Report On

REPORT ON

ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE 2008 ON

A COMPETITIVE EXPORT BUSINESS IN A GLOBALIZATION ERA AT

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE THAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BANGKOK – THAILAND FROM

MARCH 10-19, 2008

MR. M.M. BIBULEWELA BUSINESS INFORMATION ASSISTANT ECOMMERCE CENTER PROVINCIAL OFFICE GALLE

INTRODUCTION A Training Course on “ a Competitive Export Business in a Globalization Era” organized by The Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency ( TICA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with The university of The Thai Chamber of Commerce ( UTCC) was held at the university of The Thai Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok, Thailand from March 10-19, 2008. The training course was participated by 20 Asian countries.

BACKGROUND Business has gone global. The world marketplace is open all day and every day, unrestricted by distance, technological barriers or country of origin. The entire world is within our reach in ways that weren’t possible before. Like any business venture, of course, entering the arena of global trade presents both opportunities and challengers. And a global economic expansion unprecedented in modern economic history is occurring as the move toward efficiency, productivity output, and open unregulated markets sweeps every corner of the world

OBJECTIVES

− Understand the process of putting company on the international stage − Understand and be able to manage or to train the exporters to manage country’s export business in a competitive way − Understand the essence of export business, its roles in international business − Understand the legal aspects involved in international transactions − Increase awareness of the important role trade plays in fostering prosperity − Provide practitioners in the field of export promotion with the necessary knowledge and skills to promote export companies

COURSE CONTENTS “How to do and increase competitiveness of export business?”

1. Getting started Exporting: What is in it for you? Are you ready? (Expectations, Human resources, Financial and legal resources, Competitiveness) Evaluating your export potential

2. Developing your export plan Why plan? The foundation: Business plan Building on the foundation: Export plan The elements of export plan 3. Identifying your target market Understanding international marketing research Understanding market types The kinds of market research Profiling potential markets 4. Developing your export marketing strategy (Understanding export

marketing plans) Understanding export marketing plan The many P`s of international marketing Building your export marketing plan Setting prices Promotion Marketing tools

5. Entering your target market Understanding entry strategies Working out entry strategy Methods of market entry Intermediaries Choosing an Intermediary

6. Identifying shippers and shipping Export declarations Export permits Delivering products Freight forwarders and brokers Packing goods Marks and labels Transportation insurance Delivering services: How it’s different

7. Planning your export financing Understanding the risks of export financing Planning export finances Where to get finances help Payday (cash in advance, Letter of credit, Documentary credit, Documentary Collection, Open account) Insuring against non-payment

8. Understanding the legal side of international trade Understanding international contacts Understanding the “proper law”

Resolving disputes Meeting international standards Contract for the sale of goods Protecting intellectual property rights

9. E-Business for exports Understanding e-business E-business applications and benefits Assessing e- business potential Investigating the return on investment for e-business Web site suitability The technical issues of e-business Finding e-leads Checking e-leads Shipping and Documentation Getting paid Providing customer support

10.Company and factory visit / Field trip To got experience about export and logistics infrastructure of Thailand and to understand the overall processes of doing export business. Explored export opportunities and expand business network. We visited Srithai Superware Co. Ltd., Map Ta Pud Port, and Furniture Fair on March 15, 2008, organized by the Department of Export Promotion, Ministry of commerce under the training course.

RECOMMENDATIONS Since this training course was Comprehensive and extremely successful in given and discussing issues, challenges, opportunities, and new ways and means related a competitive export business. I strongly recommended that this type of training programs be made available to the stuff of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board for improving their knowledge and capabilities for delivering a better service.

CONCLUSION The training program on “ a Competitive Export Business in a Globalization Era” was a source of knowledge with experience and an opportunity to understand the new Export marketing strategy and also it had opportunity to share experience with participated countries.