The challenges and opportunities of free trade agreements: How global trade automation can help
Abstract
Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and other preferential programmes are a two-headed beast: for almost every business, they can bring substantial benefits through duty reductions and offer strategic competitive advantages. They also create new compliance risks and bring added competitive pressures to the market. The overall prominence and impact FTAs have on global trade have drastically increased in the last 20 years. The utopia of a worldwide market with no barriers, no customs and no constraints, as dreamed by the World Trade Organization (WTO), is no more. The balance of power in geo-politics, and popular rejection of an uncontrolled mundialisation, have replaced that dream with an explosion in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements throughout the world (see Figure 1 for a glimpse of preferential agreements available for the EU). With this proliferation of agreements, how does a company set in motion the changes needed to leverage these FTAs; including the preparation, process changes, risk assessment and supplier/product qualifications? And they must do this while also having to cope with the ever-changing sourcing, manufacturing and selling strategies dictated by a truly global environment, with developed and emerging markets both crucial to business success. It is like jumping on a train while it is moving at 100 kmh. The response is obvious: with dedicated resources, processes and software automation, integrating preferential origin into the whole value chain, gaining strategic competitive advantage — and margin basis points — through every step of the way.
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Author's Biography
Nicolas Ethevenin is a solution consultant and a product marketing specialist in the global trade management software industry. Through an extensive international experience in supply chain, he has helped major international companies across Europe, the US, North Africa and Asia, on various subjects such as logistics, warehouse management, manufacturing and demand planning. Now focusing on global and cross-border trade software, he helps multinational companies leveraging worldwide opportunities, to increase or create new competitive advantages; including the area of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and preferential origin. Initially trained as an engineer, Nicolas has completed his academic cursus with an executive MBA from ESCP Europe business school, giving him the capabilities to work with complex customers, but also to expand his role to product marketing activities, such as being a valued speaker at specialised events.
Citation
Ethevenin, Nicolas (2018, June 1). The challenges and opportunities of free trade agreements: How global trade automation can help. In the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement, Volume 1, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.69554/OXHG9457.
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