This study provides comparative empirical evidence concerning selected aspects of the export behaviour and government export assistance required by Asian and indigenous (white)-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in the U. K. It provides a contribution to the literature since, although a body of literature exists on the areas of firstly, various issues associated with export behaviour, and secondly, business practices of ethnic minority-owned firms, there is a need to bring these two research topics together in the form of a single study to establish whether current government support and procedures are suitable for addressing the problems and assistance requirements of managers from different sub-cultures. The rationale for such a study is that if managers from particular sub-cultures differ in their export behaviour and government assistance requirements, policy makers may need to reconsider the way in which services are provided to avoid wasting scarce resources. With this in mind, findings are discussed from a government funded study in order to address the following objective, namely whether differences exist between firms from particular sub-cultures in relation to their export behaviour and assistance requirements. The findings indicate that certain behavioural differences'exist between the two groups of managers in relation to particular export practices. Furthermore, statistical differences exist in relation to perceptions towards key aspects of managers' export behaviour and assistance requirements. Together, this leads to the formulation of an export policy model which offers a structure for the effective provision of targeted assistance to the respective groups of managersM. oreover, the resultsp rovide a foundation on which future academic work can build in the areas of public sector management and marketing anthropology, in addition to offering managers and policy makers an insight into selective aspects of the export behaviour and assistancere quirementso f thesef irms