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Before You Get into the Game You Should Know the Rules

What are the Rules for Operating in a Global Environment?

• Cultural differences

• Commercial Law

• Customs Regulations

• Distribution Channels

• Taxation

• Standards, Technical Regulations, Conformity Assessment

How Can Standards Help You Compete?

• Provide valuable technical information

• Ensure your products or services comply with legislation

• Ensure your product are compatible with other related products

• Help you manage your business more effectively

• Boost credibility with your customers

Types of Standards

• Technical Specifications

• Management System Standards

Technical Specifications

• Give specific requirements that a product, process or service must meet to be acceptable.

Management System Standards

• Give best practice models for business processes to manage;

International Standards

The WTO in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement promotes the harmonization of standards and technical regulations, through the use of international standards or technical equivalence agreements. International Standards are standards that are developed through an agreed transparent process.

Complying with Standards

• Determine what are the Standards to be met

• Meet the requirements of the Standards

• Prove you have met the requirements

What Standards?

• WTO member governments are required to establish national Enquiry Points on TBT and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)

• TBT Enquiry Points must notify other WTO Members of any proposed technical regulation, standard or conformity assessment procedure which may have a significant effect on trade.

What Standards?

• Upon request TBT Enquiry Points must provide documents related to national technical regulations, standards adopted or proposed or conformity assessment procedures. Information is available through local Standards Bureaus and CROSQ.

• Similar arrangements are in place for SPS measures

Meeting the Requirements

• Could be expensive, seek support from Standards Bureau or local /regional technical assistance programs.

• SME's can form clusters to work towards ISO 9000, HACCP or other certification.

• In some cases joint ventures or other partnerships to access investment funding, technical information or new technologies should be considered.

Conformity Assessment

• Information available through Enquiry Points.

• Conformity assessment services not well developed in CARICOM, can be expensive or unavailable.

Goal of International Standardization 1/1/1

• Once tested: harmonized rule making

• Once certified: harmonized conformity assessment

• Accepted everywhere: harmonized accreditation

Just Knowing The Rules Isn't Enough

Standards usually establish the minimum requirements for a product or service. Meeting them is a prerequisite to market entry and acceptance, it does not significantly contribute to company competitiveness .

Best Practice Benchmarking

Potential Benefits

• Improve productivity

• Improve competitiveness

• Overcome competitive threats

• Address growth issues

• Gain a more complete picture of the business

Best Practice Benchmarking

• Identify new opportunities

• Attract funding

• Develop strategic plans

• Improve relationships with customers

The Benchmarking Process

Two Approaches

• Used to analyze and improve specific functions within a company

• Used to compare performance of key functional areas of a company against those of other companies in the industry sector

The Benchmarking Process I

• Determine what functions to benchmark

• Define appropriate metrics

• Identify best practice companies

• Measure own and best practice performance

• Estimate performance gaps; set goals

• Implement improvement plan

• Monitor results

Identifying Best Practice Companies

Not usually direct competitor, more difficult to find willing SMEs, some sources:

• Industry Associations, Journals, Internet Search

• Suppliers, buyers

• Consultants

The Benchmarking Process II

Done through a benchmarking service:

• Usually specialized by industry sector, size of company etc.

• CASSE Consultants based in Barbados has pioneered benchmarking in CARICOM

• Many web-based services exist

The Benchmarking Process II

• Requires a detailed questionnaire to be filled-in often facilitated by an advisor

• Compares company performance against (often) thousands in a database

• Performance is evaluated in several key areas but these are usually fixed e.g. quality, employment practices, customer & supplier relations, manufacturing operations, inventory management, environment & safety performance, productivity & cost management

The Benchmarking Process II

• Some services allow you to select the companies against which you will be benchmarked

• Computer generates your Benchmark report giving quantifiable performance indicators, highlighting your company's strengths and weaknesses against those of the comparison group

• It identifies the key areas on which you should focus for improvement but does not provide best practice details

Summary

• Implementing international technical and management system standards are a prerequisite to market access and acceptability in a global trading environment

• Benchmarking against international best practice has been proven to significantly improve the competitiveness of companies. Benefits depend on the quality of implementation of the benchmarking project.