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Thank you, Brian. It’s great to be with you, great to hear those success stories, about your award-winners, and great to be with a group of people who recognize the importance of international trade.
You are a select group. And I have the data to back up that statement:
There are about 25 million small businesses in the United States. 25 million.
Most – if not all of them – are looking for new customers, new markets, new suppliers, new partners, and new products and methods and ideas.
Yet the vast majority are looking no farther than down the street, or perhaps across the state. Very few beyond that. Because – and I’m still shaking my head over these numbers – of those 25 million American small businesses, only 200 thousand, fewer than one percent, are exporting.
Fewer than one percent exporting anything to anywhere! This is astounding! Especially when you stop to think that most of those businesses have, at their fingertips, access to the most incredible worldwide marketing and “outsourcing” tool yet invented: the Internet.
And although many small businesses do have Web sites, the Commerce Department says most small businesses are so mystified about international trade, that more than half the international orders they receive, go unfilled!
What a lost opportunity, especially in a “down” economy.
Last Thursday, the New York Times quoted an economist who said “Colorado currently has one of the weakest economies in the country.” So we can’t expect to get much additional money from our neighbors. We’re going to have to look beyond the borders.
And worldwide, there’s not only a huge pent-up demand for all kinds of products and services, there’s also a gigantic workforce yearning for entry-level jobs, and a host of cottage industries, desperate to find markets for their textiles and foods.
So, yes, you are a select group, in that you recognize the importance of international trade, and, I presume, know what to do with an international order.
But there are a lot of things that most of us don’t know about doing business internationally. I was certainly in that boat, when I was chairman of U S WEST. Fifteen years ago, we looked at the growing appetite for telecommunications systems in Europe and Asia. We began building cable-TV and telephone networks there. We soon found that we needed help.
We found we really needed – and participated in – alliances like those we celebrate here today. Your Office of International Affairs, your Global Advisory Council, your World Affairs Council, your World Trade Center, your chamber of commerce and the other groups represented here today, have done a great job, these past few years, of putting Colorado Springs on the map and building bridges internationally. That’s vital.
If we’re going to expand our businesses and our economy internationally, we have to have local cooperation. We also need an organization with business and government contacts in our host country and our home country. We need an organization that speaks the language of regulations and tariffs, that can help us with carnets and forms and dispute resolution and all the rest.
In my case, we found that organization in the United States Council for International Business, which was a big help to us, and where I was eventually persuaded to serve as chairman for six years.
USCIB is the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce. Recently, I also got myself talked into being chairman of ICC. And I’ve just completed a terrific couple of years – traveling, meeting people, and learning as I went along. I learned that companies that want to sell internationally have a huge need for uniform contracts, international business standards and effective arbitration services, and that organizations like ICC are working hard to develop and provide those services.
But many business don’t know they’re there. In fact, only four Colorado-based businesses are members of the U.S. Council and ICC. I don’t intend this to be a commercial, but I do hope at least a few of you will see it as a worthwhile “tip.”
When you join USCIB, you automatically become a member of ICC, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the International Labor Organization.
I also learned, in my ICC work, that although we’re all concerned about things like improving business ethics, balancing development and environmental protection, assuring fair yet unfettered e-commerce, protecting intellectual property, improving transportation and other issues, groups like ICC are doing something about them.
The ICC has, through its volunteers, developed a number of important responses to those issues and others, including voluntary codes that many successful businesses have adopted.
Information is “yours for the downloading,” at “uscib.org” and “iccwbo.org.”
Another thing I learned in my ICC work was that, in many parts of the world, the effort to increase trade is, literally, a life-or-death matter. My hosts in places like Thailand and Nigeria and South Africa have driven me past tens of thousands of hungry people, living without running water or sanitary sewers, asking if, perhaps, we could work just a little faster and a little harder to bring the advantages of international trade to their neighborhood.
I learned that trade barriers – tariffs and quotas and other artificial restrictions – are not really “protecting” domestic suppliers. Not in the long run. They are simply delaying the effective allocation of capital and labor and natural resources, that is going to occur, eventually, at greater cost than if we would let market forces do their work today.
Certainly, we may need to help some displaced workers and companies in their transition to new and better roles. But we cannot go on ignoring the developing nations’ desire – and need – to sell us the only things their fledgling economies can export: agricultural products and textiles. I think it’s vital, to all of us, that we support opening our markets, in the WTO negotiations. And that we continue to learn and to grow, but also to trust our better instincts.
We, as a nation, and as business-people, and as public servants, face some tremendous challenges today. The threat of terrorism. The prospect of war. A slow economy. Ethics scandals. Unmet social challenges. That’s a daunting list.
But one of the best things we can do, in tackling that list, is to trust ourselves. A lot of business-people have complained to me that they’ve wanted to invest and build for the long term, but were under too much pressure to show earnings for the short term. I think the pendulum has swung, and today we can look and act with renewed confidence toward the longer term.
Some have expressed concern that their competitors and their potential workers and even some of our supposed watchdogs seem too willing to cut corners and shade the truth, leaving honest people feeling like a voice in the wilderness. I think the pendulum has swung, and our society is ready to tame the wilderness and once again honor those who want to do things right.
Some business-people have complained about the abandonment of traditional business models in pursuit of the so-called “new economy”, in which valuations were based not on profits but on eyeballs. I think the pendulum has swung, and our economy today recognizes the validity of the real economy.
The business of business is to operate at a profit – a profit to society, as well as to itself. The image of business is earned by doing what’s right, and not being shy about it. And the future of business lies in expanding its vision beyond its own walls and its own national borders, to encompass the worldwide community in which we live.
That’s a big order. These are not easy times. But amidst all the challenges we face, today, I remain optimistic about that world. I am optimistic because, in all my travels with ICC, north, south, east, west, among Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, people black, white, brown, yellow, I have heard the same things:
“Please tell your countrymen how sorry we are about the terrorist attacks.”
“We are concerned about the world’s economy.”
“We want to work with you in getting business’s message to the World Trade Organization.”
“We want to build more bridges between our peoples.”
“Although we disagree with you on this or that issue, let’s talk about them.”
“We want better access to American products and American markets.”
And, the message I hear most of all: “We want to be your friends.”
Despite all the bad news we hear and read, I have found a widespread desire for economic ties, a tremendous desire for social ties, and a worldwide undercurrent of hope, that seems to unite people everywhere.
I am optimistic because, after years of frustration, the World Trade Organization is holding a new round of trade negotiations. Difficult negotiations, but slow and steady as in the past eight rounds.
I am optimistic when I realize that, as a result of those previous eight rounds, trade barriers around the world are lower than they have been in history. There are hundreds of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements working, today. And dozens more in the negotiating stages. Trade between countries is growing faster than trade within countries. As it has for the past 50 years!
I am optimistic because, during the past couple of years, the United Nations and the G8 summit have shown a new eagerness to listen to the business community, and welcoming our advice and involvement in solving the world’s problems through economic growth.
I am optimistic when I hear about the exciting things Colorado companies are doing to develop new international markets – companies like those we honor here, today.
It is a privilege for me to join you in recognizing those companies and individuals, and to thank all of you for your recognition that just as your business exists to meet its customers’ needs, the business community, worldwide, exists to meet the world’s needs.
Those needs are many and great. But so are your talents and hopes. Please keep up the good work. And thank you for letting me join you!
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