RICHMOND - The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) today announced the results of the Commonwealth’s first survey of the state’s service-based companies. Conducted in 2001, more than 5,500 Virginia professional service firms responded. Recognizing the fact that Virginia’s economy includes growing numbers of service-based companies, VEDP’s Division of International Trade designed the survey to determine the number of Virginia service companies that export and the overall value of these services. Examples of professional firms that qualified for the survey include legal, consulting, architectural, and software development firms.
The survey reveals the following:
- There are approximately 1,200 Virginia service companies that export (over half of which have more than 10 employees).
- Service exports amounted to an estimated $4.8 billion or 28% of Virginia’s total exports. In 2001, Virginia exports of goods and services totaled $16.4 billion. (Northern Virginia was the dominant area for service exports, accounting for 65% of the responding service exporters. Hampton Roads and Central Virginia were tied with 14% each.)
- The top destinations for Virginia service exporters, in order, are:
- Canada
- Germany
- Japan
- France
- The professional/scientific service sector and the information technologies sector are Virginia’s top export service industries. Each garners more than 45% of Virginia total service industry exports.
- 70% of the exporting service companies had sales from foreign buyers of over $1 million annually. Of the service companies polled, those that export had 60% of their total sales in exports.
The survey also revealed that many of Virginia’s service companies are interested in exporting. Last year, nearly 300 companies requested assistance with their export needs from VEDP.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, a marketing organization, was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995 to encourage, stimulate and support the development and expansion of the economy of the Commonwealth. The Partnership is a state authority, which is governed by a 15-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor. To accomplish its objectives of promoting economic expansion within the Commonwealth, the Partnership focuses its efforts on business development and international trade. VEDP has offices in Virginia, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Korea and Japan.