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President
Tony Livoti
MBITA

Vice President
Shay Adams
AIM Medical Sales

Members

Dr. Edward Valeau
Els Group LLC
Hartnell College
President Emeritus

Marcelo Siero
IdeasSiero

Jim Faith
Jim Faith & Associates

Cristina Polesel
MBITA
General Manager

This newsletter has been created by MBITA's editor
Cristina Polesel
cristina@mbita.org

MBITA Member

Content Marketing is the only marketing left!

The smartest thing you can do now is to invest into your TRIBE. A tribe is a group of people that are connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea.

For thousands of years people have been part of this or that tribe. A group needs two things to be a TRIBE; a shared interest and a means to communicate. TRIBEs are your new way of doing marketing.  Your TRIBE is your new media.

TRIBE is also the name of MBITA’s new member company that creates value and gives you great solutions to build magic relationships with your customers using Web 2.0 tools, social networks and the extraordinary and effective communication techniques of TRIBE.

TRIBE is a group of young Italian innovators who love social thinking, web 2.0 technologies as well as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and use all of the above to change and improve the way marketing is conducted online.

When your online communications are run by the right professionals, your Tribe gets closer to you, to your brand and to your products.
Contact the MBITA office or TRIBE directly to have more information about how your business can step out of the frame and create a real TRIBE.

MBITA welcomes new member University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in addition to its educational mission has a robust research program which supports innovation. The emerging innovative technologies span most of the various disciplines on the campus.

UCSC has recently been ranked third in research influence in an analysis of the top universities worldwide, published as part of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012, conducted by Thomson Reuters.



Innovations coming from UCSC include as diverse arrays of technologies as Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences, Adaptive Optics, Bioinformatics, Biomedical, Computer Engineering, Digital imaging, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Marine Science. An example of such innovation can be seen in a recent Mercury News article.

A convenient way to view emerging innovations from UCSC is at University of California, Office of the President website or iBridge. iBridge offers a quick search to technology coming from universities. Technologies coming from the campus are viewable by entering UCSC in the search box. The Office for Management of Intellectual Property (OMIP) at UCSC, acts as the catalyst in both promoting and licensing disclosed inventions to interested parties, ranging from large corporations to startup companies.

 Contact:

William B. Hale
IP Manager
Office for Management of Intellectual Property
University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)
Tel. 831-459-3090
Web: http://research.ucsc.edu/intel_prop.shtml

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Statement from U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson on U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services in December 2011

On February 10 the U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson issued the following statement on the release of 2011 international trade numbers and the December 2011 U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services report (PDF) by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis. Today's report showed that the U.S. remains on course to reach President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014. U.S. goods and services exports in 2011 were up 14.5 percent or $265.5 billion from the same period of 2010 to reach a record $2.1 trillion, with record levels of exports in most major merchandise categories. That follows a 16.7 percent overall increase in 2010. U.S. exports of services were a record $604.9 billion, pushing our trade surplus in services for 2011 to a record $179.0 billion.

Meanwhile, exports of goods and services in December 2011 increased 0.7 percent from November 2011 to $178.8 billion, with this month’s exports of services, $51.7 billion, the highest on record. U.S. imports of goods and services increased by 1.3 percent to reach $227.6 billion, causing the U.S. trade deficit to increase by 3.7 percent to reach $48.8 billion in December 2011.

“U.S. exports posted a record $2.1 trillion in 2011, helping to fuel the positive momentum we have seen in the U.S. economy as a whole. Given the growth over the past two years, we remain on track to realize the president’s National Export Initiative goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014. The private sector has recorded 23 consecutive months of job growth, creating 3.7 million jobs, and U.S. manufacturers have added 404,000 American jobs in the last two years, the strongest growth since the 1990s,” said Commerce Secretary John Bryson. “While today’s news is further evidence that we continue to make progress, we still have more work to do. We must redouble our efforts to create an economy that’s built to last. This means breaking down barriers, opening doors and helping businesses build it here and sell it everywhere by supporting manufacturing, continuing to increase our exports and attracting more investment to America from all over the world.”

U.S. Export Fact Sheet February 2012.

Contact: United States Department of Commerce
Office of Public Affairs - Tel. 202-482-4883
Press release source article.

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The National Export Strategy is available also at
http://trade.gov and http://export.gov.
International Trade Update at
http://www.trade.gov/publications/ita-newsletter/
##########

This MBITA Santa Cruz Chapter seminar/luncheon focused on trade compliance and marketing solutions that lead to successful exports. Professionals from both the private and public sectors addressed current global trade compliance and marketing issues when importing and exporting.



Information on how the National Export Initiative (NEI) has impacted the Trade Compliance challenges for exporters were discussed, plus, information on CTPAT, AEO, free trade agreements, foreign customs regimes and trade promotion services addressing the challenges exporters face today were covered.

The agenda also included presentations from public and private sector resources discussing the various online and offline trade promotion services that are available to exporters, such as, global marketing, trade finance, legal advice, training and shipping/logistic services.

More information, detailed agenda, speaker bios and presentation slides at
www.mbita.org/events/exportsuccess.html

CONGRESSMAN SAM FARR TO ADDRESS THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE MONTEREY BAY REGION AT MONTEREY CHAPTER EVENT

Monterey, Ca - April 12, 2012

 
‘The Monterey Bay - Global Destination for Wine and Tourism’ is the title of the annual MBITA event with Congressman Farr who believes the dynamic nature and special characteristics of the Monterey Bay region are unique to the world as leaders in language, marine biology and agriculture and the global marketplace needs to know this.

Influenced by the beauty of Big Sur to the south of the Monterey Bay, and the dynamics of Silicon Valley to its northern borders, the Monterey Bay region’s wine and tourism industry is 2nd to none and this seminar/conference will demonstrate why.

Public and private sector representatives from both the wine and tourism industries of the Monterey Bay region will make presentations on why there in no place on the planet like the Monterey Bay, and that it cannot be matched for its creativity, business dynamics and entrepreneurial acumen, not to mention the best wines in the world in a region of unparalleled beauty. During the lunch time Congressman Sam Farr will speak.

More information at
http://www.mbita.org/events/samfarrluncheon2012.html

Booming Chinese Luxury Market
by Ayse Oge

China is poised to become the world’s largest luxury market by 2020. It is estimated that it will account for 20% of the anticipated $547 billion worth of luxury purchases by that year, according to investment research group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

The people in China are exposed to a massive amount of high-end goods and services through the Internet, by overseas travel, and from first-hand experience. Chinese luxury good buyers’ interest started with Gucci handbags, fashion, and Swatch watches and it extended to other sophisticated hotel services. Lately, consumption of services is actually surpassing the production of high-end goods. There is an increasing demand for spas and wellness activities, and the consumers are putting much value on experience, rather than the product itself.

Some revealing facts of upscale Chinese consumers:

• Mainland Chinese millionaires are 15 younger than their overseas peers. The number of individuals with more than Rmb1,000 million has increased at an annual rate of 50% -- it started at 24 in 2000 and increased to 1,363 by 2010.
• Success, wealth and fame/social standing are highly regarded in Chinese culture.
  
• The luxury market in China is still largely male-dominated, given workforce demographics and the culture of gift giving for business purposes.
• The people in China appreciate high-quality craftsmanship. Foreign luxury brands in particular, with well- known logos and brands, are demanded among Chinese high-end product/service buyers.
• Majority of the Chinese luxury products buyers' purchasing decisions are based on the rich cultural heritage associated with foreign brands. And some of the consumers in China prefer products that are designed specifically for the country that incorporate Chinese imagery.

Potential luxury goods exporters need to take into account several big challenges before making their entry into this lucrative Chinese market. First, delivering an exceptional service in stores is essential. The in-store experience is by far the most important factor driving buying decisions. Also, the Internet has become the second most important consumer touch point for luxury categories such as fashion. Marketers will need well-designed web strategies; for example, they must work with social media agencies to monitor and shape online conversations among consumers, and they can hire influential bloggers to help educate them about brands.

Some revealing facts of upscale Chinese consumers:

• Conduct a research of macroeconomic environment, foreign trade development, and dynamics of market movement.
• Identify the right partner. Seek help from the local Department of Commerce, which has a series of services to put you in touch with local buyers.
  
• Strategize your marketing efforts. Hire a local marketing professional to discuss your marketing goals and promotional efforts.
• Conduct comprehensive research on the credit standing of local partners.
• Fully understand the regulations and restrictions of exports to China.

And finally, remember that the success of your exporting business depends on building up-close and cooperative relationships with your Chinese partners and customers, in both a business and non-business environment. It is time to tap into this powerful and fast growing market.

Ayse Oge is President of Ultimate Trade, International Trade Consulting, Speaking and Training. Her work has been featured by Fox Business Online, Bloomberg Business Week Online and she was quoted by Investor's Business Daily and American Express Open Business Online. She is the author of “Go Global to Win,” and a new book, “World Wise Children,” which helps children develop international skills and qualities needed to create future opportunities and realize their dreams. She is Counselor at SCORE, conducting export seminars and webinars for entrepreneurs and small businesses. She can be reached at oge@earthlink.net