Exports Books

As a long-time professional trainer on import and export compliance, I found that this book was one of the best for introducing the complicated concepts of importing to individuals at all levels in an organization. It sets a positive tone for a conversation about the intricacies of importing.

I have been involved with commercial importing into the US for more than 20 years. This introductory primer on US importing is intended to shed light on key US importing issues and to encourage the reader to delve more deeply into each of these topics. This publication is designed to answer the questions:
What don't I know about importing into the USA?
Why is it important?
What should my company do to prepare for importing?
The book addresses the following topic areas within six chapters.
1. Supplier Management - Working with Foreign Vendors
2. Determining the Price and Placing the Order - International Contracting and Purchase Orders
3. Paying the Price - Methods of Payment
4. Exporting & Shipping the Product - International Logistics
5. Importing into the USA Regulations & Formalities
6. Putting it Together - The Importing Organization
This book is an excellent executive summary as well as an introductory read for operations staff and business students.

John Sheahan, chairperson of the Bryce Wood Award Committee said, "Robert Williams' book is an extraordinarily good example of systematic economic and historical analysis used to answer an intriguing question. The question is how to explain the striking differences among Central American countries in the dimensions of democracy, political repression, and social concern. Williams goes deeply into their different responses to the rise of the world coffee market in the late nineteenth century, and explains clearly the view that these experiences have marked the political and social evolutions of the countries ever since."

I have read dozens of books on the history of coffee and how it has shaped the lives of hundreds of millions of people, but in some respects this is the very best. Note: it is can be scholarly in the depth of its investigation, but for me that was all for the best. And it never reads like an "academic" piece, but rather is compelling, at least if you're already concerned about this topic.

This is one of the first books that I recommend to people who want to know why so many people who supply the world with coffee are so poor, and denied serious options to change their conditions. The reader should note that this book does not try to describe all coffee producting countries, rather just three, each of which has been profoundly shaped by coffee, but in ways distinct from one another. That demonstrates that there is nothing pre-ordained about societies that are economically dependent upon coffee production.

This book is a timely contribution to the foreign policy landscape. As the need for the U.S. to be able to influence actors and control technologies is on the rise, its tools to wield such influence are increasingly circumscribed. It's good to see a richer analysis of the "whys" of effectiveness of sanctions and incentives, particularly as they relate to firms.

With the available tools of influence and power declining--and the need for being able to wield such instruments on the rise--this book provides good insights as to the "whys" of effectiveness. The U.S. will increasingly face assymetric threats that hinge on others being able to access goods and technology. Shambaugh's book provides a richer understanding of the costs and benefits of appying sanctions, particularly in terms of the relationship between the state and private industry.

In this book, the prominent trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati examines a wide range of issues on mutlilateral trade and international economics. A strong advocate of free trade and democracy, Bhagwati has presented a conscientious "stream" of strong arguments against protectionism. His previous experience with the then GATT has added further strength and flavour to his arguments. What is more - Bhagwati's writing is clear, succinct and yet highly entertaining - the essays are short proses aiming at the general public. An excellent collection of essays for readers who are interested in international trade policy issues but not professionally trained in economics. Highly recommended.

This man is an intellectual dynamo. Bhagwati says that as an academic his public articles have to be merely the tip of the iceberg (his words) representing the years of careful model-building and thought. If the articles in this compilation are the tip, we should be awed at the prospect of the iceberg. And his style isn't stilted , it is ice-dancing on top of the iceberg.

Can protectionism be justified , either as a first-best or as a second-best policy?

Is there any truth behind the allegation that the Japanese system is rigged to preclude foreign competition?

Is trade responsible for the plight of the unskilled Western proletariat? Or is technological change the major causal factor? Is the average price of labor-intensive goods actually rising or falling in the free-trade world? Bhagwati says" The pressure on the wages at the bottom is overwhelmingly due to domestic technical change; the job insecurity in the middle and at the top is primarily due to the Global Age. "

Does the new "blue" and "green" protectionism pass intellectual scrutiny? Is the "fair trade before free trade" slogan as morally sharp as it appears, or does it fail to consider all moral alternatives?

Does growth lead to deteriorating environment? Or is this sloppy thinking unsupported by empirical data? What does the data say?

Will free trade lead to a "race to the bottom" in environmental standards? Or will the rising consciousness about environmentalism throughout the world , even in poor countries like India(with an environment-friendly Supreme Court, for instance) , prevent such a thing? In other words, is the "race to the bottom" a mere theoretical possibility or a real practical danger? Will countries really lower environmental standards drastically to reduce cost of business? Or will other factors like tax incentives dominate over environmental regulation during investment decisions, thereby leaving the "race to the bottom" a mere theoretical fear ? Similarly will there be a real as opposed to a theoretical race to the bottom regarding labor standards?

Does it make sense to prescribe "one size fits all" enviro standards for different countries in different stages of development, like less developed countries ? Or uniform labor standards? Would many other countries then be right in demanding that the US, where worker and union protections are really weak, should pass different labor laws than it has at the moment? Should countries at a level of development of the US at the beginning of the 20th century be forced to adopt enviro and labor standards that weren't adopted in the West until recently? As Bhagwati says in the book " Mexico has a greater social incentive than does the United States to spend an extra dollar preventing dysentery rather than reducing lead in gasoline ".

Two quotes from the book

"Environmentalists have cause for concern. Not all concerns are legitimate, however, and not all the solutions to legitimate concerns are sensible. "

"It is surely tragic that the proponents of two of the great causes of the 1990s, trade and the environment, should be locked in combat. The conflict is largely gratuitous. There are at times philosophical differences between the two that cannot be reconciled, as when some environmentalists assert nature's autonomy, whereas most economists see nature as a handmaiden to humankind. For the most part, however, the differences derive from misconceptions. It is necessary to dissect and dismiss the more egregious of these fallacies before addressing the genuine problems."

Bhagwati also punctures "zero-sum" win-lose scary movies of globalization , not just by pointing to the win-win nature of trade based on comparative advantage analysis, but also by pointing to fallacies underlying arguments that call for promoting so called "high value-added" industries.

Discussions of globalization often founder on ideological rocks, and cool dispassionate analysis is short in coming. If one is to carry away one message from this book, it is that trade does not have to be viewed through "left-wing" or "right-wing" glasses. Cool-headed analysis is called for on an instrument that has the potential for doing do much good to so many. Another lesson to carry away from this book, I think, is that "free trade" is not some knee-jerk accompaniment to "free markets" , so that everytime you say one , you also say the other - the case for free trade is based on careful analysis based on comparative advantage. Redistributive effects of trade , like hurting unskilled workers in one country at the expense of skilled workers in the same country, are a theoretical possibility. Only empirircal data can show if this effect is large , or small and swamped by other effects like technology.

In a world where we are innundated with books by some "expert" or the other mouthing his or her own analysis of the globalized world, as a layman I would much rather trust this TIP OF THE ICEBERG backed by solid academic thinking.

Having read "Lost Queen" by Norah Lofts, which book was a work of historical fiction that covered much of the same story told by this author, there could not be two books more different, though both are riveting. The major difference is in the writing style. The book by Ms. Lofts is superlative and tells an interesting, intriguing, though somewhat superficial story about the love triangle consisting of the mad king of Denmark, Christian VII, his wife, Queen Caroline Mathilde, and the royal physician, Johann Struensee. This author, on the other hand, rips the reader's guts out with its angst filled, staccato telling of the same story. It is a more literary book than that of Ms. Lofts and compelling in its own way, a beautifully written work of historical fiction that will keep the reader riveted to its pages until the very end.

It, too, tells the story of Princess Caroline Mathilde of England, sister to King George III. At the age of fifteen she was wed to young King Christian VII, who eventually became known as the mad king of Denmark. Temperamental, high strung, and given to strange outbursts, his predilection for odd behavior was known early on, but despite this the two kingdoms would still see these two wed, as the unification of England and Denmark was more important than individual happiness.

King Christian VII was a truly pitiable figure who had survived a childhood fueled by rank cruelty and was easy prey for the sycophants of the Danish court. He developed a peculiar aversion to his wife and, consequently, had conjugal relations with her only once, which propitiously resulted in the birth of a son nine months later. Alone in a foreign country, whose language she was only beginning to learn, and estranged from a King surrounded by sycophants, the young queen gravitated to the one person who treated her as a person in her own right, the King's physician, Johann Struensee.

An advocate of the philosophy of Enlightenment that was overtaking Europe, the idealistic Struensee had many ideas that were introduced as reforms in Denmark, through his influence with the King, who by now was easily led, since his madness left a void in leadership that Struensee was all to happy to fill. These reforms were to make many enemies for him, as they upset the established feudal system that still existed in eighteenth century Denmark. As he gained power through his influence, resentment against him grew within those circles that had formerly been close to the King. Unaware of the growing animosity against him and lacking political canniness, Struensee and the Queen became close intimates, bound by shared ideas and interests.

Struensee's relationship with the Queen, who was lonely and starved for affection, eventually transgressed the bounds set by propriety. Now lovers in fact, their relationship became grist for the rumor mill. She even gave birth to a daughter who the King acknowledged as his own but who was actually Stuensee's. As gossip and innuendo about their relationship swirled across royal circles in Europe, it ultimately became the focal point for a political coup that saw them both arrested and charged with treason. It was a relationship that was to have great personal and political ramifications for the protagonists, as well as for Denmark. What ultimately happened to each of them was tragic, governed as it was by the initial reluctance of the Danes to give up their feudal system. Even those whom Struensee championed through his reforms, the peasant class, turned against him in the end.

This is a richly atmospheric work of historical fiction, filled with political intrigue, historical personages and events, shadowed by darkness and a palpable sorrow apparent in each and every one of its pages. It is as if the individual psyche of each of the protagonists were driving the book, giving it texture, shadings, and glimpses into the psyche of those involved in this high drama. It is an angst filled, almost surreal, rendering of lives that were to come together and leave a mark on the world, making for a story that to this day has the power to captivate the reader. Bravo!

Palace intrigue of the highest order, conducted by courtiers and officials who will do anything to achieve their goals, makes this a stimulating and thoroughly engrossing novel. The Danish court from 1768 - 1772 pulses with life as powerful personalities collide in their rush to fill the power vacuum resulting from the weakness of King Christian VII, a sensitive, half-mad 17-year-old boy, married to Caroline Mathilde, the 14-year-old sister of Britain's King George III. This is a time of great intellectual ferment as the new ideas of the Enlightenment, with their value on the individual and freedom, begin to threaten the feudal basis of the old, autocratic monarchies of Europe, and more frightening to the courtiers, their own power within their countries.

Enquist brilliantly recreates the psychology of the king, a puppet who desperately wants to please the courtiers and officials and is tormented when he does not, a bright but "ravaged child," who from his earliest years was regularly flogged, ridiculed, beaten for casual conversations, forcibly separated from everyone with whom he developed attachments, shamed, and driven mad by his own courtiers. When he becomes interested in the enlightened ideas of Voltaire and Diderot and is celebrated by these philosophers on a trip around the continent, his nervous and threatened court decides he needs a physician. What they never expect is that the physician they engage, Johann Friedrich Struensee from Germany, will establish a relationship with Christian, share his enlightened ideas, and eventually become the de facto king.

Bursting with dramatic scenes of Machiavellian court intrigue and the palpable fear of the Enlightenment, the novel is also filled with powerfully moving scenes of psychological abuse, tenderness, passion, love, and genuine sadness. Though the reader knows from the opening pages (and from the historical record) what the outcome of the court struggle will be, Enquist manages to endow it with an immediacy and tension which totally engage the reader. By focusing on the court, rather than on the populace, he makes the Enlightenment and the revolutions it inspires throughout Europe come alive from a new perspective, and in creating this novel based on history, he brings to life both the sad and abused child-king Christian and Struensee, the enlightened but politically naïve mentor who paid the ultimate price. A beautifully realized novel! Mary Whipple

Since August 12, 1999, Bové has been an icon of the movement against "free" trade and the WTO. It was then that he and nine other members of the French Farmers Union (Confédéracion Paysanne) dismantled a MacDonald's restaurant in their hometown of Millau, loaded the pieces on their tractors and carted them to the local police station. MacDonald's was targetted both as a symbol of corporate domination of public life and as a leading vendor of what the French call malbouffe, food that is not worthy of being eaten.
The actual target of this protest was a 100% duty imposed on Roquefort cheese by the United States. The WTO had ruled that the French were violating trade laws by refusing to import U.S. hormone-fed beef, allowing the U.S. to impose punitive tariffs on Roquefort and 78 other French products. Bové and his fellow defendants raise sheep that produce milk for Roquefort cheese.
The MacDonald's action by the Farmers Union lit the imagination of thousands of activists and was one of the major events leading to the protests against the WTO meeting in Seattle a few months later. Bové and Dufour were in Seattle as part of the official French agricultural delegation but their official status did not deter them from further political theater. They distributed 500 pounds of his Roquefort cheese at the Pike Place Market and they marched arm-in-arm with farmers and AFL leaders at the head of the big march of November 30. In their book Dufour says, "It was an important signal: that in the first mass demonstration of trade unionists and ecologists, farmers were at the front. It's a particularly powerful image for Third World countries, where the majority of the population are farmers or live in rural areas."
In stepping forward as spokesmen against corporate domination of trading rules in general and agriculture in particular, Bové and Dufour have exposed themselves to personal attacks by the major media outlets. They are usually portrayed as nationalistic bumpkins, Luddites or egotistical publicity hounds. Their book puts the lie to much of that. Philosophically they are in favor of policies supporting regional food self-sufficiency--as opposed to policies which promote agribusiness. Why, they ask, should WTO regulations be imposed on all food when less than 5% is actually exported? It is clear that they have spent decades working on agricultural policy; much of the book describes how shifting farm policies since World War II have driven the small farmers out while favoring industrial agriculture dependent on long-distance transportation, monoculture, massive inputs of chemicals and over-reliance on the major agricultural and food distribution companies. Bové and Dufour argue that this is destroying the rural ecology, throwing farmers out of work and putting the world's food supplies at risk of catastrophic diseases (e.g., mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease, which are currently threatening European herds) or of callous market manipulation. Even without such disasters, the quality of food is deteriorating and taking traditional culture with it. The WTO had not specifically addressed agriculture before the Seattle round, but its proposals for Seattle clearly favored agribusiness' interests over those of small farmers and of less developed countries. This conflict led to the internal failure of the WTO in Seattle.
Bové points optimistically to "[b]uilding on the international gains won in Seattle." What his critics saw as a hodgepodge of dissimilar interests without a clear agenda, he sees as a new nonideological politics that succeeded in stopping the WTO . He suggests that the different viewpoints within the opposition to the WTO are exactly the point: local interests should not be steamrollered by the one-size-fits-all approach of the free-traders. Further trade agreements will require openness to public scrutiny. Although The World Is Not For Sale emphasizes globalization's impact on farming and rural areas, it also touches on the dangers of genetic modifications of plants and animals and on globalization's erosion of human rights--including trade union rights--and cultural diversity. The Farmers Union is not opposed to foreign trade agreements like the WTO, but insist that they must incorporate protection for workers, culture and the environment. The book offers tentative proposals on achieving these protections.

Interesting to read firsthand about the work of these courageous activists from France - Jose Bove is certainly not the leader of a group of country bumpkins or Luddites as I had inferred from the popular media. This book covers personal backgrounds & histories of their involvement in various farmers unions , these guys are effective organizers who know their business and also working farmers with a feeling and respect for the land, quality of life and food are goals of paramount importance.

Divided into 3 parts:
1st - The McDonald's story and other planned protests told from the viewpoints of both Bove & Dufour. The McDonald's incident took place in response to import duties imposed on Roquefort cheese in retaliation for EU's refusal to import American hormone treated beef. Not a random or spontaneous incident but a well planned out protest carried out to attract public attention. Both Dufour & Bove have been involved more than 30 years in various movements for change in France.
2nd - History of intensive farming over the last 50 years in France, farming economics, factory farms. Covers topics here such as genetically modified crops, mad cow disease, environmental destruction caused by intensive pig farming
3rd - Farming as a global issue world trade organization and "free trade", protest in Seattle, growth of a movement, a new vision.

An inspiring read for those interested in food, farming and globalization.

I have to say that this is the finest work I have read in this field; although two years old, it's still a fascinating guide to the horse meat industry, and anybody with a proclivity for horses and mules will find the enormous range of black-and-white photographs particularly entertaining. It's quite expensive, though, but if you need this kind of information you can probably get your company to pay for it. Myself, I'm a consumer, and I just have a thing for meat, so I saved up.

I froze in my tracks when I saw yet another volume by Philip M. Parker. Using this latest effort, you can get in early on the surely soon-to-be booming Czech refrigerator export market. Pick up Philip M. Parker's Websters Eskimo - English Thesaurus Dictionary and you'll be selling refrigerators to Eskimos in no time at all! As usual, Parker's by now trademark icy distance from his subject and his frigid, glacial narrative style make for a read that represents just the tip of the iceberg of his oeuvre.

This is hands-down the best analysis of the Finnish import and export market for toilet or facial tissue paper stock and towel or napkin stock. Nothing else comes close.

January 20, 2007
Aqualog African CichlidsIII (Erwin Schrami)
Unbeatable Fish-keeping Books


All of the Aqualog books are excellent value, although they are not particularly cheap. They are full to the brim with first class colour photographs and to reproduce these in a book is an expensive process. Whether they are about African Cichlids or some other species of fish they are the most comprehensive identification books you can buy. They never become dated because as new fish become available to the aquarist trade the books are updated.

They do not deal with the basics of fish keeping, there are many and varied books that do that. They are in the main a fish identification encyclopaedia and nothing more. But for those aquarists who are particularly interested in a single species they are indispensable.