3M Company, which got its start as a sandpaper manufacturer in northeast Minnesota, has become a global powerhouse with annual sales approaching $30 billion.

The Maplewood-based company will report its 2011 results on Jan. 26, but Wall Street analysts are estimating that 3M sold about $29.6 billion in products last year.

Almost two-thirds of 3M's sales occur outside of the United States. 3M, previously named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, is a high-profile case study of how to skillfully navigate the global marketplace.

Many small Minnesota companies — some with only 20 employees — are successfully exporting their goods. Many more businesses could greatly expand their revenue by getting in the export game.

Boosting exports is vital to powering business expansion and job growth because U.S. consumers aren't in a position to fuel a rapid economic recovery.

The state of Minnesota reported last week that Minnesota's exports increased 4 percent in the third quarter of 2011, with the strongest growth rates occurring in Mexico, Singapore and China.

Mark Phillips, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), has estimated that exports are responsible for 115,000 jobs in Minnesota. The export of Minnesota's manufactured goods, agricultural commodities and services were worth about $31 billion in 2010, according to DEED.

Dayton veto
Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a bill in May that would have eliminated the Minnesota Trade Office. After surviving the 2011 legislative session, the Minnesota Trade Office is gearing up for Dayton's trade mission to China later this year. It also will be taking part in Minnesota sector trade missions to India, Germany, Russia and Canada. Medical device companies and food ingredient buyers are among the business clusters that will send employees on overseas trade trips.

The federal government recently awarded $450,000 to the Minnesota Trade Office and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to help small companies enter foreign markets. That funding will partially subsidize small companies that want to take advantage of international trade missions, trade shows and export development activities.

The Internet is a powerful tool for doing business on an international basis, but person-to-person contact is still beneficial in creating business relationships with peers in foreign countries.

Currently, about 8,100 Minnesota companies are exporting their products or services.

Government's role in spurring international trade as well as its capacity to deliver high-quality services will be under the public microscope in 2012.

President Obama on Friday urged Congress to join him in expanding exports by making it easier for companies to interact with the federal government.

In a cost-saving and efficiency move, Obama proposed merging six agencies into one large organization. The government agencies that would be affected are the U.S. Department of Commerce's core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

The immediate political reaction in Washington was mixed.

In a presidential election year, it's hard to imagine how a highly-polarized Congress would quickly embrace this proposal. Yet leaders of both parties favor increased exports to foster business and job growth, so maybe this idea will get a serious look.

The risk in creating one big agency is that it could become slow and unresponsive. But the need to reduce deficit spending may mean consolidation is a legitimate path to take.

Need resources and authority
At the end of the day, the number and design of boxes on a federal government organization chart is less important than the substantive work being done by federal employees. The right people with the right attitude can work in any structure, but they need the resources and authority to do their jobs.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which will be a major actor in the debate on trade agency structures, has raised the central question that Congress and the administration will weigh.

On Friday, a NAM executive said of the proposal: "Will it help manufacturers compete, export, invest and create jobs?"

In St. Paul, that's the same question that legislators and executive branch leaders should ask during the 2012 and 2013 sessions. The Minnesota Trade Office is trying to serve businesses spread across 87 Minnesota counties. The Minnesota District Export Council, a nonprofit organization that works with the U.S. Commercial Service to promote exports, is another vehicle for increasing trade by Minnesota businesses.

Are Minnesota's public and private resources aligned to maximize new trade opportunities?

Although the United States is dealing with a trade deficit and Europe's economy is weakening, there still are plenty of new opportunities to sell Minnesota goods in emerging global markets.

3M, which employs about 47,000 people outside the United States, operates in more than 65 countries. It looks at the world as its marketplace and goes where its products can fill a need.

Many small Minnesota companies have the goods that could be sold overseas, but they need to find the right business matches and learn how to export.

Government can help or hinder that path to exporting. That's why it's a good time for leaders in Washington and St. Paul to figure out how they can do a better job of clearing export obstacles.

Fedor can be reached at lfedor@minnpost.com