Global Trade

 
Dun & Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business Around the World by Morrison, Conway & Douress; Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-531484-4

This reference isn't about e-commerce as much it is about doing business on a global scale. With the world wide scope of the Internet, anyone with a web site that is offering products or services for sale online is exposed to inquiries from all over the world. Dun & Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business Around the World is an excellent reference to have available and to use as a guide to internationalize your web site and marketing materials.  The book provides a guide to doing business in 42 countries. For each country, the book provides information about the demographics of the country, the economy, cultural differences, political information and contact information. The appendix includes a few web site links for locating additional information. The book is published by Prentice Hall, and can be ordered from Amazon.com $24.75 with shipping and handling included. 

The Global Entrepreneur by James F. Foley; Dearborn Financial Publishing, Inc., ISBN 1-57410-124-2

This is a helpful beginner's guide to the process of "going global". It's a step by step how-to guide about developing a strategy, 

• selecting the most promising markets, 
• selecting foreign representatives, 
• developing foreign pricing structures, 
• dealing with cultural differences, 
• participation in trade missions, 
• legal issues, 
• tax and accounting issues, 
• shipping issues, 
• getting paid, 
• pricing your product or service in other markets, 
• promoting your product or service in a different cultural environment, 
• using the Internet for international trade and 
• a host of practical tips about doing business outside the U.S. 

The book provides extensive references for various aspects of market research when considering entry into any foreign markets. The price is $29.95 for the paperback edition. 

 
MAGAZINES JUMP ON E-COMMERCE BANDWAGON

Within the past few months, a number of publications have been devoting a lot more space to the subject of e-commerce. Nearly half the content of the January/February issue of "Offshore Finance USA" was about "Offshore E-Commerce". The March/April of "Offshore Finance Canada" had a special feature on offshore credit card payment systems. The winter issue of "Shore to Shore" included an extensive article called "E-nergize Your Investment: The Power of E-Commerce". "World Trade" magazine has been running a series of articles about e-commerce as has the "Journal of Accountancy" - the professional journal for CPAs. One of our local magazines just ran an article about how a local book dealer is using the Internet to sell books and how Hallmark Cards (which is based in Kansas City) is using the Internet to sell customized greeting cards. Another local business tabloid is full of articles about e-commerce. Of course, these are just a small sampling of the flood of articles that we can expect in the next year or two.

For subscription information for "Offshore Finance", see their websites at <http://www.offshorefinanceusa.com>  or <http://www.offshorefinancecanada.com>. They do not provide copies of articles or other extensive information on their web site unless you are a subscriber, but they do offer a free weekly email newsletter and there are free archives for those newsletters.

"Word Trade" magazine covers a lot of international trade issues other than e-commerce, but you can sometimes get some sample articles at <http://www.worldtrademag.com>.

The American Institute of CPAs web site has three excellent articles about e-commerce. Even though they are targeted at CPAs, the information is useful to anyone interested in the subject. First, go to the main part of the web site at <http://www.aicpa.org>. Then link on the search button. Enter "e-commerce" in the search box but without the " " marks. You should get a listing of three articles from the Journal of Accountancy, all of which have the single term "e-commerce" -- but they are different articles.
 

Selected Global Trade Links
 
 

Dun & Bradstreet	http://www.dbisna.com
Doing Business Around The World	http://www.getcustoms.com
Association for International Businesses	http://wwwearthone.com
Trade Compass	http://www.tradecompass.com
Export Zone	http://www.export zone.com
Michigan State University CIBER Megasite	http://www.ciber.bus.msu.edu
The International Academy	http://www.iasb.org/ewl
U.S. Department of State	http://www.stat-usa.gov
U.S. Department of Commerce	http://www.ita.doc.gov
Bureau of Consular Affairs	http://travel.state.gov
Central Intelligence Agency	http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/
U.S. Census Bureau	http://www.census.gov
U.S. Center for Disease Control	http://www.cdc.gov
Library of Congress	http://www.loc.gov