UPDATE
This issue contains a variety of topics from trade finance, to competitive intelligence to web conferencing. President Obama’s National Export Strategy (NEI) has California’s trade promotion community jumping with new ideas and proposed programs as evidenced by a feature article on the 7th annual Global California Conference that was held this year at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
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
Trade Export
Finance Online
(TEFO)
Cristina Polesel
MBITA
General Manager
This newsletter has been
created by MBITA's editor
Cristina Polesel
cristina@mbita.org
7th Annual Global California Conference Resonates the NEI
On June 23rd, 2010 over 100 professionals representing economic development organizations, trade promotion service providers, shippers and array of small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) met at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to discuss President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) and how online solutions can help our SMEs meet the President’s challenge of doubling exports in the next five years.
Representatives from the government and private sector presented their particular online solutions designed to increase exports, such as global intranets, marketing techniques, document management, security and trust, competitive intelligence and export readiness all concluding with a ‘keynote’ speech on organizational ‘thinking systems’ or ‘memes’ and how understanding these concepts can help us succeed in a global marketplace.

A featured presentation was given by Tony Livoti, President of MBITA who manages TradePort.org on a project called the TradePort Collaborator designed to bring California’s 37 public and private sector trade promotion service centers into a collaborative online workspace that leverages the resources and expertise of these organizations to then better serve California SMEs to increase exports of their products and services.
The conference was organized by MBITA with the help of ‘key’ partners and sponsored by V-Cube U.S.A. Inc. who recorded the entire event.
MBITA Corporate Sponsor
MBITA welcomes new corporate sponsor. V-cube USA Inc.
V-cube USA Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based V-cube Inc. develops and sells proprietary web-based Video Conferencing systems. These proprietary platforms enable one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many interactive real-time video communications and on-demand services over the internet. These visual communication services replicate the communication methods experienced by people gathered together, removing the effects of distance and the necessity of travelling.
In addition to offering SaaS video conferencing solutions, V-cube offers on-site broadcasting assistance in North America for organizations that wish to carry their seminars on the web, but prefer to have a turn-key solution requiring no resources or training. This on-site broadcasting service is used by some of the most well respected organizations in the Greater Los Angeles area, including the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Caltech/MIT and the Orange County Department of Education.
V-cube’s success stems from the ease-of-use of its platforms. These services enhance communication, increase interactivity and open new means of accelerating business. Video communication applications are permeating into new areas of our lives, from home computers to cell phones. To learn how to successfully utilize these types of applications to improve your business communication processes in a dynamic way that will help capture larger market share, please give them a call.
Strong Increase in U.S. Containerized
Import and Export Trade
PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions trade data indicates the economic rebound is gaining strength. China imports continue to rule trade but Vietnam’s apparel industry is becoming a key component in U.S trade growth.
China continues to dominate as the lead source country of U.S. imports with an 8.4 percent increase from last year. While overall imports lag March 2007 levels by 13.7 percent, this quarter marks a return to positive import growth.
Interestingly, PIERS Global Intelligence statistics reveal Vietnam swiftly growing in U.S. imports of women’s apparel and infant wear. Over a five-year period from 2005 to 2009, Vietnam emerged as the leading country in these two categories. Imports nearly doubled and resulted in a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 17.4 percent. This strong performance has allowed Vietnam to match Hong Kong’s market share at 11 percent.
“Rapidly rising wages in China are forcing manufacturers to reconsider production facilities. Vietnam is becoming the clear alternative for low-cost producers” said Mario Moreno, PIERS Economist.
PIERS spotlights the global market trends affecting your business!
EXPLORE the most current, comprehensive and accurate Import and Export data that only PIERS can provide!
DISCOVER New Markets, Customers and Suppliers!
UNCOVER Competitive Intelligence!
Learn more at www.piers.com
Contact:
PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions
UBM Global Trade
A United Business Media Company
33 Washington Street, 13th Floor
Newark, NJ 07102-3107
Tel: (800) 952-3839
Web: www.piers.com
The ‘Cleantech’ Viewpoint is a new section for the World TradeWinds eZine designed to follow the industrial ‘boom’ now occurring throughout the world in the ‘cleantech’ and ‘smart energy’ industries.
The Future of the Green Revolution
By Tony Livoti, MBITA President
'Deal-making' Clean-Tech Trade Mission to China Postponed to October 23-30
The 'Deal-Making' Clean-Tech Trade Mission to China organized by MBITA and Asia Getaway has been postponed to October 23-30 and will still include participation in the World Expo (Shanghai) 2010, with its focus on ‘green’ products and services.
For information about this trade mission visit the Trade Mission home page.
The Global Summit I
"Humanity Uniting for a Sustainable Future"
Nov. 8-10, 2010 - San Francisco, CA
Innovation is happening at the nexus of public, private and civil society sectors. It is begging for a place where collaboration thrives. THE GLOBAL SUMMIT II will showcase the following:
Hands-on solutions & measurable results
Sustainable technology & investor forums
Collaboration tools
Sustainability training and best practices
Fashion, art, media, music and dance
Business leaders, farmers, artists, social entrepreneurs, for-impact organizations, citizens, policy makers, teachers, students, inventors and media & communications groups are invited.
For more information: www.theglobalsummit.org
Ayse's Corner
Ayse's Corner is a feature column of the World TradeWinds eZine'. Ayse Oge is a published author and global trade marketing expert and author of Emerging Markets.
Global Leadership
by Ayse Oge
In a 1998 study conducted by the Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, researchers found that 20 percent of the companies surveyed had “not enough global leaders”, and a quick tally of the numbers revealed more than 80 percent of the companies surveyed indicated they were lacking the global leadership they believed was needed for their companies. The study goes on to state, “companies say that developing competent global leadership is the most important critical resource for achieving future global business success”.
Technology has not only intensified the local and global competition, it has also empowered the customer to become extremely savvy in terms of product, brand and information choices. This is why the focus of management must become much more centered on retaining the loyalty of customers and increasing the size of their orders.
Global leaders need to strike a balance between their vision that embraces the culture of binding everyone together within the organization and the process of respecting and encouraging local and market-sensitive cultures to achieve long-term success. Leaders must create the kind of affiliations that produce pride and excitement about belonging to a “larger world”; something that gives the employees opportunity to make a difference in the world, while at the same time incorporates the unique cultures into their product offerings to make them more palatable to the various foreign markets.
When the company of U.S. Frito-Lay wanted to establish a European presence, it acquired snack food companies in European countries: Spain, Portugal and UZAY GIDA in Turkey. The company took many instrumental steps towards building Frito-Lay Europe by respecting local cultures with varied tastes and preferences. Bill McLaughlin, the CEO of Frito Lay, came up with an effective strategy:
- Develop a strong team based on celebrating differences.
- Create the best set of values to build trust and understanding.
- Identify specific cultural preferences pertaining to the flavors of snacks.
- Shift from a variety of different brands to one with local presence by re-branding and printing the Frito-Lay “sun and banner” logo to better fit the local culture on the packages.
- Put together quality standards that are aimed at manufacturing premium products.
Global companies need to work together with people across national boundaries. To succeed in this, differences can and should be minimized by pursuing the company’s grand vision, which will eventually lead to having a positive impact on both the foreign local culture and the larger community as a whole.
Ayse Oge is President of Ultimate Trade, International Trade Consulting, Speaking and Training and Training and Counselor at SCORE. She can be reached at oge@earthlink.net
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