quality are upgrading for products distant from the world quality frontier. This information is very much important in pre-qualification of product at international market.

Informational Problems in Exporting
Jonathan et al (2004) examine informational problems of the foreign market entry behavior of manufacturers in various industries for different export markets using a comprehensive data set of organizations. These data expose massive heterogeneity among various industries because of the nature of export market perception. However, some prominent monotony performs both across and within industries. The data add a new aspect to an embryonic pragmatic literature exploring export business at the level of individual manufactures. The research findings revealed that most of the organization did not involve export business and interested to sell in the home country due prevailing of various significant information problems. This research study helps to further study about export related informational problems. Thomas and Bridgewater (2004) investigated about internet and exporting as determinants of success in virtual export channels. The advent of the internet has created the possibility for exporters to serve international markets using Virtual Export Channels (VECs). The researcher identified the factors that influence success in using these new channels to export markets. The study suggests that how well firms use the technology is more important than what they use it for. Investment and commitment to the Internet influences are successful implementation. Moreover, firms with an existing export sales capability are far better in using VECs.

Capital Investment and Financial Constraints
Aw et al (2011) explained Research and Development investment, exporting, and productivity dynamics. Thestudy analysed a dynamic structural model of manufacturer's decision to enter foreign market by investing in R and D, it has an effect on productivity in future. Taiwanese electronics industry was selected for analysis. Data analysis shows that foreign market and investment in R and D both have a positive effect on productivity in future. This stimulates more industries to self-select to foreign market and increases productivity gains. Expansion of export market increases R and D investment and foreign market entry and exporting which leads to gradual improvement in productivity.
Greenaway et al (2012) identified the effect of exchange rates on firm exports and the role of FDI. In this study, the researcher argued the effect of exchange rate on foreign market entry and firm's export decision and the export intensity of multinational companies in UK. Data was collected from British manufacturing firms involved in export. The results find that exchange rate has only little significant on firm's export decision and has a particular significant effect on export shares. The researcher also identified the important difference between multinational firms from different country origin. Multinational companies from other than EU are not much affected by exchange rate changes. This study suggests a way for further study of exchange rates in Asian countries.

Environmental Influences on Exporting
O'Cass and Julian (2003) examined the firm and environmental influences on export marketing mix strategy and export performance of Australian exporters. The study examined the impact of specific firm characteristics, environmental characteristics and marketing mix strategy on export marketing performance. Data were gathered via a mail survey of firms engaged in exporting. The results indicate that firm characteristics and environmental characteristics impact significantly on both overall performance and marketing mix strategy adaptation by exporting firms. However, the decision to adapt or standardize the marketing mix strategy did not significantly impact marketing performance, implying that either standardization or adaptation is appropriate and yields comparable performance. This gives a path to further research firm characteristics and environmental characteristics on exporting performance.

Managerial Capabilities and Export Performance
Lages et al (2009) studied about relationship capabilities, quality, and innovation as determinants of export performance. The study analysed whether organizational learning, relationship and quality capabilities induces product quality and product innovation and export performance by employing resource-based perspective. Two kinds of respondents from the same firm are used for the analysis. From the analysis, the researchers found that there is strong support for the relationship between relationship capability, quality strategy and innovation performance. The result suggests that firm's manager should involve in relationship capabilities. This only will improve product innovation performance and quality of the product. This product innovation improvement in turn influences export behaviour. From the findings, it is revealed that economic performance is mainly depending upon relationship capability and product innovation performance. As per study, these two very much improves economic performances.

Research Gap
The researchers has identified that a study on the problems experienced by the Electrical Equipment sector like Power Transmission and Power Distribution are not broadly available. Therefore, it is considered as research gap and resulting in making an attempt to fill such a research gap. This research gap led the researcher to study the major problems perceived by the exporters at the Power Distribution Sector in International Market.

Conceptual Frame Work Of The Study
According to foreign trade policy, 2009-2014, the list of potential problems in exports is given one by one. These are poor quality, high prices, inadequate promotion, power -follow-up of sales, poor negotiation skills, poor infrastructure, documentation and formalities, negative attitude of overseas buyers, recession in world market, reduction in export incentives, several competitions in global marketing, problems of product standards, government restrictions and foreign exchange regulations, high risk and uncertainties etc.
These problems are grouped into seven categories and analyzed in order to find out the major hurdle to export. This study has carefully reviewed the various literatures on export related problems in the industrial sectors. It is found that there are very few studies available in the field of Electrical Equipment Industry at Power Distribution Sector. In order to strengthen the industry, the study has made an attempt by conceptualizing a frame work and formulated hypotheses.

Hypotheses of The Study
H1: Procedural Problem has significant contribution on overall export problems H2: Informational Problem has significant contribution on overall export problems H3: Export oriented Production problems has significant contribution on overall export problems H4: International Marketing Problem has significant contribution on overall export problems H5: Finance Problems has significant contribution on overall Export Problems H6: Environmental problems in Export has significant contribution on overall Export problems H7: Human Resource Management problems in Export has significant contribution on overall export problems

Research Methodology
The research design of the study is mainly descriptive approach which describes the export related problems in the international market for Indian Electrical Equipment at power distribution sector.

Instrument for Data Collection
The structured questionnaire was used for data collection. It was tested by validity and reliability analyses. The questionnaire consists of two sections; The section-I was designed to collect the demographic information of the organizations; The section -II scale measured the Export Related Problems such as Procedural Problems, Informational Problems, Export Oriented Production Problems, International Marketing Problems, Financial Problems, Environmental Problems in Export and Human Resource Management Problems in Export.

Pilot Study
A small group of target respondents (38 respondents), are approached and collected primary data for the pilot study. Pilot study also specified how well the respondents recognize the questions and which questions may be confusing and vague. The response can be used to remove uncertainty in the phrasing and design of the questionnaire. Pilot study further assists the researcher in calculating the time involved in concluding the questionnaire. This is an important issue that effects on the response rate.
Finally, few errors in the statements of the questionnaire has corrected. The response rate was 80.0 per cent. The obtained responses were coded and a preliminary analysis was done. The questionnaire was pre-tested by using validity and reliability analyses

Population
According to the IEEMA there are 800 member organizations in all over India involved in the export of Electrical Equipment to International Market (ELECRAMA-2016).
The target population of the study is identified as all the member organization registered with the IEEMA. Hence the population of the study is 800 member organizations of IEEMA functioning in different parts of India.

Sample Size and Sampling Technique
The organizations participated in ELECTRAMA Exhibitions were approached for the present study. Most of the organizations have responded during the exhibition and some of them requested to send the questionnaire through email. This data collection was done the year 2016.
The required sample size is 457 respondents, the response rate was 80.00 per cent during the pilot study, hence the researcher has distributed 700 questionnaires to the respondents and received back only 542from them. Finally, out of 542 filled-in questionnaires, in those 500 questionnaires are usable. The samples are selected for the study by adopting simple random sampling technique.

Reliability Analysis
Reliability analysis was also applied to test the reliability of the factors presented in Table 8.1 The reliability analysis show that the Cronbach's alpha for seven subscales of export related problems range from 0.703 to 0.825, which satisfies the criteria suggested by Blaisdell (1993), Cronbach's alpha should be at least 0.70 to be considered as acceptable.

Distribution of Respondents ( E x p o r t e r s ) A c c o r d i n g t o t h e demographic Variables
The majority of respondents is manufacturer (43.11 per cent) and

Variables
It is identified that, employees' strength ranging between 11-25 employees are responded compared to other ranges like less than 10 employees (28.74 per cent) and more 25 employees (28.34 per cent). With regard to frequency of export, it is observed that 42.71 per cent of organization, who is doing 3-5 consignment are responded compared to less than 2 consignment (28.74 per cent) and 6-9 consignment per year (28.54 per cent). The results show that, responses are received less export experience (28.74 per cent), 1-2 year (42.71 per cent), 3-5 years (21.36 per cent) and 6-8 years (7.19 per cent). The overall support study reveals that urban based located organization has responded (64.07 per cent) compared to rural based located organization (35.93 per cent). Regarding seaport distance, the organization located 101-200 km are responded more and regarding airport distance located 101-200 km also responded more.

Major Problems Perceived by the Respondents (Exporters)
The experienced problems by the exporters are divided into Procedural Problems, Informational Problems, Production Problems, International Marketing Problems, Export Financial Problems, Export Environmental P r o b l e m s a n d H u m a n R e s o u r c e Management Problems.
Descriptive statistics (Mean and Standard Deviation), ANOVA and MANOVA are used for the analysis. The problems analyzed are quantified by considering the likert's point-scale pattern (strongly agree -5, agree-4, neutral-3, disagree-2, and strongly disagree -1). The quantified mean scores of each problem are analyzed with demographic variables of the exporters (respondents) and ascertain by ANOVA & MANOVA.
From the analysis, it was found that managers have expressed slightly more problems in the Procedures, otherwise supervisor have experienced more problems in other dimensions. Designation of the respondents wise there is a significant difference at the 0.05 level among the exporting organizations is export oriented procedural problems and other problems are not differed among them according to their designation.
Exporter category-wise, traders have expressed more problems in all the dimensions than other groups. The variables Procedural Problem is differed significantly at the 0.05 levels, other variables namely, Informational Problems, Export Oriented Production Problems, and International Marketing Problems are differed significantly at the 0.01 level. The other variables namely, Financial Problems, Environmental Problems in Exports and Human Resource Management Problems are not different according to the different Export categories. Annual Export Volume-wise, the respondents groups namely, 'up to 5 crores' perceived more problems in Informational, Production, International Marketing and Financial Problems.
Years of Experience in Exportswise, Export related Problems are highly perceived by the 'less than one year' experienced group. The variable export oriented Production Problems is differed significantly at the 0.01 level; Informational Problems and Marketing Problems are differed significantly at the 0.05 level; and other variables namely, Procedural Problems, Financial Problems, Export Environmental Problems and HRM Problems are not differed significantly with respect to the number of year experience in exports.
Frequency of Export-wise, the respondents group, 'up to 5 consignment per year' has expressed lesser problems in procedural problems, on the other hand this group has expressed more problems in Export oriented Production; '6-10 consignment per year' exporting group has expressed more problems in International Marketing and Financial problems; and alone 10 consignment per year exporting group has experienced more problems in Informational, Environmental and Human Resource Management Problems. The variables export oriented Production Problems and Marketing Problems are differed significantly at the 0.01 level and other variables do not differ significantly in export problems with respect their Frequency of Export.
O w n e r s h i p t y p e -w i s e S o l e proprietorship organizations have experienced more problems in the dimensions of export problems than other groups. Export oriented production problems are differed significantly at the 0.01 level and there is no significant difference among the organizations in their perceived other export related problems with respect to ownership type of Organization. Employees strengthwise the organizations those have upto 25 employees have perceived major problems in export of the dimensions than other groups. export oriented Production Problems are differed at the 0.05 level among the respondents other variables do not differ significantly in their perceived export problems according to the Employees Strength of the organizations.
Location of the organizations-wise Urban situated organizations have more problems in Procedural, Informational, and Production, whereas Rural located organizations have more problems in International Marketing, Financial export Environment and HRM problems. There is no significant difference between the respondents groups from Urban and Rural located export organizations in their perceived export problems.
Distance between the factories and seaport-wise, the organizations and situated beyond 100km have expressed more problems in all the dimensions of the export problems. Distance between the Factory and Airport-wise the organizations are located above 100km have expressed more problems in the dimensions of export. Informational problem, export oriented Production Problems, and International Marketing Problems are differed significantly at the 0.01 level and other variables are not differed among the respondents according to the distance between their organizations Factory and seaport. The variables such as, Informational problem and Production Problems and differed significantly at the 0.01 level and other variables do not differ significantly among the different group of respondents according to nearest Airport distance.

Correlation Between The Subscales of Export Problems
Pearson's Correlation Co-efficient test is used for the correlation analysis. Procedural Problems has significant correlation at the 0.01 level with the other factors namely, Informational Problems (r=0.357), Export oriented Production Problems (r=0.405); International Marketing Problems (r=0.280), Financial Problems (r=0.540), Environmental Problems in Export (r=0.533), and HRM problems in Export (r=0.550); ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2 tailed) From this result it is very clear that Procedural Problems have higher correlation with other factors. Likewise, Informational Problems, Export oriented Production Problems, International Marketing Problems, Financial Problems, Environmental Problems, HRM problems have higher correlation with the other factors.

Path Analysis
The hypothesized model was tested with maximum likelihood method. Then path model was run on the model developed by the researcher.
All the goodness of fit results falls into acceptable level of fit as suggested by Hair et al.,(1998), Schumacker and Lomax (1996). It is understood that different fit indices assess fit in different ways and the researcher has relied on all indices to reach a judgement concurring the overall fit of the model. The hypotheses were tested by examining the maximum likelihood estimates, standard errors and the associated critical ratio values.

Table 8.4 Goodness Fit Statistics of the Measurement Model
The values are displayed in the Table  8.5 shows the variables expressed as a linear function of its underline variable expressed along with its estimate, standard error, the relevant critical ratio and the significant value.
Going by the critical ratios, it has been found that the following paths are The standardized regression weight result shows that Procedural Problems have significant effect on Export Problems. The standardized regression estimate is 0.545 and p-value is significant. Hence, it is supporting the hypothesis. Findings of the study support the previous researchers' findings such as (Helferich, 1986;Smith et al., 2002;Ramachandran et al., 2015 andAgarwal, 2015).
The standardized regression weight result shows that Informational Problems have significant effect on Export Problems. The standardized regression estimate is 0.412 and p-value is significant. Hence, it is supporting the hypothesis. The standardized regression weight result shows that Export oriented Production Problems have significant contribution on Export Problems. The standardized regression estimate is 0.448 and p-value is significant.
Hence, it is supporting the hypothesis. The standardized regression weight result shows that International Marketing Problems have significant effect on Export Problems. The standardized regression estimate is 0.346 and p-value is significant. Hence, it is supporting the hypothesis.   The standardized regression weight result shows that HR problems have significant effect on export problems. The standardized regression estimate is 0.497 and p-value is significant. Hence, it is supporting the hypothesis.

Conclusion
The present study analyzes the export problems of Indian electrical equipments industry. The electrical companies in India involved in export are considered as a respondent. The study has analyzed the various problems namely, export related procedural problems, export related informational problems, export related production problems, export related financial problems, export related environmental problems and human resource management problems with respect to the demographic variable namely, business category, frequency of export, export experience, seaport distance, number of employees, ownership organization and airport distance along with various export problems.
The research design of the study was mainly descriptive approach. Questionnaire was used to collect data. Seven hypotheses were formulated and tested. Each export problem has significant correlation with the other factors. Financial Problems and Environment Problems have major positive influence on Export Problems.
The study suggests that Government of India has to set up an export promotion office at Embassies level itself, which will avoid the procedural and information problems. Professional consultants can be appointed at foreign countries to get all the market information by combining all the groups of organizations.

Limitations Of The Study
The study is limited to Indian companies who are involved in export business of electrical equipment; In this study limited perceptions and expectations of organization to the time period of study.

Scope For Future Research
The study examined the export organizations representative manager/ executive who came to the IEEMA exhibition, with regard to certain key problems. However, some other managerial characteristics and its influence on exports may be studied.
In conducting further studies in the similar area, pricing, inflation, currency exchange problems and other related problems may concentrated. Study on export marketing behavior is needed to study the importers or buyers point of view in understanding their needs and expectations.