Understanding the control levers of globalisation, implies a new approach to the international trading structure. The increasing interference from microentrepreneurs in trading, the easy access to all levels of information and the appearance of new markets on the internet are interrupting the traditional mechanisms of international trading. The expertise related to the market approach is no longer a prerogative of the big companies, or the specialised ones; markets can be accessible to everybody through databases, social networks or search engines.
These insights are strategic, for companies as much as for market competitiveness. They inspire creativity, innovation and anticipation in underlying economic performance; It gradually means the disappearance of most of the traditional setbacks of international trade.
The first phenomenon is probably the most spectacular one; the possibility that everyone, after only a few clicks, can become an importer or exporter. With astonishing ease, everybody through a simple page made from a draft in WordPress can position their offer, multiply their visibility through social networks such as Twitter, organise their marketing through Google or receive their merchandise through platforms like PayPal.
These tools, that potentially turn each user into a global entrepreneur, have a direct effect: they open a huge area of development to those that show initiative and creativity, they destabilise traditional economic models by enabling the emerging of players in all areas. This, speeds up globalisation, abolishes barriers and regulatory limits. However, expensive mistakes are still being made and the advice of saving up time and money, represents one of the main key factors in order to achieve success.
With this in mind, our diagnostic packs on international trade, can prepare your company and guide you through the different demands that impact the processes which make your business successful, whether that be in your strategies or external activity.
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The second phenomenon is access to knowledge. The internet creates a space for all economic actors to access the same information in real time; your capacity to deal with these responses becomes a key element in your competitiveness. Specialised platforms automatically calculate customs duty, they allow to download all administrative forms and synchronise all the business operations with banking or logistical intermediaries; the internet makes it easier to carry out the transactions in real time.
The short cycles of the economy and the pace of consumer trends also stimulate the role that information has in the processes of R&D. Innovation is nowadays a shared project, its dynamism is inherent to the collaborative culture of the Internet. The projects of some added to the knowledge of others, meet at forums or in specific places in order to constantly launch ideas. The capacity to mobilise intelligence and ideas becomes a primary function for growing companies.
The third phenomenon refers to market location. As per the same principles that made our cities or ports a meeting place for buyers and sellers, nowadays virtual meeting points have started to emerge. Technology allows us to act effectively on the levers that underlie the mechanisms of a market: the concentration of the actors, product visibility and trust between buyers and sellers. Thanks to the power of reference tools, the quality of the images, bonding characteristics or valuation systems, online markets, satisfy the companies ‘needs. If we add the abolitions of the 3rd parties and the low scouting costs they generate, we measure its attractiveness and strategic role in the heart of the process of development.
We can´t imagine the impact that these phenomena will have on the structure of the economy in years to come, because they question three established principles in global trade:
- Price as the main competitiveness lever.
- Size as an indispensable condition for an approved exporter.
- Proximity as an essential phase of commercial development
Price is mainly overcome by a dynamic of creativeness that gradually touches all the spheres of economy, from production to consumption. The size of the company will be relevant to the extent that this one is compatible with the responsiveness that it will need to show in relation to the service. The risk of inertia will be the heart of performance problems. Finally, proximity between territorial location and product will become less and less important; the exchanges will be gradually organised in virtual territories.
Bets are phenomenal, they have an impact on the regeneration of our economies: for companies it is about integrating these new criteria of competitiveness and pre-empting the levers that will be born from the internet, mobility and standardization of consumption patterns.