Until recently, many small firms had little or no interest in exporting as the complexities of working within the international marketplace proved to be a deterrent for many of these companies. However, the steady erosion of the U.S. share of total world exports during the 1960's and 1970's has been important not only from a statistical point of view, but from its impact on the national economy. According to the Department of Commerce, it is estimated that an additional one billion dollars of the trade activity creates close to 40,000 jobs and generates 400 million dollars in State and Federal revenue.