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The Sum of Us: KPMG’s Corporate Citizenship report

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600

With an aspiration to be the best firm to work with – for its people, clients and communities - KPMG sees a direct connection between good business and better lives. To this end, KPMG’s approach to Corporate Citizenship is founded on the belief that business has a distinct and vital role to play in helping solve important social and environmental issues.

Underpinned by a commitment to both people and planet, the company’s investment in Corporate Citizenship is grounded in practicality. Through investing the professional skills and capacity of their employees, KPMG is changing things for the better for Indigenous Australians, the communities they live and work in, the environment and their own people.

Gen.a worked with KPMG’s Citizenship Advisory Board and senior management to define and better communicate its story, resulting in the publishing of the company’s first Corporate Citizenship report.

Whilst KMPG’s corporate citizenship strategy has the genuine support and commitment of senior management, the challenge for the Corporate Citizenship team was how to more effectively engage both internal and external audiences. The communication challenge was how to balance the corporate citizenship ‘story’ within the broader context of the KPMG brand, share the impact of its work and inspire people from all levels of the company to become involved.

Gen.a worked with KPMG to deliver:

An ‘Insight’ piece articulating KPMG’s corporate citizenship ‘story’ within the broader context of the KPMG brand;
The research, writing and development of success stories / case studies including field interviews with community partners, staff and mentorees;
Strategic consultation and support on how to integrate the corporate citizenship story into KPMG’s broader communications; and
Strategic advice, editorial direction, photography shoot and design development of KPMG’s first Corporate Citizenship Report.

The report was launched by KPMG International’s Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity, Lord Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick, during his Australian visit in August 2011.

Read the full report here

Ian Wing joins Gen.a as an Alliance partner

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:30:00 -0600

With more than 32 years experience working with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), Ian is an expert in the promotion and facilitation of international trade and investment.

In his most recent role as Regional Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Austrade, Ian was responsible for setting the strategic direction and implementing business plans across 31 Austrade posts in 27 countries. During this post, he was responsible for developing business plans focused on the attraction of productive investment to Australia; the export of high IP content manufactured products; securing infrastructure and other significant opportunities in the Middle East; and mining technology and services and agribusiness sectors in Sub Saharan Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In earlier posts for Austrade he was the Regional Director, Americas; Regional Director, Middle East/Indian Ocean Region; Senior Trade Commissioner and Minister-Counsellor (Marketing) in Tokyo and Washington; Senior Trade Commissioner and Consul-General in Atlanta; and Senior Trade Commissioner in Moscow.

Prior to joining the Australian Government, Ian worked in international banking with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and was also senior agricultural economist with the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation.

Since retiring from Austrade in September 2011, Ian now consults on international business. He has an Honours Degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and a Diploma of Japanese Studies from the Osaka University of Foreign Studies. He was also a research fellow in Agricultural Economics at Kobe University, Japan. He speaks French, Russian, Japanese and social German.

News Magazines launches new brand

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:30:00 -0600

News Magazines has unveiled the new corporate identity and company name, News Life Media, created by Gen.a.

The new identity symbolises the company’s transition from a traditional magazine company into “Australia’s leading Lifestyle and Life Stage content company.”

The News Life Media identity recognises the company’s heritage as a division of News Limited, benefiting from the support, knowledge and resources of belonging to a global media organisation.

In approaching the brief, Gen.a’s Creative Director, Jacqueline Morony, said that whilst seemingly simple, legacy symbols are often the most challenging to shift. Although the former News Magazines 3D Globe had only been around for a relatively short period of time, the connection to the parent company News Ltd was an influential business factor. To find new ground to support a bold new vision, it demanded that this visual territory be considered flexible in the design brief.

“We explored a number of different directions for the logo but ultimately loved the play on the positive space between the grid lines of the News Corp Globe. When we presented The NLM Globe it was immediately embraced and loved by the client team,” said Jacqueline.

The name change was also a critical part of the re-branding. The ‘News’ was a given and ‘Media’ was appropriate, but the decision was how to bring connection and represent their content. The boldness of the word ‘Life’ came out of the brand development process run by Gen.a - it is broad, inclusive and essential.

“This name change recognises the work we have done over the last few years to strategically reimagine our business. We are elevating our digital focus, creating new products and services, developing our presence in Women, Lifestyle and Life Stage, while building on the strength of our phenomenal print brands,” said Sandra Hook, Chief Executive of News Life Media.

“Our new name better reflects our approach to delivering highly engaged audiences across multiple platforms,” said Ms Hook.

Global Compact Network Australia launches new website

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:30:00 -0500

The Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) has launched its new website, designed by Gen.a, at www.unglobalcompact.org.au.

In developing the website, Gen.a worked closely with GCNA key stakeholders and Alliance partner and digital expert, Michael Cairns from Shaking Paper, who provided strategic insight and technical capacity in building the back end of the new platform.

Gen.a’s initial challenge was how to bring an Australian context to local communications whilst working within the guidelines of the UNGC’s global identity. Referencing the global UNGC website, we designed the new GCNA site with a mindfulness of its purpose to be an information hub and connector for current and potential members.

“As a content-rich site, functionality was key as was the need to develop a platform that has the capacity to grow with additional features and members’ areas with future development phases,” said Gen.a designer on the project, Gloria Chan.

Comprising businesses, both large and small, across many sectors, the role of the GCNA is to give an Australian voice to the United Nations Global Compact within our own cultural and business context. The GCNA also provides a leadership platform and forum for members to learn from each other through join problem solving and the sharing of knowledge, experience and expertise.

“The work undertaken by the Gen.a team and Shaking Paper was perfect. They took the brief, created the necessary design elements and gave us not only what we needed and wanted, but something we could simply manage and grow. When Signatories and members of the UNGCNA want to interact and collaborate online, they want to cohabitate around a site that looks clean, is easy to navigate and acts as a true knowledge sharing platform,” said Matthew Tukaki, Australian Representative to the United Nations Global Compact.

Agri-entrepreneurs grow Africa

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:00:00 -0500

If you pay attention to the news, you’ll hear two stories about African agriculture. The first is of the drought that sears the Horn of Africa and forces tens of thousands of Somalis – now climate refugees – to pack up their belongings and families and trek hundreds of miles to find water, food and makeshift camps.

The second story presents a quieter danger: foreign investors (panicked in the wake of the 2008 food crisis) buying vast tracts of Africa’s prime agricultural land. Journalists call it a ‘global land rush,’ and in Africa’s case, they’re not exaggerating. The World Bank reports that of the 110 million acres of farmland deals announced in 2009, more than 70% of those deals were for African land.

There is, however, a third story about Africa. One that is mostly hidden in the noise of the other two.

It is the story of Africa’s ‘agri-entrepreneurs’ – local businessmen and women who grow, pack and export produce to overseas markets. This is no cottage industry, and one should not underestimate its influence. Governments and development agencies describe agri-entrepreneurs as an ‘engine’ for Africa’s economic growth, and crucial to establishing food security on the continent.

Go Royal this Spring – ATC launches new Spring Carnival Campaign

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:30:00 -0500

Gen.a was recently engaged by the Australian Turf Club (ATC) to create a campaign for the 2011 Sydney Spring Carnival at Royal Randwick.

Promoting the four major race days (Yellowglen George Main Stakes Day, Epsom Super Saturday, City Tattersalls Club Cup Day and Melbourne Cup Day at Royal Randwick), the challenge was to create a multi-media campaign (across TV, print, radio and digital / social media) that resonated with multiple audiences specific to each race day. We also created a new brand for the Carousel Precinct as part of the Epsom Super Saturday campaign.

“Spring Carnival celebrates Sydney’s leading racing events, fashion and personalities. It is also a time of the year when Sydney’s enviable outdoor lifestyle blossoms. Our ‘Spring Carnivale’ concept sought to capture these elements, encapsulating a sense of playfulness through strong floral themes, energetic colours and fun fashion,” said Gen.a’s Design Director, Sam Pemberton.

With the tagline ‘Go Royal this Spring’, the campaign came to life through an emotive 30sec TVC, was told poetically through beautifully scripted radio ads, a digital campaign, and was celebrated larger than life on trackside billboards and bus sides around the city.

“The campaign produced by Gen.a received overwhelming feedback from the market. From the account service, through to the production and creative outcome, Gen.a delivered an effective, high-end campaign that exceeded the business’ expectations,” said Alex Fisher Senior Advertising and Communications Executive, Australian Turf Club.

See highlights of the photo shoot with Justin Ridler here

Gen.a announced as a Finalist in the 2011 NSW Export Awards

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:00:00 -0500

Last night, Gen.a was announced as a finalist in the 2011 Premier's NSW Export Awards.

Managed by the Australian Institute of Export in conjunction with NSW Trade & Investment, the Premier's NSW Export Awards recognise excellence in the export of goods and services by NSW businesses and acknowledge their important contribution to the state economy.

For the third consecutive year, Gen.a was nominated in the Small to Medium Sized Business Services category. The nomination recognises our work with international clients including Fairtrade International, the United Nations’ International Trade Centre, Pacific Islands Trade & Invest and the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority.

At a reception event for the finalists last night, the General Manager of the Australian Institute of Export, Mr. Peter Mace said ‘it has been a tough year for exporters’. But despite the doom and gloom in overseas markets and the challenge for exporters posed by the high Australian dollar, he said NSW businesses continue to be successful internationally. Interestingly, Mr. Mace also highlighted that 50% of the companies entered into this years’ Awards were new companies.

The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony to be held on 20 October 2011.

Gen.a’s UNGC Communication on Progress Report

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:00:00 -0500

Gen.a is proud to be a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and a member of the Global Compact Network Australia (GNNA).

As a signatory, we are connected to a global community with a shared commitment to corporate social responsibility and the responsible business practice guidelines outlined in the UNGC’s Ten Principles across key areas including human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

‘We are a small business committed to positive social development linked to business success. Being part of the Global Compact helps us to deliver on our goals within the broader community while building a powerful network for change – for ourselves, our clients and the business community in which we operate, said David Faulks, Managing Director, Gen.a.

Gen.a is the only small business in Australia holding a position on the Board of the GCNA. On this Board and as the Chair of the Communications Sub-Committee, we have a specific role in representing small-medium enterprise (SME) and further educating other businesses about the importance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in providing a framework for the global business community to support social and environmental development.

Our commitment to the UNGC extends not only to our compliance with the Ten Principles in the way we do business, but also to the clients we choose to work. We are also conscious of using the opportunities we have to extend our sphere of influence in educating the local and global business community about the importance of the MDGs.

‘To this end, our key focus is on using our talents and expertise to support our clients and their efforts to make the world a better place, through enabling their communication and storytelling,’ said Mr. Faulks.

The way we work is influenced by what we believe in, including a focus on ethical and sustainable business. We have a successful track record in delivering community and environmental development projects in Australia and the Pacific, and are particularly passionate about our support for the Aid for Trade agenda globally.

Working with clients including Fairtrade International, Pacific Islands Trade & Invest, Botswana Export Development & Export Authority; and as individual consultants to the UN’s International Trade Centre, we have sought to enhance the effectiveness of these organisations in supporting enterprises in developing countries.

As part of our commitment to the UNGC, today we posted our Communication on Progress report for the period to July 2011. This report outlines our achievements in the past 12 months and demonstrates our commitment to the UNGC for the coming 12 months. Read the report here.

Welcome to the Weekend with News Magazines

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:00:00 -0500

'Welcome to the weekend,' says News Inserts Magazines (NIMS - News Magazines)

Our weekday lives are hectic. We consume 300% more information than we did 50 years ago. Every day we are exposed to thousands of messages. Our brains simply cannot process this much information so how can advertising be expected to cut through the clutter?

This was the problem facing News Magazines, so they engaged Gen.a to reposition NIMs in the minds of media buyers as an effective and engaging way of connecting with their target audience. It was also an opportunity for News Magazines to highlight their new simplified purchasing process for media buyers.

With newspapers being an essential part of the weekend ritual, our concept was born from the idea that a weekend headspace equals effective ad space.

Gen.a worked with News Magazines to develop a sales kit for media buyers, the focus of which was a printed leave behind that played on the idea of ‘inserting’ key messages within a weekend headspaces. The printed booklets were supported with a 90-second sizzle reel that helped bring the presentations to life.

According to NIMS, the presentations were a resounding success. News Magazines saw noticeably strengthened relationships with key clients.

Gen.a shining a new light on VOGUE Fashion’s Night Out

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:00:00 -0500

VOGUE Fashion’s Night Out is the world’s biggest fashion shopping event hosted in more than 15 cities around the world. It offers fashion lovers an unprecedented opportunity to walk through the pages of the world’s most iconic and most-read fashion brand.

Following a successful launch of the event in Sydney in 2010, News Magazines approached Gen.a to develop a partnership sales package that would help attract key corporate partners to support the 2011 event. These exclusive partnership packages presented major corporate partners with the opportunity to have a unique and integrated presence at VOGUE Fashion’s Night Out.

The ‘Wandering Stars’ concept was born from the idea that under a twinkling night sky, all the fashion, fun and frivolity of Sydney will come out to play. The identity perfectly captured the glamour, excitement and magic of the live experience and to truly bring it all to life, Gen.a developed a 90 second sizzle-reel that would air at every sales presentation.

The dynamic identity also created a flexible platform that could live across multiple executions and following the success of the Trade campaign, News Magazines engaged Gen.a to extend the concept into the consumer space across press-advertising, outdoor banners, merchandise and in-magazine executions.

VOGUE's Fashion's Night Out will be held on 8 September 2011. For more information visit http://fashionsnightout.vogue.com.au/

Gen.a creates new brand identity for the National Museum of Australia

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:30:00 -0500

On 1 July 2011, the National Museum of Australian (NMA) launched its new brand identity, developed by Gen.a.

The result of a three-month engagement with NMA, a new brand identity was required to reflect the Museum’s recently revised vision, positioning and strategic direction. In conjunction with the NMA's 10th anniversary celebrations, the challenge was how to change perceptions of the NMA as a place of discovery, not just of learning. Our goal was to develop a new identity that encapsulated the essence of NMA as ‘a place that celebrates our people and culture of storytellers’.

The logo positions the Museum as a platform for our stories. The platform is a flexible device and is the connector through the brand, proudly holding up and celebrating the many stories or objects that can be presented above it. The subtle visual connection to speech is intentional. The flexibility of the mark encourages conversation and provides a unique way to reflect the every-growing, ever evolving collection of stories the museum will hold. The platform is also a powerful locator. It pinpoints the Museum as a destination and becomes a strong way-finding language for use around the site and in mapping.

The identity was designed to directly connect NMA with the people whose stories populate it and those who visit. In short, it reflected a place ‘where our stories live’.

To support this new identity, Gen.a was also commissioned to undertake a photo shoot for the Museum’s marketing campaign and promotional collateral, including their website. Building on the invitation to ‘join the conversation’, the photo shoot focused on using real Australian people interacting with each other and having a conversation.

'It has been wonderful to work with such an expert, friendly, professional and inspiring agency. I felt that we had a pretty good fit with our values and ways of working and the creative concepts have been a delight to work with. There is so much potential and a world of opportunities for this brand', said Ms. Rachael Coghlan, Manager, Public Programs & Marketing at the NMA.

ASA launches new website

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:12:12 -0500

This week Auto Skills Australia (ASA) launched their new website at the conclusion of a three-month project with Gen.a and Alliance partners, The Nest and Shaking Paper.

Established in 2011 Auto Skills Australia (ASA) is the body responsible for developing and maintaining nationally accredited automotive training qualifications in Australia.

ASA appointed Gen.a to develop the brand identity and website for the organisation. From a creative point of view, the challenge was to develop a visual identity that was gender-neutral and dispelled many of the stereotypes that are associated with the automotive industry. Our goal was to develop a fresh, youthful (but not young) brand that conveyed a sense of professionalism that represented the industry as a whole.

A staged approach to the website development followed on from the brand identity. Due to the complexity of developing a dynamic, content-rich site within a relatively short period, Gen.a worked with two of our Alliance partners and digital experts – The Nest and Shaking Paper to tackle the project in a staged approach.

Whilst we worked with The Nest on developing the digital strategy and full site plan, Shaking Paper developed an interim site for the new entity. From a digital perspective, the main challenge was how to create a web platform for ASA that successfully married the technical requirements of a content-heavy, education and information-rich resource with an easy-to-navigate and engaging design. It was also important to ASA that the site created an online community with user-generated content and discussion to enhance its relationship with key stakeholders and users.

Visit ASA at http://www.autoskillsaustralia.com.au

NEPEAN

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:27:36 -0500

Gen.a is working with NEPEAN (formally the Nepean Group) to build a unified brand proposition aligned to their new business structure. Our involvement has helped guide NEPEAN through the complex issues surrounding the re-alignment of 18 companies and 15 products into a clear and concise brand architecture and business proposition aimed at expressing their total value offering, create and support growth across their industry sectors and transitioning them from an industry follower to an industry challenger.

Our work has included the development of a brand strategy and identity including naming for both the corporate and individual businesses. Gen.a’s Brand Blueprint had guided the development of an iconic Brand Mark and well engineered visual language to be implemented across all businesses and products. Roll out of the new brand will be implemented over the 2011 calendar year.

Gen.a celebrates the opening of our UK Office

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:00:00 -0500

Gen.a has opened our new office in the United Kingdom. The decision to open a UK Office comes as part of our strategy to expand our Alliance structure and explore new opportunities in Europe and Africa as part of our micro-multinational strategy.

“With many of our important clients already based in Europe and Africa, it makes sense for us to have representation in the same time zone as them,” says Joint Partner and Executive Creative Director, Nick Morgan.

Returning to his homeland, Nick is heading up the UK operations, acting as the strategic lead on current and future international clients with Gen.a’s Sydney Office still responsible for the creative development and project delivery across most projects.

Fairtrade campaign aims to spread shopping goodwill

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:16:16 -0600

THEY would rather call it a ''filmic petition'' than an ad. Either way, the Fairtrade movement has launched its first global commercial through an Australian agency.

A 90-second interactive film entitled Fair Story, created by the Sydney agency Generation Alliance, tells the story of the Fairtrade movement and, more importantly, its impact on communities through the eyes of a Kenyan girl.

Fair Story - Fairtrade Global Campaign

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:48:50 -0600

Following on from the successful development of Fairtrade’s International brand and strategy programme, Gen.a was engaged to lead the creative development of what would become Fairtrade’s first ever globally aligned marketing campaign. An opportunity to tell the real Fairtrade story in a generous and emotive way related to the values of the ‘movement’ of Fairtrade. The ‘human’ story as opposed to the rational certification stories which dominate consumer perception.

“Fair Story is the ultimate expression of the Fairtrade brand. Through our deep understanding of Fairtrade built over two years, we saw the need to tell a compelling global story through a medium with the potential to connect hundreds of thousands of people around the world. We had to do something totally different to change the dynamic,” said Nick Morgan, Gen.a’s Executive Creative Director.

To maximise the creative impact, Gen.a formed and directed a collaborative creative alliance across four continents to deliver a campaign, which brings to life the values of the global Fairtrade system through a mix of traditional story telling, unique graphic treatments, music and innovative digital technology.

The film’s director, Jeff Wood was drawn to the Fair Story “because of the potential to make something great, together with the collaborative nature of the project” and the opportunity to “help other people and tell a story that comes from a genuine place”.

Living on a unique microsite, the hero element of the campaign is a 90 second interactive film - filmed on location in Nyeri, a Fairtrade producer community in Kenya - which tells the end to end story of the Fairtrade system, engaging audiences through a far-reaching social media execution that invites each viewer to participate directly into the ‘Fair Story’ through Facebook Connect.

We believe the exciting and most important element of this campaign is that people can grow the film through joining the story, and literally see themselves embedded in the story.

Created in collaboration with The Sweetshop and The Rumpus Room in London, we believe it to be the first ever filmic petition, encouraging consumers to make the choice to empower producer communities through Fairtrade.

"We saw this project as an amazing opportunity to create a multi-layered, responsive experience that combined the emotional journey of a film with the personal and collective nature of the social network.” Tom Roope, Creative Technical Director, The Rumpus Room

We understand that people want to be seen to be part of something good. This campaign is about empowering our viewers to play an active role in the Fairtrade story, whilst gaining an immediate reward for their connection with Fairtrade and influencing their peers.

The Challenge:

To bring to life the values of the global Fairtrade system in upwards of 10 key markets.

To deliver a ‘broader and deeper’ understanding of how the system works, and create a campaign with reach and individual resonance across all stakeholders, consumers, activists, partners and Fairtrade staff.

Further challenges including small budgets, multiple stakeholders and ‘keeping it real’ in a storytelling, talent, location and language sense, were exacerbated by the challenge of telling the same story in consumer markets of vastly different maturity.

The Results:

In consumer audience terms it’s too early to tell, however the project has already:

- Consolidated marketing spend across 10 countries, resulting in massive cost savings and the ability to scale the values and reach of the project.

- Achieved production values leverage of >300%

- increased Fairtrade’s potential media reach, with greater access to and engagement with new, younger audiences.

See yourself in the story at www.fairstory.com

BEDIA/Brand Botswana's Sydney training visit

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:15:51 -0600

As part of our engagement with the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) and our on-going commitment to capacity building for their team, Gen.a invited senior executives and management connected to the Brand Botswana nation branding project to Sydney. The delegation from BEDIA / Brand Botswana included: Mr Jacob Nkate, Chief Executive Officer of BEDIA; Mr Lisenda Lisenda, Director, Research & Innovation of BEDIA; Ms Ludo Mokotedi, Deputy Director of Brand Botswana; Mr Gaorekwe Gaorekwe, Stakeholder Relations Manager, Brand Botswana; Ms Wame Phetlhu from the Botswana High Commission in Canberra; and Mr Mark Colley, Managing Director of advertising agency, TBWA\ MEDCOM.

The week-long schedule included high-level meetings and roundtable discussions with Austrade officials; workshops and informative briefings with experts from our Alliance and business networks; training and development on creative brand applications with our design team; and a site visit to Australian Technology Park. Workshop sessions included in-depth sessions with Gen.a Alliance partners Terry Goss, Mai Ling Turner and Sue Flatman; the branding impact of major events with Events NSW CEO, Geoff Parmenter; measuring the impact of research with David Higgingbottom from Competitive Edge; and promoting indigenous culture and building linkages between trade, investment and tourism with former Managing Director of the Australian Tourist Commission, John Morse.

In between, the BEDIA/Brand Botswana team had some fun climbing the Harbour Bridge, lunching at Watson's Bay, enjoying a BBQ at Bronte Beach and drinks at Gen.a HQ with some of our key Alliance partners and friends.

Mark Liney joins the Gen.a team

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:13:44 -0600

Experienced brand consultant, Mark Liney, has joined Gen.a as our new Account Services Director.

"Mark will play an important role in key client management, providing strategic insight and helping to build our overall capacity in client relationship management," said David Faulks, Managing Director of Gen.a.

With more than seven years across brands encompassing the travel and leisure, finance, telecoms, technology, retail, luxury and FMCG sectors. Originally from the UK, Mark joins us most recently from Landor Associates' Sydney Office where he worked on the brand strategy development for Citibank Australia and Microsoft; and led teams through the development of new identities for the City of Melbourne and University of Queensland Union. In an earlier role, Mark was responsible for developing data-driven communication plans for some of the top visitor attractions in the UK.

With strong business acumen Mark thrives on delivering brand and communication solutions that drive real change within his clients’ organisations. With a background in in customer analytics and segmentation, he is passionate about building insight and understanding about what drives customer behaviour to create and implement profitable outcomes for brands.

International Trade Forum: Issue 4/ 2010 – Global Value Chains is now online

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:11:11 -0600

‘A large component of building more trade capacity is understanding how trade can be integrated into development and poverty reduction strategies. For LDCs [least developed countries], this is often the first step towards identifying key constraints to overall competitiveness and to see how exports can be inserted into global supply chains in order to focus on sectors with export potential,’ said World Trade Organization Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy.

With the need for countries to see job creation and the regeneration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it is increasingly necessary for Trade Support Institutions (TSIs) to focus on better positioning companies within global supply and production chains through capacity building and export development services. Participation in global supply chains can provide SMEs with the opportunity to increase productivity, expand their markets and attain financial stability.

This issue of the magazine investigates the challenges and opportunities for TSIs and the businesses they support as they integrate these supply chains. Included are reports from the 2010 World Export Development Forum (WEDF) in Chongqing, China and the 2010 TPO Network Conference and Awards in Mexico; as well as articles by experts including author and global strategist, Pankaj Ghemawat; Professor Arjan J. Van Weele, from Eindhoven University of Technology; South Africa's Minister of Trade & Industry, Rob Davies; Indonesia's Trade Minister , Ms Mari E. Pangestu and the International Trade Centre.

International Trade Forum- Issue 3/2010: Quality & Standards is now online

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:44:56 -0600

In this issue of International Trade Forum, we address the need for exporters from developing countries to conform to international standards as a prerequisite for entering new markets – whether they be in the North or the South. ITC believes this is a fundamentally important part of export competiveness and, for this reason, we invest in capacity building for small and medium-sized enterprises in this area.

"With the globalization of production and supply chains, complying with international standards is vital. Export businesses must develop the capability to conform to requirements in terms of quality, safety, health and the environment if they are to participate successfully in global markets," said Ms Patricia Francis, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre.

As many of the examples in this issue demonstrate, while there are many challenges to overcome in meeting international requirements, whether mandatory o voluntary, producers and exporters have a lot to gain. The benefits range from better access to global markets, to improved management and monitoring systems, increased productivity, improved farming and production processes and better access to credit. But it is crucial that exporters and producers understand the opportunities and risks involved in complying with international standards.

Included are articles by experts from GAP Inc., Fairtrade International, the World Trade Organization, the International Organization for Standarization (ISO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Trade Centre.
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