21st Century Counter TradeWritten by William Cate
21st Century Counter Trade By William CateThe U.S. Department of Commerce hates it. The World Bank questions its long-term economic impact. However, an estimated 130 countries are doing almost US$500 billion worth of global trade under counter-trade-related schemes. If world relied solely upon Counter Trade, U. S. wouldn't have a $278,000,000,000.00 trade deficit. The world debt crisis and growing weakness in American Dollar has made trade financing very risky and thus increasingly costly. Western countries, watching jobs flee overseas, are slowly returning to idea of bi-lateralism as a way to reduce trade imbalances. There are five basic types of Counter Trade: barter; buy-back, counter-purchase; tolling and offset. We're going to compare a simple multi-country barter model against traditional export model. We'll assume that exporter can get ninety day net terms from American manufacturer. And, we'll presume that air cargo shipments take two days and surface shipments take forty days. We'll assume that pre-tax profit at each step will be 33% and that exporter will structure their company to minimize their legal tax obligations. Keep in mind that there are tens of thousands of potential products, two hundred countries in world and nearly an infinite number of ways to put counter trade deals together. The Traditional Export Model The Exporter will move to Reno and incorporate export business in Nevada. Their business is to export American-made computer microchips. They have a buyer in Singapore offering a 90 Irrevocable Letter of Credit (ILC) and their manufacturer is willing to defer payment for 90 days. They buy $200,000 worth of microchips, airship them and sell them in Singapore for $275,000. Ninety days later, they have a gross profit of $75,000 and a pretax profit of $66,000. After paying U.S. Federal income tax, they earn about $44,800. Since they can repeat microchip export four times each year, their after tax profit is nearly $100,000. This is more money than majority of people earn living in Nevada. Not bad. The Counter Trade Model The Exporter incorporates their Counter Trade business in Belize. Their business office is in Barbados. They have same relationship with an American computer microchip manufacturer. They have a buyer in Singapore offering to barter their computers for American microchips. They have an importer in Senegal willing to take computers and pay for them in high quality textiles that a buyer in London wants and will pay for in 75-year-old scotch. And, they have a gem broker in South Africa who wants scotch against a payment in uncut diamonds. The counter trader has a deal with a diamond dealer in Toronto. The Canadian wholesaler has retail buyers in States, who want diamond rough.
| | CRM For Beginners – Customer Relationship Management BasicsWritten by Matt Hogansworth
In order to maintain a successful business, business must understand and maintain a positive relationship with its customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is process of bringing customer and company closer together. There are many different areas in which Customer Relationship Management can be implemented. The goal of CRM is to help a company maintain current customers, as well as gain new customers.Targeted Marketing Targeted marketing is accomplished through collecting information about customer. This information can be buying habits or simply demographics. The idea behind this is that a business analyzes what a customer buys and then markets specific products to that customer based on his or her buying habits. Businesses track buying habits using discount cards, and special store credit cards. Targeted marketing can also be implemented on Internet. Amazon.com has product recommendations based on buying habits, and product ratings. Customers can also be sent e-mails that market targeted products. Marketing right products to right customers can significantly increase a business' sales with minimal associated costs. Call Centers and Customer Service Have you ever called a business to complain or ordered a product and encountered an automated call response (I.E. “please press 1 for questions, 2 for comments” etc.)? That’s CRM. Call centers that take calls and monitor customer/business interactions are often running on hosted CRM programs. CRM managers want to make call centers as efficient and customer-friendly as possible. A customer who can easily navigate through an automated system is more likely to do business with same company in future. In case of a complaint, a customer whose problems are responded to immediately is more likely to forgive and forget a company’s transgressions. Customer service is backbone of all CRM processes and strategies.
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