International Trade Forum articles from October 2005

International Trade Forum archives from October 2005

Advocacy for trade.(From the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From policy to practice, and a dash of lateral thinking, we follow up our recent magazine issue, Why Services Matter. Developing countries that embrace service industries are in the forefront of the battle against poverty, WTO's Pascal Lamy...

Services: from policy to practice.
October 1, 2005... Trade Forum takes up the issue of trade in services once more, which we covered in detail earlier this year (see Why Services Matter, issue 2/2005). Trade in services was the focus of ITC's annual debate on national export strategy, the...

Services are essential to the Doha agenda: WTO head Pascal Lamy urges developing countries to invest in service talks.(world trade organisation)
October 1, 2005... If the Doha Development Agenda is to be completed in December 2006, there will need to be basic movement on several issues to match the ambitions expressed in the title and goals adopted for the round in 2001. Among these issues are services....

Marketing services: how TPOs can help: service exporters face many obstacles. Austrade is finding ways to help businesses overcome them.(Services: From Policy To Practice: Case Study)(trade promotion organization)
October 1, 2005... Our experience is that it is not easy to export business and professional services. This doesn't mean that it can't be done. In fact, Australia has some 4,0 times more firms exporting business and professional services than it did 30 years ago....

Exporting by design in Malaysia: the Malaysian design firm Veritas went into business with an international outlook. In this challenging service sector, it learned how to ride out the storms as well as take advantage of international opportunities.(Services: From Policy to Practice: Case Study)
October 1, 2005... Located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Veritas is an award-winning design firm backed by a team that includes more than 40 qualified professionals and over 60 support staff. Although it began as an architectural practice, Veritas now offers a full...

Choosing the right partner: what makes a good service partner? Trust and experience, says this major Dubai developer.(Services: From Policy to Practice: Case Study)(Abbasi Group)
October 1, 2005... The Abbasi Group has interests in several areas, including textile trading, real-estate development and hospitality. Its Bonyan Emirates Properties is a Dubai-based property developer, supervising the development of projects for commercial and...

Cleaning up: environmental services in Botswana: how can a developing country firm compete in this capital-intensive, highly specialized business where the company may need to educate the client about the issues before making the sale, where procurement rules may be hard to fathom and competition from big firms is fierce?(Services: From Policy to Practice: Case Study)
October 1, 2005... Wave Sanitation Services was founded in 2000, offering waste-water treatment, a toilet rental service and solid waste management. We at Wave understand that in a cleaner environment, all industrial sectors can perform efficiently and generate...

From Canada to Uganda business process outsourcing: business process outsourcing can be a win-win deal, even for small firms in developing countries.(Services: From Policy to Practice: Case Study)
October 1, 2005... Business processes that historically were kept inside the firm, such as accounting and similar paperwork, are increasingly being outsourced to places where costs are cheaper and back-office operations can be provided all day, every day, to keep...

Trade development: what do you communicate? If you promote the potential of trade for development, look twice at the power of strategic communications.(Strategic Communications)
October 1, 2005... Opinion polls and street demonstrations are clear: globalization destabilizes people. As I write, helicopters whirr and sirens wail as demonstrators clash with police outside the venue of the WTO Ministerial Conference. Yet developing countries...

Think strategically about communications: communications plays a key role in every organization that wants results. A strategic approach can help them use resources effectively to achieve their goals.(Strategic Communications: Case Study)
October 1, 2005... When officials at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) wanted to increase public awareness about CARICOM's single market and economy, they recognized that communicating clearly and openly about their motivations, effects and aspirations was...

Plug into your national brand: a country's "brand" can help or hinder its exports. Plugging into the essence of its people, institutions, geography, history and culture, a nation can create a brand strategy that shows its true, distinctive self.(Strategic Communications)(Interview)(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... Interview with Simon Anholt, Earthspeak Q Can establishing a brand really help a developing country to improve its market position and international profile? A Yes, but only if it's true. The first rule of nation branding has to be a...

Building a global image.(Plug into Your National Brand)
October 1, 2005... Q How long does it take to build a global brand image? A If you're talking about branding a product and the product is good, if you have the distribution and marketing, if you have the money--and it does cost money--then you can start...

What countries can do now.(brand strategy and management)
October 1, 2005... Q Is there anything they can do now? A We all know that the products which succeed aren't always the best products. They are the products that people believe in: in other words, the best brands. The product has to be good, but that's not...

Build your own brand.(brand building)(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... * A Thai factory started to export its own branded garments, making many times the profit it did when it manufactured for brands in the United States. BeBe-Bushh children's clothing is now sold in around a dozen countries. * A chemicals...

Executive forum lessons.(Executive Forum )(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... Q What are the lessons you brought away from the Executive Forum ? A At the Executive Forum I was surprised to hear so many countries debating their chances of becoming a back office for companies in rich countries. I would rather see...

Breaking down "Brand Africa".(Plug into Your National Brand)(African Nation Brands Index)(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... Q You have a "Nation Brands Index". Why do you want to start an African Nation Brands Index? A I have been doing the Nation Brands Index since the beginning of the year. It takes in 25 countries. We have a panel of 5 million consumers in...

Benefits of brand strategies.(Plug into Your National Brand)(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... Branding, once the brand is established, should create an increase in profitability and customer acquisition and retention, so there's every reason to kick-start it early in the process--as tong as the products are good enough to sustain the...

Branding Korea: a long-term export policy of the Republic of Korea combines national and corporate branding.(Strategic Communications)
October 1, 2005... In 2000, the Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy announced that to be globally competitive and boost exports, Koreans needed to shift from supplying generic products to developing their own brands. The Ministry's strategic policy...

Put your stamp on trade.(Strategic Communications)(Tariq Puri)(Interview)
October 1, 2005... We discovered, almost by accident last year, how countries are "putting their stamp" on trade. Research on stamps came up as part of the creative design process in profiling case studies on successful trade development projects. While we did...

Reaching out with the Web: simply building a web site won't bring visitors. It takes careful strategy and targeted marketing to lure visitors to the site once, and even more work to bring them back.(Strategic Communications)
October 1, 2005... The Internet has become one of the most powerful tools in communications. More and more people are getting access to the Internet. However, we are also living in a very competitive world of information providers. Almost all organizations,...

RSS: a new way to keep in touch.(Strategic Communications)(real simple syndication)
October 1, 2005... Most major e-publishers now provide RSS (real simple syndication) feeds --essentially automatic summary updates of topics that you choose--in addition to the e-mail alerts they send out on the subjects that they want you to receive. RSS...

Enters the classroom: Peru's young business hopefuls are getting a taste of the international market while still at university through the case studies and ideas in ITC's magazine.(In Peru, Trade Forum)
October 1, 2005... I have been teaching a course in international trade since 2000 at the Catholic Pontifical University of Peru. In March 20001 discovered the magazine. International Trade Forum in a library in Lima. When I read it for the first time, I was...

Trade law: balancing priorities.(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... Recently, ministers met to negotiate some major international trade treaties--the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. These treaties and many others are shaping the way trade is conducted, but developing countries risk falling behind...

Making sense of trade treaties: as world trade grows more complex, the rules for international business are also growing in number and intricacy. How can countries with limited resources spot and adopt the major trade treaties? And how can they participate in drafting new trade rules?(Trade Law: Balancing Priorities)
October 1, 2005... There are more than 50,000 international treaties, 600 of which cover multilateral trade issues. Why should developing countries, with many demands on the public purse, pay attention to ratifying and implementing trade treaties? It's because...

Trade treaties: where does your country stand?(Trade Law: Balancing Priorities)(Statistical table)
October 1, 2005... This table shows the state of ratification by UN member countries, as of 1 January 2005, of 205 major multilateral trade treaties covering contracts, customs, dispute resolution, environment and products, finance, illicit trade, intellectual...

Trade forum collection on trade law.
October 1, 2005... The articles below are available from the Trade Forum web site at http://www.tradeforum.org Changing environment Making Sense of Trade Treaties (4/2005) Trade Law: New Practices Improve Business Confidence (3/2004) Trade Law Gets...

New executive director of ITC is appointed.(ITC News)(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... Patricia Francis, a citizen of Jamaica, has been appointed Executive Director of ITC. The appointment was made by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy. Ms Francis will serve for a period of three...

JAMPRO wins a TPO award.(ITC News)(Brief article)
October 1, 2005... During the 5th World Conference of Trade Promotion Organizations in 2004, the Jamaica Promotions Corporation, under the leadership of Ms Francis, was one of six TPOs to receive an international award for its achievements in raising exports....

Meeting small firms' trade finance needs: lending institutions in Asia and the Pacific are exploring how to meet small exporters' financing needs in a new initiative spanning 27 countries.(ITC News)
October 1, 2005... Small businesses are the backbone for sustainable growth and jobs in developing countries. Access to credit for business start-up and development, however, remains difficult for most. Banks and other financial service providers, used to dealing...