Trade Agreements and Marketing Strategies
We all know that trade agreements are important but how do entrepreneurs use them for their benefit?
That was the question I had to answer in delivering a presentation as a guest lecturer to a group of very keen students at the University of the West Indies, in Jamaica at their Mona School of Business and Management‘s Masters in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
Value of trade agreements to business
After all what entrepreneur would not want:
- The prospect of increasing sales and revenue from selling goods and services in foreign markets.
- Increasing the ability to compete in international markets
- Increasing access to less expensive raw materials and intermediate goods for value-added benefits
Five objectives
With business people in mind the five main areas covered by the presentation were:
- What are trade agreements?
- Why are they important?
- How are they connected to supply chain management?
- Trade agreements in the Jamaican context
- Trade agreement tools
Value add
I am a strong believer in value add, particularly in education. Rather than simply meeting the standard for what I was asked to deliver I wanted to deliver more and in this case I delivered two business orientated value adds.
These value adds were based on the notion that supply chain management is risk management. Therefore, understanding the opportunities and threats that free trade agreements provide to a specific industry or company are critical to success.
Supply chain management is risk management. Therefore, understanding the opportunities and threats that free trade agreements provide to a specific industry or company are critical to success. Click To TweetThe first value add was including three supply chain strategies that leverage trade agreements for business success.
Using trade agreements: three supply chain strategies
- A Trade Agreement Management Programme
- Leverage Trade Agreements to Achieve Savings From Global Sourcing
- Active Market intelligence Programme
The second value add was to include three online tools that I believed could assist businesses cut through the perceived complexities and costs associated with using trade agreements.
Tools to drive trade
For these and other points of interest on trade agreements and supply chain management please see my presentation below.
Enjoy.
