Back to Editorial Section
Do you remember learning about simple tools way back in the early days of
school? The lever and fulcrum, inclined plane, screw and pulley. We often
fail to grasp the importance of simplicity in our lives, and must sometimes
make a conscious effort to avoid doing so...
While it can be easy to get lost in the jungle of communications
technologies available to businesses today, for small to medium sized
businesses it can be important to recognize the full potential and
advantages of simpler approaches.
The single most important (and underutilized) communication tool
available today is the fax machine -- is that crazy? Hardly! anyone
involved in communication knows one thing, whether it's making a simple
shopping list or documenting maintenance actions on the space shuttle,
NOTHING replaces the value of a hard copy -- it enhances understanding,
helps assure accuracy, allows for later review, and provides a record of the
communication. Another, and perhaps more important attribute of the lowly
fax machine, is its simplicity -- it requires almost no specialized
knowledge or expertise, eliminates any concern of file incompatibility, and
can be used wherever a telephone can be found. This means that the millions
of businesses throughout the world not using Personal Computers have at
their disposal an inexpensive means of instant electronic communication
-- even in 1996, there are many places where mail is highly unreliable and
takes weeks to deliver.
If value for dollar is a top priority (and how often is it not!), the
"biggest bang for the buck" award goes to the Personal Computer, hands down.
Not only can it perform most (or, if appropriately accessorized with one of
the latest generation of page scanners, all) of the functions of a fax
machine, but with an Internet connection it provides e-mail capabilities
throughout the world. One important, though often overlooked, e-mail
feature is that it supports attaching files to e-mail documents, this
enables high-speed transmission (many times that of standard fax
transmission rates, although this does not assure real-time reception) of
large quantities of data without incurring exorbitant long distance or
international fax transmission charges.
Add to that, Adobe Acrobat 3.0 software, that enables you to convert
documents created using applications across a wide variety of
platforms/operating systems to the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF),
which can be viewed or printed on any computer and printer using the Acrobat
Reader (an included PDF document viewer that can be distributed freely (even
via the Internet) -- and you have at your disposal a formidable array of
tools allowing you to share any type of digital document with anyone having
Internet access (or an E-mail address) throughout the world, and without
concern for file, software, operating system, or platform compatibility.
If you do not currently have a PDF (Portable Document File) reader, the
Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0, can be downloaded directly from the source, at:
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
Versions supporting a wide variety of platforms/operating systems are
available, including: Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 3.1, DOS, OS2,
Macintosh, IBM AIX, HP-UX, LINUX, SGI IRIX, Sun OS, and Sun Solaris. The
Acrobat Reader is also available in international versions, including: U.S.
English, U.K. English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish,
and Dutch (not all platform/operating systems are available in every
language).
Another shareware program widely used by those on the Internet, particularly
those required to make a lot of file transfers is PKWARE's PKZIP data
compression utility; that not only provides reliable and significant data
compression; but, allows storing multiple files (it is even capable of
storing and maintaining directories and subdirectory structures) into one
".zip" file. Shareware versions are available for Windows and DOS; a major
advantage of the DOS version is the inclusion of the PKSFX (ZIP2EXE)
utility. This handy extra, converts ".zip" files to self-extracting
executable (".exe") files that can be transferred to users that do not have
any way to extract (restore) the files -- this can be accomplished by adding
as little as 3k to an existing ".zip" file.
The shareware version of PKWARE's PKZIP can be downloaded directly from
the source, at:
http://www.pkware.com/download.html
PKWARE also maintains a web page covering Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ's), that can be very helpful for learning to use some of the more
advanced features (like compressing and extracting a directory structure).
The FAQ page can be found at:
http://www.pkware.com/faq.html
or accessed by link via the Home Page at:
http://www.pkware.com
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Ultimate Market Potential of the Internet
While it's no surprise that the United States is the world's most wealthy
market, many U.S. businesses seem oblivious to the fact that over
78.4 percent of world economic power is based outside of U.S. borders
...and unless non-U.S. companies are expanding into non-domestic markets in
addition to the U.S., they are afflicted with the same myopic view of global
commerce. Consequently, it's vital to secure the advantages of gaining a
more cosmopolitan perspective of Internet business potential.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, 113 million American catalog
shoppers will order more than $75 billion (UK milliard) worth of goods in
1997. Projections from the market research firm International Data
Corporation (IDC) indicate about 9 million computer users will order just
$5.4 billion worth of products on the Internet this year. Though figures
vary, the future looks brighter, with projections ranging from $73 to
$100 billion for the year 2000. Forrester Research forecasts
business-to-business eCommerce at $66 billion in U.S.-related Internet
revenues, while improved security and the increasing number of households
on the Internet drive consumer retail to $7 billion by 2000. IDC projects
that growth of sales combined with an increase in the number of users
buying and selling goods and services on the World Wide Web will boost
commerce on the Internet to $100 billion in the year 2000.
>From an international perspective, in 1997, total U.S. imports of
merchandise and services will very likely exceed $1 trillion (UK billion)
for the first time in history, while U.S exports of merchandise and
services are expected to approach $900 billion. This establishes a value
of $19 billion for each Internet-associated percentage point of bilateral
U.S. trade in 1997! While there is no way to determine what percentage of
U.S. trade activity is facilitated via the Internet (i.e., contact
initiated through Websites or negotiated via e-mail); there can be no doubt
that it does occur. In fact, travel services, a business sector for which
export-import figures are tracked, are among the hottest businesses on the
Internet.
Aggregate global exports for 1997 will very likely reach the $5 trillion
mark -- which increases the magnitude of the single percentage point
mentioned above to $50 billion. This is not intended to debate the current
level of Internet-associated international commerce, but to generate
awareness that there currently exists Internet marketing opportunities
measurable in trillions of U.S. dollars for those with the savvy to direct
efforts toward tapping into that potential. A potential continually fueled
by an ever-increasing awareness of the globalization of commerce
attributable to the exponential growth and evolution of the Internet, and
it's constant exposure in all other forms of media.
If $5 trillion in global trade opportunities are too abstract to be viewed
in the context of the future goals of your company; accept that perspective
as the macrocosm of commerce. Viewed in this way, it becomes possible to
see that information can be peeled away layer-by-layer to reveal the
specifics of market activity most relevant to those goals. This
information ranges from an overview of trade activity involving entire
regions or trade alliances (e.g., South America, Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation, or European Union, etc.) to details on the activity of a
particular port, and from a broad perspective of related industry/product
sectors to a detailed analysis of a particular commodity, specific company
or any combination of these elements. This requires culling from the
millions of documents supporting and facilitating the entire spectrum of
international commerce, those able to provide a solid base for the market-
or product-specific analysis and insight necessary to establish the
parameters of the microcosm in which a company is able to execute its
international marketing strategies.
Another important factor in the equation is that based on a subjective
analysis of U.S. Department of State and CIA publications, markets in which
the English language is considered either an official language, an associate
language, or widely used throughout governmental/educational institutions
and business communications, constituted trade partners representing over
42.9 percent of the U.S. merchandise import market and over 50.7 percent of
its merchandise export market in 1996. Using conservative trade
projections, these figures represent approximately $379 billion in U.S.
merchandise import and $335.7 billion in U.S. merchandise export
opportunities in 1997. If your business is located in any country besides
the U.S., the export potential (merchandise only) of English-speaking
markets will have a value of approximately $1.219 trillion this year (minus
the domestic imports in English-speaking markets)! In addition, the vast
number of world business leaders educated at English-speaking universities
assure the figures presented here are a conservative estimate. These facts,
and recent news revealing that 85 percent of the Internet is in the English
language, are compelling reasons for companies located in
non-English-speaking countries to consider expanding their Internet presence
to include English language pages on their Websites and actively promoting
that presence. This is not intended to endorse an English-only approach to
international marketing, which in my view would be a mistake; but to kindle
an awareness of the power inherent in even the most basic tools -- language
being foremost among those.
It is also important to consider the contrast between Internet site
development for Direct Marketing that targets consumers and that planned to
promote business-to-business sales. Consumers must be lured to a site,
enticed to explore it, informed about a company's products, and motivated
to buy those products, all while being entertained by site content that is
updated regularly -- attempting to accomplish this can be extremely
difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Any attempt to do this across
cultural and international boundaries only further complicates the process,
making such objectives even more difficult to achieve.
In comparison, businesses effectively targeted (those having an interest
in, need for, or distribution channel appropriate for a company's products),
need only be made aware of that company's Web site. Typical business
browsers have a much more utilitarian approach and seek only information
-- data on a company's background, product line, contact information, and an
e-mail link are enough to begin a more substantial dialog. Note that once
contact has progressed to the point of negotiating an ongoing trade
agreement (i.e., a distribution contract), there remains little beyond the
awareness of the parties involved to associate that deal with Internet
marketing.
In terms of marketing fulfillment, most companies approach the Internet as
they would mail order marketing; however, it is important to understand that
attaching an international address label to a package changes that sale to
an export-import transaction subject to the regulatory authority of numerous
government agencies on either side of that contract. This is not
necessarily (dependent on the products/markets involved) as problematic as
it appears, but does mandate understanding and adhering to both the export
regulations of the domestic market in which a company is based, and the
import regulations of a prospective buyer's market prior to making a
commitment (i.e., responding to a non-domestic inquiry with a pro forma
invoice) to export merchandise to that market.
Relatively few of the world's consumers are on the Internet -- while
cyberspace gurus have long touted the importance of establishing a
marketing presence on the World Wide Web, I am not aware that any have made
the leap to endorse using cyberspace as a portal through which to secure a
real-world presence in new markets. Done properly, international
business-to-business Internet marketing can be a highly effective way of
gaining access to those new markets, and ultimately, the consumers within
them. There is no greater business potential than that of global commerce;
if implemented as an integral element of a well-planned international
marketing strategy, a presence on the Internet (the largest and most readily
accessible mass communication medium in world history), can literally put a
company on the world map!
Copyright 1997 Thomas J. Judge, Jr.
All rights reserved.
Back to Editorial Section
Last revised on 21 March 1997
http://www.euromktg.com/ed/art/export.html