Google Street View

Have you searched for your house on Street View yet? There is a link on Quicklinks on the School website now, but here it is for anyone who wants to get into it now:

http://maps.google.co.nz/help/maps/streetview/

There is help available for first time users.

It could be of use to the exporter who is looking for a competitor's premises, checking out a supplier etc. Thousands of locations in United States, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Japan are covered. It is best to have the exact street number in order to get the quickest result, but you can search using words as well e.g. exporters. As you know, it is causing people to question whether or not it breaches privacy laws. What do you think?

Graeme

World Trade Finance

Some of you who have been following the financial ups and downs over the past months may be interested in this post by Pascal Lamy - Director-General of the WTO, to the Ideas for Development blog:

http://www.ideas4development.org/getting-worse-before-it-gets-better-trade-finance-and-the-risks-caused-by-risk/en/

It is entitled Getting worse before it gets better: trade finance and the risks caused by risk.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pascal_Lamy.jpg

Another Review - are you already exporting to Australia?

Under CER the trade in goods and services between Australia and New Zealand has been steadily growing: see the graph from www.austrade.gov.au/CER/

The Ministry of Economic Development and MFAT are seeking the views of exporters and importers on the new Rules of Origin (ROO) which were introduced on 1 Janaury 2007. Details are available electronically from the MED website: www.med.govt.nz/upload/44133/anzcerta-roo-schedule.pdf

If you would like further liberalisation of the CER Rules of Origin you may like to send a submission:

By email to: nick.kirton@med.govt.nz

By post to: CER ROO Review
Ministry of Economic Development
P.O.Box 1437,
Wellington Attn: Nick Kirton

What are your views on free trade negotiations between P4 and the US?

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking for submissions on the upcoming free trade negotiations between the US and the four member countries of P4 - the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (New Zealand, Brunei, Chile and Singapore).

The existing agreement proposes the complete removal of traiffs on trade between the four partner countries by 2017. The US is now considering whether it will join in the agreement and begin to phase out tariffs for products from the P4 countries.

While the focus has been mostly on the potential removal of the significant barriers New Zealand faces on its agricultural exports to the US, there is also potential for gains for exporters of manufactured products and services.

Submissions can be made directly to the Ministry by Monday 8 December and should be sent to:

Email: ftp4@mfat.govt.nz
Post: Trans-Pacific Agreement Submissions
FTP4
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Private Bag 18901
Wellington

Or you can fill out the online submission form at:

www.mfat.govt.nz/Trade-and-Economic-Relations/Trade-Agreements/Trans-pacific/Forms/submission-form.php

Who is the new Minister of Trade?

Answer: Tim Groser.

Here is his Parliamentary website: http://www.national.org.nz/MP.aspx?Id=15702

World's Most Stable Banking Systems

As we head into Saturday's election and maybe rocky times ahead for the economy and international trade, some of you might find this post on Daniel Workman's Blog interesting:

http://www.suite101.com/blog/daniel2006/2008

And yes New Zealand is on the list - have a look at the post.

Graeme

More on FTAs

Certificates of Origin
For those of you who are already exporting to China, or hoping to export to China: did you know that from the 1st of October this year you will need a Certificate of Origin if you want to take advantage of the preferential access provided by the New Zealand-China FTA? The New Zealand Chambers of Commerce is an approved certification body. You can contact your local Chamber, or phone 0800 EXPORT (0800 397 678). Also see www.newzealandchambers.co.nz

Is New Zealand the only country so focused on FTAs?
Having just been away overseas I have discovered that we aren't. In September Japan for example has negotiated deals with both Switzerland and Vietnam to conclude bilateral free-trade agreements. Switzerland would be the first industrialized country to conclude a free-trade agreement with Japan which already has agreements with nine economies.
Source: Japan Times 30 September, 2008 p.9

Graeme

New Zealand China FTA presentation

On Wednesday 24 September I attended the final of a series of presentations around New Zealand on the New Zealand China FTA. It was good to see one of you there in Palmerston North and I hope that some others may have managed to attend. It was worth it!
If are interested in China and you haven’t already looked at the special website which has been set up, please do have a look at: http://chinafta.govt.nz/ It is a fund of useful information on the agreement itself, sections on doing business in China and a tariff finder which shows the impact of the FTA on tariffs over the next few years.
I felt that the information delivered by the speakers fitted in really well with the Diploma modules that the New Zealand School of Export offers – it was almost as though the whole presentation was a case study for our course: finance, legal aspects, market entry, trade research.
The speakers were all people who had had experience with the development of the FTA or who had been in China. There was one ‘Case study speaker’ Michael Eden from GDM Group which is centred in Wanganui. He is an importer of Chinese components and spoke of his experience of joint ventures. The company has a large, joint venture manufacturing plant with ISO 9001 grading in China, which is frequently visited by GDM Group’s key managers who facilitate training and oversee quality control. You can read about the company at http://www.gdmgroup.biz/who-we-are/company-profile.html
We were given some useful resources which will be available through ELIS catalogue eventually, but some of these are also downloadable from the website: http://chinafta.govt.nz/5-FAQ/index.php
One useful tip that came through from speakers was info about the APEC Travel Card which can facilitate entry through immigration into China and 16 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. If you are travelling as part of your exporting, this would be really useful. See the information at: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/apec/. Perhaps some of you have already had experience in using that.
Graeme

Aspirations for Library Week 2009

I have been having a bit of fun with this ALA poster making product which I picked up from "Stephen's Lighthouse" blog: http://www.ala.org/ala/productsandpublications/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm

Graeme

ASEAN FTA with New Zealand and Australia

Last week conclusions were reached on free trade agreements between the ASEAN countries (see map) and Australia and New Zealand. The final agreement is expected to be signed in December 2008. Considering that the ASEAN bloc represents total trade of more than NZ$2 trillion and was NZ's third-largest export market, the media have not really picked up on the deal comapred with the China - New Zealand FTA.

Graeme

China Free Trade Agreement Regional Forum

On April 24 I posted a note about a China FTA meeting which were about to be held in the main centres in New Zealand. I said at the time that there was surely interest in other parts of NZ, and so I emailed the Manawatu Chamber of Commerce. Today we have received notification of a Regional Forum to be held in the following centres in the North Island:

Napier – Monday 15 September (War Memorial Conference Centre)
Nelson – Tuesday 16 September (The Honest Lawyer)
Tauranga – Thursday 18 September (Sebel Trinity Wharf)
New Plymouth – Tuesday 23 September (Quality Hotel Plymouth International)
Palmerston North – Wednesday 24 September (Hotel Coachman)

You can get more details by looking at: http://chinafta.nzte.govt.nz/ and clicking on events calendar. The programme looks very interesting - costs $75 for the full day.

Graeme

Library Week 2008

Nou Te Korero - What's Your Story is the theme of this year's Library Week. Are you an exporter with a story? Do you know a New Zealand exporter's story? Why not tell us all about him or her? Need some inspiration - look up these New Zealand exporters on the internet: Ken Stevens, Donna Wells, Angus Tait, Nick Nobilo.
As part of the local celebration of Library Week, librarians from the Ikaroa Region of the Library & Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa, are meeting at the New Zealand School of Export on Tuesday 19 August, to hear about the development of your School and the Diploma of International Trade.

Virtual Trade Missions

Anyone been on a 'virtual trade mission'? Sounds useful? interesting? cheaper? How did it go?

Graeme

Joint Ventures

Joint ventures (Chapt. 7.2.3) – in addition to the examples of joint ventures that Alison has given on p.20 of the NZ Supplement, some of you may be interested in the latest news from one of New Zealand’s electronics companies. Rakon has announced a joint venture with Chinese firm Timemaker Crystal Technology Ltd. The Chinese factory will focus on making quartz crystal resonators and temperature compensated crystal oscillators (TCXO). Earlier this year Rakon announced a joint venture with Centium Electronics Ltd to manufacture Rakon products in Bangalore, India.

Search on the internet using the keywords: “joint ventures” and Rakon. At the time of blogging, the Rakon website didn’t have any further information (www.rakon.com/), nor did the joint venture partner Timemaker (www.timemaker.com/)

International Market Entry & Distribution - BOLERO

Exporters studying the International Market Entry and Distribution module have shown interest in learning more about the growing trend towards paperless trading which is believed to significantly reduce the risk of global trade through less and better data and increase efficiency by reducing trade-transaction costs Just in case you weren't aware - paperless trading was the subject of a major international Symposium held in June 2008. Organised by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), the symposium concluded that using open, harmonized, international standards is critical for successful cross-border paperless trading (you can read more at:

http://www.unece.org/press/pr2008/08trade_p04e.htm)

For some time, banks, shipping companies and others in the supply chain have been developing their own proprietary systems which facilitate paperless trading and in addition, organisations such as BOLERO (Bills of Lading Electronic Registry Organization - http://www.bolero.net/) have endeavoured to provide a complete system - with mixed responses. Below are some comments from one of our export companies (all names removed) regarding BOLERO - if you have additional comments which you wish to add, please do so as your experiences can help others decide whether this is the right option for them.

"It has been around for many years and was initially vaunted as the only total solution for companies to embark on their paperless trading platform. Quite a few years ago it was marketed strongly in NZ and presentations made to interested companies.It is a major initiative, has major players involved and has had major amounts of money invested in it.The path forward for them has however not been an easy one for various reasons; some quick points that may be of interest:

BOLERO requires all parties involved in a transaction to be signed up with them.

It is a very costly business to sign up with BOLERO! (can be hundreds of thousands of dollars) "

"There are other platforms out there and there are many organisations e.g. banks, shipping companies etc. which have their own proprietary systems which go a fair way down the track to paperless trading at minimal cost to the customer" .

"I can tell you that a large organisation in NZ viewed BOLERO as its solution for paperless trading but has since backed off."

"You will see on the BOLERO website that ANZ flashes up as being involved with them - this relates to our London office having a very limited involvement in advising LCs via the BOLERO system to a large European Trader. We, as a bank, have had a "watching brief" for many years and certainly don't have any all up commitment to BOLERO - I suspect you will find this with most banks."

"From my observations, any sign up that BOLERO succeeds with, tends to be shouted about well beyond what the actual accomplishment is".

"I am aware that BHP (Singapore, I think) was using BOLERO at one stage but am not sure whether this is still the case."

Google Images

Google Images has been used by some exporters in researching their International Trade Research and International Marketing assignments. They have found really useful stuff - both images and graphic material.

This is an example of an image which could enhance an assignment in which the exporter was writing about exporting dairy products to India.

In almost all cases Google Images gives you the context of the image and this often contains more information which can be useful. Be aware that some of the images are from sources like blogs or flickr. If you do use images from Google, always make sure that you note and acknowledge the source e.g.

www.dairyindia.com/dairy3.jpg Google Images retrieved 9 July, 2008

Images can be difficult to find again unless you search in exactly the same way, so it is worth noting the source immediately.

Try your own search or one of these:

Turkish industry OR China dairy industry

Graeme

New Zealand's traditional exports (2)

Cows wintering on swedes, Ermedale, Southland 28 June, 2008. Photo taken by Graeme Siddle.

With premium prices being paid for dairy products on world markets, Southland has become a key dairying province. Milk from this farm which was converted from sheep to dairy in the early 1990s, goes to Fonterra's Edendale plant for processing into powdered milk products.

FITT conference 2008 - Ottawa, Canada

The Director of the New Zealand School of Export, Dr Rom Rudzki, presented a paper at the FITT Conference on Sunday June 2, 2008. It was entitled Managing in the 21st century –
the rise of Fractal Process Management (FPM). The text of Rom's paper and the powerpoint presentation can be found on the School website at: http://www.export.ac.nz/publications.html.

Our Director features in Government Campaign

Dr Rom Rudzki features in the publicity material for the Government's "Start, Manage and Grow Your Business" campaign which has begun its roadshow around New Zealand. Watch our for it and for Rom!

Forfaiting in China

The Trade and Forfaiting Review for March 2008 has a short article about forfaiting in China by Qian Xiao. Forfaiting is relatively new in China but according to the article, it is developing fast. If anyone would like a copy of the article, let me know library@export.ac.nz and I will send it out to you.

New Zealand's traditional exports

Farmer and sheep on the Saddle Road, near Ashhurst. Photo taken by James Siddle March 2008.

Budget 2008

Did you pick up on these things in last week's Budget Speech:

"The venture investment fund called Better by Design is being expanded to help more firms increase their international competitiveness by integrating design into all aspects of their business.

Our offshore support for exporters is strengthened with funding of $138.9 million including $8 million for the expansion of the Government's Beachheads programme that is now starting to show its value in many different global markets."

They have been largely ignored by the media....

If you want to find the speech go to: www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/budget+2008+speech

Graeme

Michael Porter

The information put up on the 20 May about the Global Competitiveness Report says that it is co-authored by Professor Porter

The ELIS catalogue has Michael Porters book Competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors and also a video called Competitive strategy. Both are available for borrowing - do a search on 'porter' to find them.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to the first group of exporters who have passed the Certificate of International Trade. This is a real milestone for you, and you should be so proud of your achievements. You're now half way to getting your Diploma so keep up the good work!

All the best from the NZ School of Export team.

Study and Exam Tips

Since most of the modules for the Diploma are assessed with multi-choice questions in an open-book exam, it is vital that information can be re-located when you need it. This means that you need to use the index, or institute a system of flags with post-its.

Using the index: you may have noticed that the indexes in the materials manuals are not comprehensive. Therefore it is important to make sure that all of the important information is included. It is suggested that that you take out the index pages, staple them together and keep them close at hand when you are reading the chapters. As you find terms, concepts or topics which you think are important, check that they are indexed. If not, add them in with their page number(s). This will not only help you during the exam, but when you want to find topics at a later date.

China-New Zealand FTA Roadshows

I guess many of you will have heard about these but just in case you haven't, I thought I would post the dates here:
Wellington 26-27 May
Auckland 28-29 May
Christchurch 3-4 June
Hamilton 5-6 June
Dunedin 9-10 June
You can get more information by emailing: ChinaFTA@nzte.govt.nz

It is disappointing that some other centres are not included e.g. Palmerston North (!) and I have emailed our local Chamber of Commerce to see if they could host a roadshow here. Maybe others might want to try that with their local Chamber.
Graeme

Supply Chain Solution – Key to Port Choice

The new definition of competitive service of a port now has a major shift in integrating supply chain.

A supply chain solution, which bundles comprehensive logistics services is critical to a port operator to match today’s service demand, particularly from medium and small exporters, which do not have an export office or similar function established within the company.

The trend signals that what the exporters want today is not only the reduced transport cost and lead time, but also an integrated supply distribution system that could improve the market penetrability, while simplifying other export process functions such as documentation, accounting and custom clearance etc.

However, there are still a lot of challenges to NZ port operators and logistics providers.

1) How do we change our mindset of traditional port operation in relate to competitive service offering?

2) How to finding adequate resources, technological and human resources?

3) Any potential JV programs viable? Such as working with inland transportation providers, freight forward, customs brokers?

4) How much support can port operators obtain from industrial bodies, Universities, banks and governments?

Hi Graeme- thanks for getting the blog up and running!

Hopefully this space will provide a real opportunity for our exporters to discuss a whole range of international trade issues in a safe and focused environment.

As this is a distance learning programme and we rarely get to see each other - I thought fellow bloggers might want to see the New Zealand School of Export pictured here with some members of our Advisory Council and Hon Steve Maharey MP, who officially opened the School in December 2007.

Aokautere Park

Our rural setting - looking across Staces Road to farmland with the Tararuas in the distance.

Photo: Graeme Siddle March 25, 2008

Blogging on Exportersblog

The Exportersblog (send your suggestions for a superior name to info@export.ac.nz please) will enable you to have a voice and connect with other people and ideas.

There will be a minimum of comments from the Specialist Advisers - it is YOUR opportunity to:

- ask questions

- offer opinions and tips on course-related topics

- offer opinions on the world of international trade - the exchange rate, FTA with China, etc.

- share links to useful sites

- share a photo and profile of yourself and the kind of exporting you are engaged in

- post photos you've taken on export topics - logistics, marketing and markets

- alert others to forthcoming events

- share experiences and more

Your blog is not open to others to read and post comments. Bloggers are expected to conform to the Content boundaries as set out in the Blogger Content Policy at www.blogger.com/content.g

We at the New Zealand School of Export have set the scene (literally) and hope you will use this opportunity to have 'an exporters common room'.

Graeme