Tampa Bay Organization of Women in International Trade Past Events & Summaries

"Ex Machina" and Trade: How Artificial Intelligence Could Change Traditional Barriers to International Trade

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:05:56 GMT

Presented by: Diane Boettcher, Microsoft

Webinar - Lawsuites and Disputes Cross Borders Too: Practical Tips for Negotiating Succesful International Contract

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:05:03 GMT

Presented by Susan "Susie" Hoeller, Hoeller Law

Bridging the International Gap: Selling Ice to Alaska

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:04:15 GMT

presented by Charles Alvarado, Amalie Oil

Business Intelligence in a Global Market

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:03:40 GMT

Presented by Alina Alvarez, TARGIT

It's a Whole New Tax World

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:03:05 GMT

Presented by Debbie Fallucca, Gregory, Sharer & Stuart

March Webinar - Global Business Standards - NASBITE and the CGBP Are Moving Our Industry Forward

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:01:54 GMT

Presented by Dana Smith, Import Export Institute

February Webinar - Trumping Trade with Cuba: A Look at Changes in U.S. Sanctions Regulations Under the Trump Administration

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 20:00:48 GMT

Presented by Olga Pina, Shutts & Bowen

Social Justice and Sexual Harassment Issues Transcend National Borders

Tue, 22 May 2018 20:18:54 GMT

We kicked off Janauary 2018 with author and speaker the Honorable Marie Corbett and her book January, A Woman Judge’s Season of Disillusion.

She walked us through her confrontation of the limitations of the criminal justice system. It was very enlightening since Marie knows what she is talking about! She is a retired superior court trial judge whose legal career spanned thirty years. She was a superior court judge in Canada at a time when only 3% of judges were women. Not only was she an impartial arbitrator over criminal sexual assault cases, but she witnessed first hand the slights faced by women who challenge the status quo. Marie talked about scrutiny, critical parsing of words and terms, stereotypes foisted on women at trial, societal patterns, social & physical pathology, an adversarial system with rigorous cross-examination, and myths. If this sounds heavy, it was, but Marie was also able to inspire us. It all comes down to women being entitled to fully participate in life. Vote – Become Educated – Fight the Good Fight!
There was a very robust question as the audience used this opportunity to glean answers from a highly educated and successful woman who was (and is still) a ‘dedicated crusader for social justice and reform of family law’, who sat through the dramatic tapestry of cases inside her trial room and came to TBOWIT share her life lessons with us.

Does the Bloomin' Onion Work Everywhere? The Ins & Outs of Managing International Operations and Taste Buds

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 19:46:37 GMT

I know that we here in the U.S. think that Outback’s Bloomin Onion® is downright delicious, but does the Bloomin Onion translate across cultures?

The short answer is “yes”, but if you missed Kim Van Heuvelen’s August 24th presentation you missed learning how Bloomin’ Brands has translated the Outback menu, restaurant, and the idea of steak across the world. Ms. Van Heuvelen is the Manager of International Operations and her many passports are proof that Outback has been translated far and wide. Kim walked us through three examples of Outback overseas: China, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

We learned about menu innovation & localization, restaurant design variations, cultural & diversity adaptations all in the name of introducing a “new” culture of food.

Kim had some really great examples. Too many to list in this article, but here are a few. We learned about China’s fast moving culture which affects restaurant design, the revised menus of Saudi Arabia which also factors in Ramadan, and how Brazilians love their frozen beer mugs, Baby Back ribs on the Barbie, and Nutella on their Chocolate Thunder from down Under dessert. Kim also incorporated how Outback hires for each country and when they use in-country experts.

Kim started off her career in an Outback restaurant and has grown within the company as the company has grown around the world. Her knowledge of restaurant operations was obvious. As her many passports prove, Kim knows her Bloomin’ Onion and together with the rest of the International Team at Bloomin’ Brands, has learned how to introduce that flavor to many different countries and in turn adapt the Outback experience to local flavors. What a mouthwatering and eye opening presentation Kim gave!

Kim has graciously shared her slide deck with us. Please find it here

The First Hundred Days: A View from the Great White North - April 207

Tue, 02 May 2017 22:35:31 GMT

Have you ever listened to someone and thought, “Wow, he/she knows his/her stuff!” The audience at April’s TBOWIT luncheon thought this of presenter Andrew McIntosh, Co-founder of Cross Border Partners Advisory Services and Partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick. Mr. McIntosh being Canadian and working on Canadian projects keeps abreast of all things Canadian even spending time with the Canadian ambassador to the U.S.

True or False:

Canada is the United States’ largest trading partner?

Canada and the United States have the largest unprotected border?

Canada and the United States have the most integrated relationship in the world?

All true!

Here are some fun facts:

$1.4 trillion (US) trade relationship

600k jobs in Florida depend heavily on Canada trade

35 U.S. states say that Canada is their biggest trading partner

$50 billion (US) in real estate is owned in the U.S. by Canadians

There are over 70 Canadian military officers in Florida alone

The U.S. and Canada are strong allies joining forces on war efforts, drug trade, humanitarian aid, and more!

2/3 of Florida strawberries start off as baby plants in Canadian greenhouses.

Mr. McIntosh had more examples of the shared values and integrated systems, but it’s too much to write here. Having such close ties between these two great countries, how does the Canadian government and Canadian people view the first hundred days of the Trump administration? According to Mr. McIntosh there are three areas of concern: NAFTA, border tax adjustment, the buy American policy.

NAFTA does need updating since it’s 20 years old and Mr. McIntosh is relieved to hear that President Trump said just the day before that he looks forward to re-negotiating the deal. On border tax, Mr. McIntosh repeated what the CEO of FedEx said which was in paraphrase – this would create a trade war instantly. He followed up by saying that a border adjustment tax is really a tariff in disguise which isn’t needed since, as he gave quite the number of examples, the playing field between Canada and the U.S. is very fair. As far as the ‘buy American policy’ which is also termed a domestic content mandate, Mr. McIntosh would not want to see this play out as it creates an artificial world. Not only does it create an artificial world, but it harms established vendor/supplier relationships that are working really well. A program of this nature also leads to more red tape and high costs as an administration has to designate people to monitor business deals. Canada doesn’t have a ‘buy Canada’ program.

Mr. McIntosh hopes that President Trump succeeds as the relationship between the two countries is so strong and so integrated. Mr. McIntosh is impressed by the cabinet that the President picked saying that the people chosen are strong leaders. Mr. McIntosh sees a role that Canada can play in President Trump’s plan to improve U.S. infrastructure. Canada is very good at public/private partnerships.

No matter what the future holds for Canada/U.S. relations, we are better for hearing Mr. McIntosh’s insights and point of view. Mr. McIntosh fielded many questions from the audience and had more to say, but you’ll have to come to a future TBOWIT meeting to touch base with him. As a 2017 speaker, the TBOWIT Board gave Mr. McIntosh a membership to the organization. Now we can boast of one more subject matter expert among our numbers.

Oh Canada!

Challenges in International Construction & Design - February 2017

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 20:43:49 GMT

“Inspiring!”, “Motivational!”, “Awesome!”, all adjectives heard from audience members describing Alba Rodriguez, Project Executive with Skanska USA Building and February’s TBOWIT luncheon speaker. Ms. Rodriguez found a niche in the architecture/construction world that led to a highly successful 33 year (and counting) career designing and building healthcare projects from hospitals to outpatient centers. For example, locally, she designed the Carillon Outpatient Center in Carillon Business Park, St Petersburg. As well, she has led the design of the Lee Moffitt Cancer Center for 18 years. One of her current projects is the La Guardia Airport in New York – wait for the finished project – it’s going to be a utopia of modern, open air and fresh light. With Alba gone are the days of utilitarian, white walls. Alba’s desire is to blend functionality with art and she does this well too earning prestigious American Institute of Architects awards as she has gone along.

As good as this is, what makes Alba unique and why TBOWIT asked her to present was her leadership in taking her former company, GS&P, from a domestic construction firm to an international construction firm. The process started with Alba convincing GS&P leadership to follow her and her desire to build the Clinica Delgado in Lima, Peru. Alba took us on an in depth tour of the process behind her selection and successful completion of this project. Here’s a link to the hospital website so you can get a glimpse. It’s stunning! From this successful launch point, Alba has designed hospitals in the Caribbean and Latin America.

As Alba spoke, she weaved in lessons learned from the challenges presented with each project and she talked about challenges both in terms of the scope of work, but also in dealing with different cultures and customers. One phrase she often repeated was, “Know your stuff”. She gave an excellent tutorial not only on working with an international project, but how to work on an international project with inputs coming from multiple countries. For example, the hospital in Lima for which she out competed 4 non-U.S. firms, had financing from France plus local investors, equipment from Germany, granite from Italy and so forth. Did we also say that the project was measured in metric! Another key take-a-way from Alba, “Trust”. Alba credits her ability to establish trust with her various customers as one reason for her success. Whether Alba is wearing boots at a construction site or heels at a client’s office, she treats everyone with honesty and respect. Alba said that she gains satisfaction from seeing her drawings become real life and an even deeper satisfaction to give oftentimes very sick patients and their family beauty where they might not expect beauty.

If we had an hour, we would rehash all of the take-a-ways from this wonderful example of a successful, female leader. In fact, it was disappointing when 1 o’clock rolled around as we could have stayed a lot longer. Alba has come a long way from being one of only 5 female architecture students in a class of 125 males. Everyone who steps into one of Alba’s creations might not know her name, but the walls and designs of her buildings sing her praises.

What’s in a Name? How to Protect Your Brand When Doing Business Globally

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 20:27:55 GMT

The short answer is A LOT. We had an amazingly insightful presentation at the TBOWIT August 2016 lunch with Cory Shade, EVP, General Counsel and Secretary of Perry Ellis International. I found it amazing because I did not know half of what it takes to protect one’s brand overseas. What a resource it was to have Cory share Perry Ellis’ experiences.

Perry Ellis International has over 30 brands including: Perry Ellis®, Original Penguin® by Munsignwear®, Laundry by Shelli Segal®, Rafaella®, and on. Plus, Perry Ellis has licensing trademarks from third parties, including: Nike®, and Jag® for swimwear, and Callaway®, PGA TOUR®, and Jack Nicklaus® for golf apparel.

Perry Ellis International garners approximately $3.3B in global retail sales. To reach this point and to grow the company one has to begin with strong brands and expand strategically with strong justification of the trademarks. Cory works hard with her team and the other departments at Perry Ellis International to protect the company’s brands with both offensive and defensive filings because it’s all about the name, brand equity = your strength. A business’s most valuable asset is its trademark. Think of McDonald’s (golden arches), Coca-Cola (colors, bottle, font), or Kleenex.

There are four basic pillars which all tie into financial considerations

· Choose a strong mark

· Use the mark

· Monitor/Watch mark

· Enforce against mark

For each pillar Cory expanded the thought and gave great examples and in-depth details. I would write them here, but my notes are too chock full to type; it would take a long time. The best way to end is to say that as you expand overseas, you will need in-country experts because there are many layers and there are a lot of financial considerations.

Let’s say it together, “Use your mark, Monitor your mark, Enforce your mark.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership – What’s in it for Tampa Bay?

Thu, 26 May 2016 18:50:54 GMT

We are blessed to have Susie Hoeller, J.D., CITP, as a TBOWIT Board Member and if you missed TBOWIT’s May 2016 luncheon, you missed a highly educational presentation on TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Susie is a wealth of knowledge on the subject of TPP.

Susie was able to break down this complex geo-political strategy and trade deal into meaningful segments and talk about Florida's opportunity to grow. Susie specifically mentioned the benefits to exporters, small businesses, supply chains, food safety, and services exporters. She also mentioned TPP's effects on e-commerce & digital freedom, intellectual property creation, environmental protections, first-ever disciplines (to avoid unfair competition), prioritizing of good governance, sustainable development & capacity-building. Susie also dedicated a portion of her presentation on criticisms of TPP including: no anti-currency manipulation provisions, no climate change provisions, wage level disparities, & etc. It was a very balanced presentation with lots of good nuggets of information.

In Susie's own words,

"It is not perfect but there is no doubt that it will create new, higher paying jobs in Florida (nearly 50,000 by 2025 as projected by the Business Roundtable) and enable Tampa Bay businesses, large and small, to pursue success in exporting their goods, services, digital content and other intellectual property."

Susie ended her presentation with a fun pop quiz involving the flags of the countries involved in TPP. Guess what! China is not one of them. Thank you Susie for taking this daunting trade agreement and making it accessible to us with humor and grace.

Breaking Barriers – Guiding International Cargoes Safely into Tampa Bay and Making History as Florida’s Frist Woman Harbor Pilot

Thu, 24 Mar 2016 18:33:12 GMT

Who was and is the first female harbor pilot in Florida?
You would know the answer if you attended the TBOWIT March 2016 luncheon.
It’s none other than Captain Carolyn Kurtz!

To celebrate Women’s History Month we asked Capt. Kurtz to come and tell us her story. It was a great way to celebrate Capt. Kurtz and women’s history month, but in the end it was the audience who benefited as we learned A LOT about Capt. Kurtz, about being a harbor pilot, and about Port Tampa Bay.

Not only was Capt. Kurtz the first female to pass the pilot test in Florida, but she was only the eighth female in the entire U.S. In present time, there are about 1,200 pilots and only 30 are women, but there are more females entering maritime schools.

What does a harbor pilot do?
A harbor pilot takes charge of a large ocean going vessel close to a port and brings the vessel safe to berth and vice versa. These vessels are longer than a skyscraper!

How does a pilot get onboard?
A pilot gets a boat ride to the vessel, a rope ladder is dropped, the pilot climbs the ladder and voilà – the pilot is on board. Sounds simple, but with waves and wind, it can be tricky!

What is a typical work schedule?
2 weeks on (24/7) & 2 weeks off

Capt. Kurtz during part of her presentation showed a really cool slide deck of pictures that were taken of a few recent jobs. It was impressive!

As Capt. Kurtz explained in the maritime industry, the pay is equal and the job of a pilot is a lone pursuit. Any failure or success is attributed to the licensed person and not on anyone’s gender. Of the thousands of jobs that she has had only a handful have been negative experiences most of which were due to ignorance and confusion and were not mean or malicious. In anything, the crew members are curious and make for interesting encounters.

Of course we want to hear one of these negative stories! Actually, the story can be entitle Success is the Best Revenge. Early in Capt. Kurtz’s career when she was a chiefmate, she received some pushback from a captain. Eventually, she left that company. Years later when Capt. Kurtz was a harbor pilot here in Tampa, she got the job to bring in a vessel for this same captain. The captain’s face could not register the fact that Capt. Kurtz brought in his vessel safely, called out the speeds, knew where that vessel was at every moment in that channel, and made a text book perfect docking. That captain had to give Capt. Kurtz her due!

Another funny story, had to do with the time Capt. Kurtz piloted a disabled vessel that had had an engine fire and there was no operable toilet. That’s a story you have to hear in person so you can laugh along.

Capt. Kurtz has a long bio which I will past below. Just know that Capt. Kurtz is the real deal. If you ever get the chance to shake her hand – do it!

(picture - Capt. Kurtz bottom left with the TBOWIT Board)

Bio

Captain Carolyn Kurtz is one of the few pilots working for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Originally from New York, Captain Kurtz graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1986. She immediately joined Maritime Overseas Corporation as third officer, obtained an unlimited master’s license in 1993 and sailed until 1994. In 1995, she became the first woman to enter the training program to become a harbor pilot in the State of Florida. She graduated in the class of 1986 with only 10 percent female, which helped prepare her to be the sole woman during months at sea, including the Persian Gulf in 1987-88 during the Iran-Iraq War.

The Homeland Security Department acknowledged her skill with an appointment to its Navigation Safety Advisory Council, made up of civilian maritime professionals. Captain Kurtz has previously served as an FHPA director and was co-manager of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association from 2007-2009. She has been recognized as a “Woman of Distinction” by the Girl Scouts; and in 2010, received the “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” Award from the Jewish Museum of Florida. She is also a guest instructor at MITAGS and Maritime Pilots Institute. In 2012 she was the recipient of the Tampa Bay OWIT's Person of the Year.

CSV: A New Paradigm for Socially Responsible Business

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 17:38:08 GMT

This thought provoking topic was presented at TBOWIT's January 2016 lunch by Dr. Thomas L. Ainscough, Associate Professor, Marketing at USF St. Petersburg Kate Tiedemann College of Business. CSV, corporate shared value, goes above and beyond a company’s typical CSR, corporate social responsibility position. CSV is social responsibility that is grafted into all parts of a corporation enhancing corporate success. In the past, a company would throw some money into being a business that had corporate social responsibility. Studies named by Dr. Aisncough showed that the benefit to the bottom line was negligible at best and varied across industries.

CSV is an all-encompassing position that a company takes to promote citizenship, philanthropy, and sustainability.

CSV means:

· Corporate shared values with economic and social benefits

· Joint corporate and community value creation

· Integral to competing and to profit maximization

· Company specific and internally generated

· Realigns the entire company budget.

That’s great you say! How does it work in the real world?

Dr. Ainscough gave an interesting case study involving Cisco vendor system in Hong Kong. Cisco’s statement reads, “We expect our suppliers to meet the same high standards on ethics, labor rights, health, safety, & environment that we apply to our own people.”

Cisco applied their CSV to this particular supply chain in five areas: Design/Development, Planning/Ordering, Sourcing/Making, Delivering, & End of Life. For example with Design/Development, Cisco works with and checks the following with their vendors: Improvement in energy efficiency, Reduction of product packaging, and Design ease of recycling. Cisco is not just concerned about the production process, but also the people. Some of the items that Cisco checks for in a vendor include: How many overtime hours are worked, How many consecutive days without a break, & How many toilet breaks allowed. There are over 1,400 items involved in Cisco’s CSV plan with vendors. A similar check is done throughout each area of Cisco’s operation across all business units.

CSV is corporate shared values threaded throughout a company’s budget shaping how a company forms and operates. Studies cited by Dr. Ainscough show that the stock valuation of companies with a CSV plan in place outperform the S&P 500 over a ten year period. It’s worth checking out for your company and your people!

Port Tampa Bay Tour - November 2015

Wed, 16 Dec 2015 18:48:02 GMT

Even though it was a grey, rainy day, the TBOWIT group had fun this past November 19th on the Bay Spirit as we took a tour of Port Tampa Bay. PTB's Raul Alfonso, CCO, Wade Elliott, VP of Marketing & Business Development, as well as TBOWIT's own Christyna Doege, Marketing Coordinator, led a lively tour of the Port. Guests were filled in on all of the exciting developments at the port and got to see some vessels working at various terminals. Never one to disappoint, Christyna gave useful insights on all of the passing terminals along the way. Who knew so much was going on at the Port! Guests left full of information and full of good food and beverages.

Here are two fun pictures. One is of the Carnival Paradise coming down the channel carrying all of those lucky passengers on a cruise. It so happens that Christyna knew someone on board the ship who took the second picture of some of the attendees as the two ships passed each other. Fun!

Cuba - US Regs and HowThey Align with the Reality

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 20:58:39 GMT

To me Cuba is a mysterious place. I have heard a lot about the island, but at the same time I do not know much about it. Do you have the same feeling? All that has changed for me after attending the special TBOWIT luncheon with José María Viñals, Partner and Director of International Operations at Lupicinio International Law Firm, Head of Cuban Desk and his presentation Cuba Today: Current U.S. Regulations and how they align against the reality of law and business climate in Cuba

If you want to know what you can and what you cannot do in Cuba – he is your man! Since Mr. Viñals, has worked with companies doing business in Cuba for 20 years, he has boots on the ground knowledge of what companies face doing business in Cuba.

Did you know that Cuba imports 98% of their food and even though Cuba is famous for their rum and cigars, they have to import the rum bottles and cigar boxes? For every dollar exported, Cuba imports 3 dollars – a huge problem! For example, they import steel and all farm machinery. Also, they import about 100k barrels of oil per day from Venezuela. On top of that, 43% of the Cuban economy is tourism.

This is interesting – an investor can own 100% of his/her company in the special economic zone, Mariel. One catch, is that the Cuban government is trying to rebuild industry so, your business has to be a priority to the government. To encourage growth, a company is tax exempt for the first 8 years and after 8 years, the company pays 15% of profits. In Mariel, a company is tax exempt for the first 10 years and then the company pays 12% of profits. The client base is pretty stable in that the company derives its approval to exist from the Cuban government and the client is also the Cuban government. The country has a large, well-educated and qualified workforce. Cuba is considered to be a secure legal country after enacting a 1996 investment law which tied legal certainty to attracting FDI. A company is protected from direct and indirect meddling and Cuba is obliged to follow foreign arbitration. Cuba has signed onto 62 international treaties and follows the dictates of arbitration courts in Paris and Stockholm.

What are the cons? Why are companies afraid of Cuba?
According to Mr. Viñals, a company cannot just go there and do anything. The business has to be aligned with the priorities established with the Cuban government. If you change your board, the company needs prior approval. To hire an employee, a company has to go to a Cuban agency which selects 3 to 4 candidates. The US sanctions are the biggest hindrance. The sanctions affect investment power as well as technology since your product cannot have or use more than 10% US technology.

Here is another interesting facet, all of Cuba’s expenses and income are rounded into one global government account. Therefore, another hindrance to doing business in Cuba is the need for the company to have large amounts of solvency. Mr. Viñals gave the following example. There was a Russian company who hadn’t been paid for a while. The company met with Cuban officials who explained that they would be paid, but for the moment money had been diverted to help restore the island after a hurricane and the Russian company would just have to wait. The Russian company was eventually paid.

Another deterrent is the currency situation. There are two currencies - a local peso and a convertible peso and the country has 5 official exchange rates! It’s rather confusing so imagine if you were the accountant because the government wants each company to show its profits in both currencies! The government also wants a 5 year forecast!

This is just a small sampling of what Mr. Viñals had to offer in his presentation. There was so much offered. If we could have sat there all afternoon, we would have.

Mr. Viñals ended by saying the following –

What can you do in Cuba right now?

1)      Protect your brands and copyrights – register them with the government
2)      Do some market research – get to know Cuban values
3)      Get your foot in the door with some type of business even if it’s not your core business

4) Opportunity, Opportunity, Opportunity.

August Luncheon - Uruguay: More Than Just the Next Big Thing in Wine...Outsourcing, Logistics Hub, and Beyond

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:56:07 GMT

How much do you know about Uruguay?

If you were at the August TBOWIT luncheon you know a lot more and you are impressed!

Theresa Rice, the PR Representative in the U.S. for Uruguay XXI, the country’s investment and export promotion agency spoke about Uruguay to the delight of the TBOWIT audience.

Did you know that Uruguay produces 13.6 million liters of wine a year? On top of that, Uruguay is the first country in South America with traceability built into their supply chain. This means that in the case of wine, you can know down to the piece of land where the grape were grown that went into the making of the wine. In the case of beef, you can know the specific cow that gave you that piece of meat that you are eating. Speaking of which, all cows and lambs in Uruguay are grass fed, the ultimate in organic. Uruguay is the ONLY southern hemisphere country to produce caviar. The sturgeon fish that produce the caviar are farmed in large canals with fresh water flowing naturally. Uruguay is the 7^th largest producer of caviar and because of its location in the southern hemisphere, fresh caviar reaches the market at the peak of caviar season. One’s caviar can also be traced to its origin. Uruguay holds the title to the best olive oil outside of Europe and the 8^th worldwide. Uruguay is also the 6^th largest rice exporter.

As far as population, Uruguay has about 3.4 million residents and 2.8 million tourists. One challenge is to extend the tourist season and one means is to build a convention center. Another challenge is to improve the roads and rails which they are doing by encouraging public-private investment. On that front, last year they had $2.75 billion (US) in FDI. Uruguay is the only country in South America to have a free port and airport.

Half of Uruguay’s’ energy comes from renewable sources. They have the largest percentage of wind produced energy in the world. On the IT frontier, every child in Uruguay is given a laptop. Uruguay has more fiber optic cable laid to homes than the US and their download speed is faster. In fact, 98% of households have the internet. Plus, there is free wi-fi throughout the country..

Uruguay is a small country with a stable social and political system. Public education is free. Uruguay does not compete on costs. Uruguay focuses on value-added services such as financial services, IT. Uruguay is an easy entrance to the Mecrosur, the sub-regional bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

This is just a small sampling of the information offered at the luncheon. There was also a lively question and answer session after Mrs. Rice’s presentation. Everyone left with a better understanding of Uruguay and all it has to offer.

Going back to wine, Mrs. Rice was brought a bottle of wine to be raffled off and the lucky winner was Selma Canas.

May Luncheon 2015 - The Psychology of Money Across Cultures

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 16:35:04 GMT

Are humans different across the world when it comes to business and money?

Is this person rude because she is from Fill-In-The-Blank-Country or just because she is old?

May luncheon speaker, Holly P. Thomas, gave a very informative presentation on the psychology of money and how that impacts your work. Holly did an excellent job of drawing in the audience through the use of examples, humor, and audience participation. From Holly's studies, she has found that humans as an aggregate tend to have certain money hang-ups. By country, these universal truths take their own shape. Topics included: loss aversion, belief systems, negotiating, the endowment effect, time, & active listening. For example, most people are motivated by not wanting to lose. In North America, that typically means money. In Asia, that typically means loss of face/dignity. Holly offered helpful tips as well, such as, if you are dealing with someone in India, it would be a good strategy to negotiate the timing of a deal first before the actual deal itself as people from India tend to be less sensitive to time. Holly had lots of good information in her presentation. Too much to write here! Holly said it best, if you are not aware of your money/business beliefs, you will think that others have the same and that can be very bad for business!

January 2015 - Lunch

Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:33:43 GMT

*The below summary of the January 2015 lunch was provided by guest columnist, Rachel Palmer. Especially interesting are the six underlying conditions that lead to instability.*

On Thursday, January 29, 2015 TBOWIT had the January Lunch Event at Centre Club 123 South WestShore Blvd. Tampa, FL 33609. Presented by Commodore, Richard Menhinick, Royal Australian Navy. Commodore Menhinick has been in the Navy for 39 years now, but he has lived in Tampa for only 2 years. Out of the 5,000+ people in Central Command at MacDill Air Force, only 100-200 deal with International problems. He thinks that the Central Command at MacDill is great, because they are the only group of its kind in any Central Command office around the world. The officers on his team come from 25 different nations, including: Europe, Asia, Pacific and Central Americas, Afghanistan, China, South Korea and one about to join from Japan. His team creates Strategic Analysis 3 times a year; these reports go to Washington, Pentagon and even other countries. Six of the top underlining conditions his team looks at for these reports include: Economy, Religion, Demographics, Resources, Governance, and Artificial Boarders. He also talked about threats around the world including: weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical weaponry, terrorism, and piracy.

The Middle East
      The Middle East is always in the news for something
       His team tries not to concentrate on the countries themselves when dealing
          with the problems but what causes the problem.
      Six of the top underlining conditions his team looks at:
          Economy, it is often over looked in Strategic Analysis
             They have weak economies
              Syria and Iraq have destroyed their countries trading
          Religion
             530 Million people in Central Command covered areas
         Demographics
              Most of the countries have a very poor education system
              The two countries with the worst conditions are Yemen and Afghanistan
          Resources
              Major issues with food scarcity
              Lack of water is a large threat for many countries
              70% of the food in the Middle East is imported from the Western
                 countries
          Governance
                Most countries in Middle East have a heavy taint of corruption
                He read off an article his team wrote about corruption and its impact to
                    the communities
                Corruption is in every level of life, not just in the government
                The members of these societies deal with corruption on a daily basis
            Artificial Boarders
                Some countries built these artificial boarders to keep certain ethnic
                      groups out

             Threats
                 Weapons of mass destruction, nuclear and chemical weaponry
                 Israel and Afghanistan, great deal of instability
              Terrorism
                 They call ISIS, DASH
              Piracy
                  Everyone always focuses on “Terrorism in the Sea”
                  Mainly it deals with drugs
                  The U.S Navy was really good at preventing piracy, but it was never
                        publicized so they stopped trying to prevent it
                   Pakistan to Tanzania is the drug route by water
                   The real danger in piracy is where the money goes

               Human Rights Violations
                   There are almost as many confrontations as there are countries in his
                       area concentrated on about 20 countries
                   The two top confrontations
                  Iran and Saudi Arabia
                  Pakistan and India

            Issues in Iraq and Syria
                Iraq: the government is not involved to stop it
                Syria: more complicated, they need to work out a compromise
               The Central Command wants to beat Dash and stop the Civil Wars

August Lunch Recap - Monica Varela - IKEA

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:02:23 GMT

"Taking a Major Retailer on the International Path Undefined - An IKEA Retrospective
from Sweden, to the U.S. and Beyond"

By a show of hands - Who’s heard of IKEA before? Who’s been to the store in Tampa? It’s surprising to learn that 38% of the population in Tampa doesn’t know what IKEA is or that there is a IKEA store in Tampa. This is one challenge that IKEA faces according to our latest TBOWIT luncheon speaker, Monica Varela, Manager of the Tampa store. If you missed Monica’s presentation this past Thursday, August 28th, you missed a fascinating talk about mixing cultures and IKEA’s entrance to the US market.

Monica has worked for IKEA since 1989 and her enthusiasm for her company was contagious and her knowledge was extensive. Monica is an IKEA expert having worked at the US corporate headquarters in charge of various product “ranges”, worked abroad as manager of European ranges/stores/regions, and now as manager of the Tampa store. This lady knows her stuff – IKEA stuff! The overarching theme of Monica’s presentation was – how do you mix cultures and modify products for a particular market without turning your back on corporate culture. How do you go about planting IKEA’s Swedish culture and values of functionality, sustainability, equality, and stewardship into the US market? How do you overcome the challenges that will inevitably come up?

The answer is two-prong – educate your market and educate the home office in Sweden to where they modify the “range” (product line). Here are a few examples of challenges faced-

Bedding - IKEA was the first to introduce the concept of a duvet cover. IKEA US had to educate their public on the use and practicality of a duvet cover. On the flip side, IKEA US had to help Sweden realize that Americans want flat sheets (Swedish people don’t sleep with flat sheets). IKEA now sells flat sheets.

Lighting – Sweden doesn’t get as much light as we do here in the US. It’s actually quite dark. The Swedish people use “points of light” in the rooms of their home. They will have a specific light for a specific purpose usually at a lower wattage. The Swedish will turn off and on lights as they move around a room. Conversely, in the US, we typically use a higher wattage bulb for the whole room. For the US market, IKEA had to come up with a higher wattage bulb. As info, by 2016, all of IKEA’s lights globally will be LED.

Candles – For the Swede, candles are functional. Not so in the US, we use candles for decoration and for their scent. There was a long battle to get the go-ahead to sell scented candles in the US. Today, they are the number one seller around the world!

Glassware – No, that’s not a pitcher for water. That’s the size of the glass that Americans want to use. In Sweden, they do not use ice so their glasses are taller and narrower. IKEA US was given the go ahead to move glass production to the US and we now have our “normal” size glasses.

Kids Dept – IKEA tries to sell products and to show their customers that kids are not to be isolated or protected in the home. Kids should have a central place in every room of the house. For instance, IKEA sells a porcelain tea service. They want kids to learn that if you drop something it’ll break and you might get a cut. One thing that IKEA has not been allowed to sell in the US though that they sell in Europe – a tool kit with a real hammer and saw (!).

While there have been some challenges when it comes to the range, IKEA (which in Sweden is pronounced ee-kay-a) has had great success with planting their Swedish corporate culture in not only the US stores, but IKEA stores globally. Here are a few of IKEA’s ethos.

Diversity – At IKEA stores, diversity is invited, welcomed, and accepted. It doesn’t matter if you have pink hair, tattoos, or piercings for instance. IKEA co-workers don’t have to hide who they are. Co-workers are supported in their individual expression and uniqueness.

Equality – At IKEA, there is no sense of strict hierarchy. There are no offices or cubicles. Monica’s desk is a room with several other desks. Everyone wears the same uniform. Everyone goes by their first name. Monica told a humorous story that happened recently when a new hire thought that Monica was a pusher-of-carts because that is where she had first seen her.

Energy – The best ideas come from the bottom up across all lines. September starts the IKEA business year. To come up with the next year business plan, IKEA Tampa took 14 of their employees from across the spectrum thru a SWOT analysis and this group comes up with the business plan. This group of employees not only comes up with the plan, but then presents the plan to the IKEA board. Monica is proud to say that this year’s plan was deemed “the best ever!”.

Work/life balance – Apparently Europeans have the following to say about us in the U.S., “Europeans work to live and Americans live to work.” At IKEA all managers are expected to work around 40 hours per week not 50/60/70 per week. If someone is working these many hours than there is something wrong. IKEA will work with a person to make sure that their job can be completed in around 40 hours.

Monica’s presentation was chock full of interesting tidbits, stories, and strategies to entwine two cultures. Monica also delved into current opportunities that IKEA faces such as e-commerce and evolving self-serve for customers who want to be served more (ex. picking and assembly). After Monica’s presentation, she fielded many questions from the audience and we could have peppered her for about another hour. I’m so glad that she answered so many questions, because through the answers we learned the origins of IKEA’s heart/hug plush, IKEA’s expansion plans both in the US and globally, a few stories of culture clashes between Sweden and other countries, how IKEA cares for their suppliers and invests in their suppliers, local in-store events, and local philanthropy.

Best of all, Monica ended her presentation with a raffle for about a dozen IKEA items – everything from lights to duvet covers to office storage to, of course, a heart/hug plush pillow & more!

If you missed Monica’s presentation, you missed an energetic, highly informative, excellent talk about IKEA. But don’t worry, you can always visit the store!

by - Christyna Doege

March 2014 Luncheon Event Recap

Mon, 02 Jun 2014 21:34:37 GMT

“SHIFTING DIRECTIONS: Challenges of Managing Growth Driven by the International Customer"

It’s not often that you get to listen to the CEO of a NASDAQ-traded company give pointers on how to successfully engage in international business.

How lucky were we then to hear Mr. Ermanno P. Santilli, CEO of MagneGas this past Thursday at TBOWIT’s March luncheon. I won’t pretend to understand the process behind MagneGas’ product except that I know it’s called –Plasma Arc Flow.

Their technology gasifies or sterilizes hazardous liquid wastes and produces a fuel which they have called MagneGas. This gas and process is at the forefront of green technology. MagneGas fuel has the lowest green house emissions of any fuel out there on the market today. And it’s cost competitive to boot.

How then do you take this marvelous product and sell it overseas while safeguarding your proprietary rights?

Ermanno gave a lot of pointers and here are a few.

One, Recognize that you can’t do it alone–you need trusted and responsible individuals on the ground overseas who know the local taxes, customs, and etc. Two, from the very start make it clear that you follow the FCPA guidelines (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). Three, Pay attention to red flags such as high commissions, a different payment address from a legal address, or someone not wanting to meet at the company location. Four, Follow up, insist on meeting the client at their place of work, get their business card, and then after the meeting call both their office number and the main office number to speak to the individual. Five, Be on the offensive when it comes to protecting your international patents - have overlapping IP protections to keep copy cats away, service your own products, know who your client is, and keep your negotiations on the down low. It wouldn’t surprise me if one day Mr. Santilli writes a book because he had a lot of good information to share.

What a great opportunity we had to listen and ask questions of this successful CEO!

By Christyna Doege

January 2014 Luncheon Event Recap

Mon, 02 Jun 2014 21:30:04 GMT

"Battles and Victories from Women-Owned Businesses: Defense Contractors of the Not-So-Weaker Sex"

What do top secret clearance, Libyan dictators, and government contracts have in common -the answer is one woman, Sally Woodward, Partner at Shutts & Bowen, LLP.

If you missed January's TBOWIT's lunch meeting, you missed a fascinating conversation covering a crash course on government contracting, the importance of having knowledgeable consultants & support, and real-life examples from the world of government contracts. A little-known fact that Sally pointed out is that the Tampa Bay area is the 3rd largest federal government contract area in the nation. That's right, the 3rd largest. We would re-cap some of those adventurous stories that Sally told except they are now cloaked in OWIT secrecy & you will need OWIT clearance (This is a joke!).

Sally also explained to the OWIT audience how a "domestic" contract can quickly become international when a company's contract is extended to embassies, bases, or agencies established overseas and, even more complicated, a formerly domestic contract extended to a foreign government under the auspicious of the US federal government. Sally capably and eagerly held our hand thru some of the nuances of government contracting explaining about FARS, the benefits available to women-owned companies, profit margins, government accounting, the fine line between money paid overseas for necessary procedures & to secure a bid (ahem..we mean a bribe -which Sally quickly pointed out is one reason you need wise counsel by your side). Sally covered so much ground that frankly, expert is probably a mild form of praise.

Government contracting requires a lot of up-front work, but can be quite lucrative. It's refreshing to hear about successful women-owned businesses in the Tampa Bay area that are involved in this arena and that we have such a resource in women like Sally who can offer the support and expertise needed to thrive. Sally started to the TBOWIT year off with a bang! (no pun intended)

Thank you Sally!

By Christyna Doege