Starting and Managing an Import/Export Business
Starting and Managing an Import/Export Business is a thorough primer for those interested in entering the global trade market.
Tekle B Sebhatu’s comprehensive business guide Starting and Managing an Import/Export Business concerns navigating global trade markets.
With actionable guidance for establishing and running a business in the import and export sector, the book addresses key factors including costs, licensing, negotiating regulations, and financing in clear terms. There are checklists for those in the early stages of a business’s formation, supported by explanations of the challenges, documentation, and legal processes involved. Concepts such as foreign trade zones are broken down in terms of their overarching benefits for companies and countries, with information about what is not allowed and what is.
In approaching each topic, the book’s tone is objective, covering the benefits and shortcomings of each option and suggesting what would make the most sense for particular situations. For instance, it covers every possible financing option for global trade and explains how lenders look at cash flow statements, collateral assets, and additional guarantees to evaluate loan requests.
A thorough primer on the logistics of establishing an import and export business, complete with sample forms, the book covers a vast amount of ground. However, it does so in a rapid-fire way. Depth is sacrificed in some instances as a result, as on subjects like distribution channels, insurance needs, and promotions, all of which are handled in a few pages. Subjects like market research are skimmed over too, as are the topics of government agencies, trade associations, and the internet. Elsewhere, information on how experienced exporters use consignment under certain circumstances is provided, but sans concrete examples to illustrate such notions in practice; at points, the guidance is too abstract, with ideas explained in excessively broad terms.
The prose is authoritative but dry. It is also quite expository, introducing subjects in general terms and appending them with related facts. Some minutiae is involved, as with a list of years in which International Commercial Terms rules were revised, but without edifying context to fill outsiders in—for instance, the reasons for those revisions and clarity on why they were notable is missing. Indeed, bullet-point lists and definitions become too prevalent, inhibiting easy flow. And the conclusion is brief but somewhat redundant, summarizing the contents of the book and naming its key lessons. More helpful are its gestures to next steps once this introductory work is complete—and its nuanced warnings about potential challenges.
A punctilious entrepreneur’s guide, Starting and Managing an Import/Export Business gives advice for capitalizing off of international trade.
Reviewed by
Joseph S. Pete
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
