International Trade Articles

Read our articles covering a wide area of international trade topics

Strong & Herd LLP articles on key international trade topics is a quick way to get an expert view of matters relating to export, import and customs procedures and related international trade issues.  Written by S&H LLP partners or associates, these articles provide additional information and work in association with our blogs - import/export matters;  EU customs updates; Incoterms 2010 - and News section of the website.  In addition, S&HLLP members also have access to the "Did You Know?" up-date snippets (refreshed twice a month) posted in the members' only area where some of these details published in these articles started.  

The Miscellany Page within this section is a selection of interesting or slightly strange facts and quotes loosely linked to international trade or training issues we have found interesting over the years - we hope you enjoy the oddities here; and remember to revisit us ... we will be adding more on a regular basis.  You can also follow these on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/SandraStrong or http;//twitter.com/StrongHerdLLP and on our wall at FaceBook

May 2012

1. Ye Olde Bill of Lading - A Tale

Roughly (wake up at the back) that is a potted history of the bill of lading – ok I missed out the bit about the three bears and the naked magician, but something had to go.  It is also my way of explaining why you have this bizarre concept of multiple ‘originals’. Read More

2. Key Export Market Research Questions

Once a market has been selected for development a whole series of questions need to be answered to ensure the most effective means of entry.  One tool many exporters use is the PEST analysis. This is an acronym for the Political, Economic, Social & Technological influences on business in any specific market. Read More

3. Dealing with Your First Export Order

So the moment has finally arrived. After the usual preliminaries, an exchange of emails and telephone calls, questions and objections, the customer has taken the plunge and placed an order.  For me, there are few things so rewarding as receiving an order from a new customer. Like many exporting companies, we are seeking long-term growth in our business, and the greatest potential to do this comes from winning more customers.  Read More

April 2012

1. Turning an Export Enquiry into Regular Business

The internet has had a dramatic effect on the export potential of many small businesses. It’s all too easy to forget that when a business has a website, it has a shop window that can be viewed by customers all over the world.  Read More

2. Deciding on Which Export Market

One of the main mistakes exporters can make, regardless of their international experience, is to select the wrong market or enter it at the wrong time. International business is littered with exporters who have failed in certain markets or not taken the full opportunities available to them because of wrong initial decisions.  Read More

3. Incoterms in the Real World

We are a modern logistics department, we don’t have a problem with Incoterms,so what are we bleating about? The answer is simple – we are bleating about the attitude of the rest of the company, they just don’t want to know about Incoterms. Try to educate them and they get quite aggressive, “That’s your job” they rap “we don’t ask you to learn about modern procurement techniques (say!)  so why are you going on about your blessed Incoterms!”.  Read More

Click here for complete ARCHIVE