If you have been thinking about international trade opportunities or business development by penetrating North American markets; Finding and evaluating takeover targets, distributors, Joint venture or strategic alliance partners; Identifying cultural or regulatory differences; Or imports, exports, or countertrade…

Great! You have

  come to the right place.

All trade rests at last on the Trader;

Without a stock of knowledge, there is no Trader.

International trade opportunities are often quite fleeting, and often our work for such a client focuses on a few basic needs:

Secure source of information.

• First, the client entering a new market needs a secure source of local information, whatever his specific problem may be. If you have this problem, contact us to learn more. We are in the business of providing information to make a business more successful. 

Non tariff barriers.

• Second, regulatory, cultural, and other non tariff barriers vary without apparent reason from country to country.  Assumptions by a foreign entity that ‘this is the way business is done’, have sunk more good projects than almost any other cause.

Strangely, this mistake is most common where a common language exists. US companies seem to think of Canada as some kind of state to the North. Canadians think they understand the US. Both were once colonies of the UK.  But they each have different interests, problems, and topography, and they have grown in different directions.

Learning in the school of hard knocks is difficult. There should be no costly surprises. Why not do it the easy way, and contact us.

Levering the executives time.

• Third, the busy executive, always short of time, but particularly when traveling, has an urgent need to lever his time. In his own country, he can say “go to ‘X’ and get me the following information”. By merely glancing at the results, he will have a good idea whether the results are in the ballpark.  

In a foreign country, the mere fact that ‘X’ has a different name can cause unacceptable delays. Those delays can be costly. 

Every executive knows that the tool he has a finite amount of, is TIME. One way or another, tools such as money may be obtained, but time is finite. Our main function is to lever the executive's time , by providing distilled and pertinent information, often surprising information, to the executive to enable more intelligent decisions. If you need to lever your time, contact us.  

Partners and counterparties.

• Fourth. In the final analysis, business is done through people, their relationships and idiosyncrasies. Machines and other tools come and go. To get things done, you need people.  

Our practice started over 20 years ago as executive search and recruitment specialists. The same unique methods developed to find and attract the very best candidates, even if there were only half a dozen qualified candidates in the world, work well in finding takeover targets, or strategic alliance, joint venture, or other partners. 

If people and other counterparties are a part of your project, contact us. We can help. We have done so for decades.  

Can you afford to lose it all?

• Finally, we would like to approximately quote an unknown author. “If I overspend to 110%, and get a satisfactory result, I may have lost 10%. If I spend 99% and don’t get the result, I have lost it all. I can more easily afford 10% than I can afford it all.” It is better to be safe than sorry. Information can be invaluable.   

Acting as Principals: 

Occasionally, in some very limited circumstances, we will act as principals. The primary criteria is that we believe we have the knowledge, capacity and personality, plus our assurance of payout, to risk a short term fee for a larger long term payout. These circumstances normally would be confined to;

• Countertrade. An international barter of goods for goods, between 2 (or usually more) parties. For example, we might source medical equipment (paying for it) and take the payment, and our fee, in oil. This might be on a one time, or ongoing basis. If you have a countertrade idea contact us.

• Startups and inventions. Occasionally, an idea will come along that is just so attractive to us that we can be persuaded to use our general business experience to provide the energy to take a venture from zero to critical mass, when the project can be handed over to professional managers. Startups and inventions such as this normally require a basic workable idea that fits our personality and circumstances, and enough financing from a third party to finance such things as tools, equipment, and working capital. We provide the time, energy, and expertise to bring the project to critical mass. 

If you have a project that is stalled, contact us.