For many companies, selling in an international market place is the ultimate challenge. While the rewards can be substantial, success can also bring its share of problems.
Different customs, currency systems, laws and languages still create barriers to trade in a world where sophisticated computer technology allows orders abroad to be placed within seconds.
One of the greatest problems facing exporters is the increasing insistence by importers that trade be conducted on open account terms. This often means that payment is received many weeks or even months after delivery. Unsurprisingly, many organisations find that giving buyers credit in this way can cause severe cash flow problems. Further problems can arise if the importer delays payment beyond originally agreed terms or makes no payment at all because of financial failure.
International factoring provides a simple solution regardless of whether the exporter is a small organisation or a major corporation.
The role of the factor is to collect money owed from abroad by approaching importers in their own country, in their own language and in the locally accepted manner. As a result, distances and cultural differences cease to be a problem.
A factor can also provide exporters with 100% protection against the importer's inability to pay.
The advantages of export factoring have proved to be very attractive to international traders. It is now seen as an excellent alternative to other forms of trade finance and the role of the letter of credit is gradually diminishing as a consequence.
This means that the prospects for international factoring can be seen as favourable in all countries. Not only those that are highly industrialised, but also those that are still developing. In the future though, the real challenge for factoring companies will be to maintain their flexibility so that they can react quickly to changing market circumstances.
Working
by theAmericanway 'Without diminishing the seriousness of the obstacles and violations confronted by workers in the United States, a balanced perspective must be maintained. U.S. workers generally do not confront gross human rights violations where death squads assassinate trade union organizers or collective bargaining and strikes are outlawed. But the absence of systematic government repression does not mean that workers in the United States have effective exercise of the right to freedom of association. On the contrary, workers' freedom of association is under sustained attack in the United States, and the government is often failing its responsibility under international human rights standards to deter such attacks and protect workers' rights
