Numbers game: calculating the benefits of trade compliance
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 8/13/2007 6:56:00 PM
Shippers using tools that maximize the benefits of trade agreements with certain countries are better calculating true landed costs—a valuable process that leads to reductions in the overall costs of goods. According to a new report out of Boston-based Aberdeen Group, Global Trade Management Strategies: Surviving Growing Complexities in 2007, trade compliance now ranks alongside supply chain visibility as the top priority among shippers looking to improve global trade management.
“Trade compliance really came on strong in terms of top priorities,” says Viktoriya Sadlovsak, research analyst, global supply chain finance, and the report’s author. “The very fact that companies have more internationally dispersed suppliers has caused them to realize if they source from different countries that have preferential trade agreements, or are part of a free trade zone, it can save money and reduce the cost of the final product. Global trade management tools that provide data about current trade regulations are helping organizations look more closely at end-to-end supply chain costs.”
