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.