Archive for July, 2011

5 Tips to Export – America is on Sale

American apparel makers face increase costs due to two macro economic factors.

First, transportation budgets are out of control. I looked back three years ago and freight was 2.9% of sales, last year it was a whopping 5.5% of sales! That’s a 90% increase in three years. That pinches an 8% profit by 2.6% to 5.4%, ouch.

Second, the rapid decline of the dollar is making raw material prices spin out of control. For the last two years we’ve seen 15% annualized inflation for textiles coming out of Asia and Europe. Textiles and findings represent approximately 50% of an apparel items cost and it hurts to see 15% price increases.

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Cultural Intelligence – How To Be Culture-Savvy In International Business

For those of us who travel and live in different countries on a regular basis, learning about our destinations is essential. What can I expect when I move? What will be different? What will I have to adjust to? What are the people like? How does their culture differ from mine?

These questions can go on and on. Some of us try to answer them by researching in libraries and on the internet; others go through cross-cultural training; and yet others tap into whatever expertise the online expatriate community can offer. All these sources are wonderful and they provide a wealth of information, however, they often form no more than just a base of the information required for us to become really knowledgeable about the culture, and particularly about the people we interact with.

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An International Trader Cannot Dismiss B2B

Business to Business (B2B) portals have emerged as comprehensive business solution for international trade. It is high time for a trader to check, if one witnesses tremendous progress in one’s competitor’s business and one does not use e-commerce space for one’s business. When one makes a background check of this trader, one can surely see that this particular trader has partnership with one or many B2Bs.

Even after the cognizance of the success of one’s competitor, still indecisively sitting on the fence and thinking whether one should induct the services of B2Bs in one’s business, would be suicidal for oneself or any trader. Traders’ outdated methods of depending on their own old networks will not only wipe out existing market share, perhaps even one’s company from the international markets.

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