Center, with John Fogarty (no relation).
In response to local companies’ growing need to better compete in an international marketplace, Bryant College is offering an international trade certificate program for the first time this fall, designed to be a hands-on approach to learning more about the global import and export market.
Many local manufacturers are sometimes pressured by larger companies overseas, who can produce and ship goods faster, cheaper and more efficiently.
The three-level program Bryant is offering will hopefully give participants the knowledge they need to improve their skills, as well as how their company deals with international import and export, said Ray Fogarty, director of the Rhode Island Export Assistance Center, which is based at Bryant and offering the program.
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“This came from the business community,” Fogarty said of the demand for a certificate program. “They wanted a more formal training and at advanced levels. They felt it was important for their export managers to be trained in a more formal way.”
One company planning to send two employees to Bryant is Northeast Knitting in Pawtucket, a textiles manufacturer established in the 1980s. The two attendees are Alex and Eric DaRosa, sons of the owner, according to Ed DeCesare, Northeast Knitting controller.
“This market is really tough right now,” DeCesare said. He added NAFTA, and other foreign competitors like Japan, Vietnam and Turkey are putting pressure on local companies to compete better.
“We have a good sales and marketing manager, but he can only do so much. If they can make some contacts, get some advice,” the company could gain an edge.
The level one portion of the program meets at the Smithfield campus for eight consecutive Wednesdays, from 8 to 10 a.m., beginning Sept. 24. The cost to attend is $75 per person per session or $500 for the series. Eligible companies can receive 50 percent off the program fee through a grant offered by the Human Resource Investment Council of Rhode Island.
“You have to learn the government regulations to import and export,” said Joe McWilliams, an international business consultant from ITEC Inc., who has been teaching at Bryant since 1987. “It takes you three years to learn, and they change them every three years.”
The seminars will include expertise from leaders in international trade, a video-streamed curriculum that will allow participants to watch and listen to experts on the Web, as well as live Web casting in November, in addition to the standard tests and quizzes, Fogarty said. Although students can also enroll in the program, he said it is geared toward company employees working in trade.
“(Trade) is getting more complex because of the trade agreement, and new trading mechanisms,” Fogarty said. For example, in the shipment of goods, companies and employees need to know how to work with the freight forwarder, and it’s not always something that is understood. Other companies might benefit from the program if they are looking to expand their international trade to other countries.
“Formal training – there’s an obvious need for that,” he said.
DeCesare said he hopes the DaRosas “can pick up on something or someone” to help the company’s trade strategies. Years ago, he said, Northeast Knitting had a niche, where it combined yarn and rubber for the apparel and medical industries. Now, foreign competitors are following suit.
Knowing how to ship, how to better communicate with a foreign company, how to collect money would greatly benefit them, he said. The company might also then have the tools to expand into new markets.
“Suppose our product could be sold in Japan?” he posed. “We want to find out.”
Many Rhode Island companies don’t utilize the tools available to them, McWilliams said, including the export assistance center. Many of these companies, he said, depend too much on the middleman, the person or company physically moving the product, to negotiate with the buyer and make sure everything goes smoothly.
“If you move something and it was sent wrong, it doesn’t matter how bad you want the product or your client wants it,” McWilliams said. “The government will stop it and you won’t get the goods.”
Topics discussed in class will include: why companies engage in international business and an introduction to exporting; researching foreign markets and international marketing; export logistics and shipping; international transactions and export financing tools; cross-culture communications; legal aspects of trade; and developing and implementing your international business plan.
The sessions can be taken together as a course, or individually. All participants who complete the sessions receive a certificate. There will be a basic, intermediate and advanced level certificate running at different points during the year, Fogarty said.
“From general marketing up to international trade, it’s increasingly more important to have that knowledge,” Fogarty said. “You market your company and yourself.”
The goal of the certificate program, Fogarty said, is to “make the person
an expert within their company and bring that knowledge to others in the company.
If you have this knowledge, then it’s no different than sending something to
California.”
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