The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

Director General Cino emphasizes that the adminis- tration does not intend to let security threats cut off com- mercial relations. “Even in Muslim areas, we will hold the line. The president wants us to export there.” As if to emphasize that point, the United States has posted a Commercial Service officer in battered Kabul, Afghanistan. Besides, Cino says, “American business men and women are very resilient. If there’s an opportunity, I don’t usually see fear. I see people out there willing to take some risks if they’re able to grow their business.” The Internet Versus the Human Touch The Internet and advances in telecommunications are rapidly changing the ways the CS does its job, but Commercial Service officers are confident that the human presence overseas is still an absolute necessity. Some functions can probably be done electronically. Notes veteran commercial officer Pete Frederick, “In the 1980s, we did credit checks on foreign companies. Now they can be done online.” That means some overseas programs can be cut back. At one point, the United States had about 15 permanent trade centers in other countries. Now there are just two, in London and Mexico City. Long-time CS employees say, however, that modern media cannot take the place of person-to-person meet- ings, such as the trade shows that are vital to business in Europe. Retired commercial officer Ed Ruse emphasizes that “that’s how the Germans do their purchasing — they build their year around being in certain commercial fairs. Trade fairs are part of the fabric of nearly every business person, especially in Germany ... but important through- out Europe. “You get information about the market, find out if your product is competitively priced, meet joint venture partners and long-term customers. And that’s something you can’t accomplish by e-commerce,” says Ruse. “We do a lot of video-conferencing and that’s great. But that’s not really a trade show,” says John Klingelhut, a senior adviser for export promotion services. “When you get a monitor and a screen in a booth, and people are talking from both sides of the ocean instantaneously — now that’s a virtual trade show.” Klingelhut says that many times what passes for a vir- tual trade show “is taking product literature, information on a company, and putting it on a Web site. You can’t talk to that person. If you walked into somebody’s booth overseas, someone would meet you and greet you; you could see a product demonstration. With Webcasting you can come close to that, but I can’t ask you a question; you can’t respond to me in real time.” Ed Ruse emphasizes that “there are a lot of cultures where human contact is absolutely irreplaceable — the so-called high-context cultures, like France, Italy, the Mediterranean, Asia and especially the Middle East. They still want to know who they’re dealing with, and having an advocate in the person of a Commercial Service officer is an effective way to form that relation- ship.” Or, as one FSO put it, “You can click with a mouse, but you can click a lot better with a person.” Both Sides Now Meanwhile, the Commercial Service is very active on both fronts: making person-to-person contacts with exporters and foreign importers, and encouraging use of the Internet and electronic media. For example, its International Buyer Program brings potential foreign importers to U.S. trade shows. It certi- fies the trade shows, arranges delegations, and makes sure that the international visitors are properly welcomed in the States. The trade show organizers pay the Commerce Department for the service. Conversely, the Trade Mission program takes repre- sentatives of six to 15 small and medium-size American companies overseas, and sets up appointments for them to meet with potential importers, a process called match- making. CS posts abroad also set up catalog shows, in which host-country businesses are invited to peruse a large col- lection of brochures and catalogs from U.S. businesses interested in exporting. These catalog events are increas- ingly being held online. Within the United States, the Commercial Service has 108 U.S. Export Assistance Centers (called USEACs or YOU-see-acks within the service). Focusing on small and medium-size companies, the service’s domestic corps assesses a business’s export-readiness, shows business- people the ropes, and helps themmake contacts that may lead to exports. In some cases, the CS may educate businesses on why it’s worth taking the trouble to develop exports — F O C U S 26 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3