Barclay´s Business Case (Exports – Imports)

International Commerce / Workshop # 1 / Contaduría Pública

Teacher: Carlos Mario Márquez

Barclay´s Business Case (Exports – Imports)

Barclays Business customer Richard O’Shea, 36, and his father Frank are the co-directors of Appropriate Applications – a thriving import / export business selling mosquito nets and cattle-fly insecticide. Richard explains how supplying farmers, aid organizations and multinationals in Africa has helped his company go from strength to strength.

PLAN FOR CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Richard and Frank knew there would be extra challenges working with foreign suppliers and buyers so prepared themselves in advance. ‘We did our homework meticulously and expected that legal headaches with import and export regulations, logistics and finding new customers would be the biggest hurdles – so we were prepared when they came.

‘We spoke to much quality, established suppliers who had been shipping internationally for years to get recommendations and advice when we started out.’

Of course not all problems can be foreseen and Richard faced a potentially major business threat in 2006 when the World Health Organization (WHO) unexpectedly gave an endorsement to just 2 manufacturers in the mosquito-net market– neither of whom were suppliers – effectively locking out Appropriate Applications from selling to big, established customers overnight. Undaunted, Richard pursued a host of smaller aid organizations as potential customers and built up a new customer base.

‘In time WHO certified other manufacturers and the situation eased,’ he says, ‘but in the meantime we asked all our clients “What else do you buy?”. Using that information we became a purchasing agent for a number of them and for a very wide variety of goods that we source and import from all over the world.’

Be tough on terms

‘We have learnt along the way that finding suppliers and customers who are good and reliable with payment is not easy. Even some longer-term customers we thought we could trust have broken payment promises.

‘The only 100% way to avoid cash flow problems is to not pay suppliers upfront for anything and to ask for payment in advance from all your customers. Needless to say, this isn’t possible all the time, but there is usually a way to build in a sliding scale of payments to suppliers and from customers so you’re not too exposed.

‘We will only pay upfront if we are being paid up front. Getting paid very late – and sometimes never – has made us tougher. If you can find 3 suppliers of the same product 1 of them will usually offer good terms.’

Never stop researching

‘I can’t emphasize enough how important thorough and continuous research is to making importing and exporting a success,’ says Richard. ‘You can learn the hard way by surviving a few non-payments and discovering what you did wrong as you go along. Or you can do your homework in great detail before committing time and money to a project – make it a sure success from the start. Remember, the topline figure may sound great, but it’s not so great if you never get paid.’

TRADUCCIÓN

Comercio Internacional / Taller # 1 / Contaduría Pública

Profesor: Carlos Mario Márquez

Business Case Barclay's (exportaciones - importaciones)

cliente de Barclays negocios Richard O'Shea, de 36 años, y su padre Frank son los co-directores de aplicaciones adecuadas - una importación próspera / negocio de exportación de la venta de mosquiteros e insecticidas ganado volar. Richard explica cómo los agricultores que suministran, organizaciones de ayuda y las multinacionales en África ha ayudado a su empresa van viento en popa.

Plan de desafíos y oportunidades

Richard y Frank sabía que habría desafíos adicionales que trabajan con proveedores y compradores extranjeros así preparada por anticipado. "Hicimos nuestra tarea meticulosa y esperábamos que los dolores de cabeza legales con las regulaciones de importación y exportación, la logística y la búsqueda de nuevos clientes serían los mayores obstáculos -. Así que estábamos preparados cuando llegaron

'Hablamos con mucha calidad, proveedores ya establecidos, que habían estado enviando internacionalmente durante años para obtener recomendaciones y consejos cuando empezamos.

"porsupuesto que no todos los problemas pueden ser previstos y Richard enfrentan una amenaza negocio potencialmente importante en 2006, cuando la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) inesperadamente dio un endoso a sólo 2 fabricantes en el mosquito -net mercado- ninguno de los cuales eran proveedores - con eficacia bloqueando aplicaciones apropiadas de vender a grandes clientes, establecidos durante la noche. Sin desanimarse, Richard llevó a cabo una serie de organizaciones de ayuda más pequeños como a los clientes potenciales y construyó una nueva base de clientes.

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