Trade Winds

Your monthly newsletter from the Michigan International Trade Association      July 2002

Up Coming Events 

Seminars on ISO. See below. 

In This Issue

Overtime Liability: Can it Blowup in Your Face?

Why Couldn’t You Sell Outside the USA?

U.S. Immigration Changes Not Friendly to our Northern Neighbors

What Was The Best Investment Of The Past Decade?

From the Desk of the Executive Director

Bruce Brogan

Dear Members and Visitors:

     We are excited and gratified to unveil the premiere issue of Trade Winds, Michigan International Trade Association’s new monthly newsletter.

    We chose the name "Trade Winds" because it conjures up thoughts of early European explorers opening new ocean routes to distant continents. Embarking on lengthy and risky trade missions to find opportunities in foreign lands, the sailors could not reliably predict the outcome of the journey, but the best path had been determined- "Follow the Trade Winds."

         Here, at MITA, we have been busy charting our expedition, gathering provisions, preparing to launch our ship and set sail – to begin our "Trade Mission". Our mission is to identify and track the coming "Trade Winds" of international business. We will provide information and guidance to our members, so that they may better navigate the prevailing currents of 21st century trade.

     And, just as the early sailors looked to the sky for signs of changes in weather conditions affecting their travels, we hope our readers will look to our pages for information useful to their planned business ventures. This will be an adventure for us all. We hope you will come along and explore the "New World" with us.

 Bruce Brogan


Up Coming MITA Events
ISO 9000:2000

Our next scheduled events will be  programs addressing the new ISO 9000:2000  requirements for automotive service suppliers and those companies that want to do business globally. The competitive advantage that your company can gain by  being registered to the new standards can equate to money in the bank.

Scheduled dates: 
September 17 & 18, 2002

Watch your email for details or call MITA at 248-549-4900. 

Overtime Liability: Can it Blowup in Your Face?
By: Michael A. Holzschu © 2002

       
     Unpaid overtime to workers who have been misclassified as exempt employees is a ticking financial bomb just waiting to explode. A worker earning $65,000 a year, who worked 50 hours a week for three years - just 10 hours of overtime a week - will be due $146,250 if the unpaid overtime is doubled as a penalty for "willful violation" of the law. (The two-year statute of limitations is also extended to three years for "willful violation.)
     This explosion could cost a company "millions and millions of dollars". It only takes one disgruntled employee to file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor or the State Department of Labor to open an investigation into your classification system.
      In the past five years, more than 450 class-action wage-and-hour lawsuits have been.........
To read the full article click here.

Why Couldn’t You Sell Outside the USA?
 By: Roger Keranen  © 2002

     
     Ever thought about it? What kept you from setting it up? Strategic planning is the only way to be called "lucky" by envious competitors. Your planning for offshore sales takes careful thought and investigation into the possible pitfalls.
    Let’s think like you are an international buyer in a European based global company for a minute. Under what circumstances would you buy from a new supplier? Let us look at a couple of possibilities

First Possibility:
Your current suppliers are ineffective or incapable of meeting your purchasing needs. Solution: Find new sources.
    Do you want to make your life easy and require all suppliers to meet the same set of standards? The obvious answer is yes because it makes sense to have one set of standards to work with.
    With the focus on the requirements for the European Union standards, companies have no choice but to obtain a CE marking, To read the full article click here.

U.S. Immigration Changes Not Friendly 
to our Northern Neighbors
By: Scott F. Cooper & Michael M. Benchetrit
Ó 2002

   
     Canadian citizens and residents are having to bear what would seem an unfair burden as a result of U.S. immigration policy changes resulting from the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Border controls, visa requirements, and entry documentation requirements are being tightened with our neighbors to the North losing privileges and being subject to additional paperwork and delays in entering. Following are several of the changes and plans which affect our good friends from Canada.

Department of State Planning Change in Policy Towards Permanent Residents of Canada

      Permanent residents of Canada who have a "common nationality with nationals of Canada" are exempt from the requirement to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. For example, a citizen of Australia who is a permanent resident of Canada can take a worker petition approval notice directly to a U.S. port of entry without having to first apply for a visa at a U.S. consul. Such individuals are also passport exempt.

     Those deemed to have a "common nationality with nationals of Canada" are citizens of ....To read the full article click here.

 

What Was The Best Investment Of The Past Decade?
Submitted by: Kenneth W. Peterson Ó 2002

    If you were an investor in the 1990s would you have done better with stock or real estate?

    No doubt a lot of money has been made with stocks. At the same time, the last few years have been a blow-out on Wall Street. Between dot-coms, cable firms and Enron, predictions that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would one day hit 36,000 now seem far removed. Indeed, the Dow has fallen nearly 15 percent in the past two years, from 11497.12 at the end of 1999 to 10021.50 at the end of 2001.

    But what about real estate? Has it done any better?

    Speaking before the National Press Club, Fannie Mae Chairman and CEO Franklin D. Raines offered this analysis:  To read the full article click here.

Michigan International Trade Association
121 West Long Lake Road 1st Floor   Bloomfield Hills, Michigan  48304
Phone: 248-549-4900         Fax: 248-692-0326

Email: [email protected]           URL:
http://www.michigantrade.org