| iadvisory Seminar Series: Exporters Seminar |
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In today’s fast moving economic climate, companies are finding ways and means to improve their business competitiveness. Exporting is one such way that enables companies to diversify their portfolios and to weather changes in the domestic economy. It also helps small companies grow and become more competitive. When products reach the maturity stage in the local market, exporting can be an effective marketing strategy in prolonging your product's life cycle. The latest iadvisory Seminar series: Exporters Seminar was held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore on 2 September 2008. The full-day seminar, which is sponsored by HSBC Bank and UPS, provided insights on how exporting can help small companies become more competitive. An attentive audience of more than 170 participants listened to industry experts speak on the legal, financial and supply chain issues involved in exporting. Ms Chung Lai Thoe, Deputy Director of the Enterprise Services Group from International Enterprise (IE) Singapore delivered the opening address by giving an introduction to IE Singapore. Other distinguished speakers in the first segment of the event include Mr Mohit Singh, Head of Corporate Sales, Global Markets from HSBC Singapore; Mr Jonathan Speight, Head of Trade and Supply Chain from HSBC Singapore and Mr David Siah, Business Development Director of CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd. Mr Singh shared with the audience on how to manage financial risk in volatile times while Mr Speight presented some of the challenges associated with venturing overseas. After the first segment, the remaining programme for the day was segmented geographically, namely the China, Asean, Middle East and India tracks. For the China track, Mr James Goh, Vice President, Global Facilitation & Custom Operations from UPS Asia Pacific shared insights on supple chain strategies and management. The legal aspects were covered by Mr Xiao Jin, Partner from King & Wood Beijing. Specialising in international trade law, Mr Xiao has represented the Chinese government in over a dozen WTO dispute settlement proceedings as well as acted as legal counsel to the Chinese government in certain international trade agreement negotiations. Tax matters being a huge concern to SMEs, two experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed the taxation issues companies should look out for when exporting to China. After a networking lunch, the concurrent tracks of Asean and Middle East were presented by Mr Sunny Chia, Director, International Trade Services of UPS Asia Pacific and Mr Edmund W. Sim, Partner, Regulated Industries and Government Relations of Hunton & Williams. The last track of the day, India, was presented by a series of speakers including Mr Frank Debets from PricewaterhouseCoopers WMS Pte Ltd. Mr Debets also sits on the board of IE Singapore’s FTA Panel of Advisors. This was followed by Mr Sunny Chia and Mr RK Sanghi, who shed light on effective supply chain strategies and key legal and taxation issues respectively. Rounding up the seminar for the day, Mr Koh Seng Choon, Management Consultant from Christopher Benjamin Consultancy Services, shared his personal experience in exporting to India, Vietnam and Dubai. Personalised 1 to 1 business consultation clinics with the speakers were available throughout the day for participants to enquire about their challenges and issues privately. |