An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

access to some of the largest economies, has contributed to the region’s declining share of global

markets in both goods and services (OECD 2019b; McLean and Khadan 2015). Within an

integrated, fast-paced and dynamic global environment, the region's success centres on its ability

to penetrate foreign markets and expand its export potential. This requires skilled individuals to

overcome both expected and unexpected barriers to trade. Some respondents further specified

compliance with ISO standards and organic certification, pricing and costing decisions for export

markets, and knowledge of trade agreements and international legal regulations as “Other” export related training needs not captured in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Export-related training needs

What specific export-related training does your business most require? (Select only those that apply)

Other (please specify)

3.47%

Trade Facilitation (e.g. shipping, transport, logistics, etc.)

64.16%

Conformity with Standards and Regulations (e.g. packaging, labelling, etc.)

53.76%

Market Penetration/Access (e.g. market intelligence, understanding rules of origin, etc.)

80.35%

Export Promotion (e.g. marketing)

72.25%

Most businesses (67.1%) had some form of online operations (see Figure 8). This could be a result

of the COVID-19 pandemic where growing use of e-commerce and digital trade was seen across

the region (Cowen et al. 2022). The relatively high ranking of both e-commerce and digital skills

training needs later recorded in Figure 10 is therefore not surprising. Digital marketing (83.76%),

video production (39.32%) and software and mobile app development (35.04%) were identified as

the top required digital skills training areas (see Figure 9). Some respondents further specified

Microsoft Office Suite training; Service Engine Optimization (SEO) training; Social Media

Management; and training in Animation, Character Design, Game Development and Exportation

and E-commerce for Digital Products as “Other” digital skills training needs not captured under

the list in Figure 9. The findings captured in Figure 9 conform with those of previous studies in

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