International trade begins with commitment to learn.(Brief Article)

Consider something as simple as a restaurant.

Low-tech stuff. Eggs, hash browns and pancakes on the breakfast menu. Sandwiches for lunch and dinner.

Consider another business equally as simple: the production and marketing of shovels, rakes and other garden tools.

Consider as well a retailer of electrical equipment and a hardware store.

A common element in all of these is involvement in international business.

The restaurant is a McDonald's Corp. store, which started as a one-store operation in California and now sells nearly half its products abroad.

Japan alone accounts for nearly 33 percent of its business.

The shovel business …