Complexity of International Trade and Logistics
International
trade and logistics are extraordinarily complex to administer and execute.
Different countries and regions have differences in policy that companies must adhere
to, whilst different customers require different services. There is a huge
amount of information needed by a variety of people during the process of making
deals that have to be coordinated and communicated. Prices and volumes need to
be agreed upon, freight has to be arranged, trade partners have to create and
approve documents, check quality of products and provide customer service. For
someone not familiar with the fields of international trade and logistics,
it may appear as an endless chain of events without any proper structure or
standard procedures to apply - which is, to some extent, true in some supply
chains.
What are Transaction
Costs?
Transaction
costs are costs that appear in relation to an economical exchange and are very
hard to accurately quantify. In the context of international trade and how
businesses typically execute it, the transaction costs are considerable
between the stages of business inquiry until the goods have arrived at the
place of delivery. A buyer, for example needs to invest time and effort to find
a good product and manage all the previously mentioned steps, which requires
resources and therefore money. In big companies with many different shipments
ongoing simultaneously, it regularly happens that crucial people from both
buying and selling sides are absent for various reasons. This is a great
problem that comes with huge transaction costs when a colleague has to pick up
the work of someone else: reading in old emails, tracing documentation
amendments and simply trying to put the pieces together.
Keeping Track and
Increasing Accountability
In
the Centersource
supply chain collaboration platform all trade partners and colleagues are
working in the same shared workspace which provides a good foundation for less transaction
costs. Staff can pick up the work from absent colleagues seamlessly, and track
everyone's responsibilities in different deals. Most of all the check calls
will be unnecessary since tracking information and trade related documents are
managed in the same workspace. The workspace helps you and your trade partners
to ensure high quality in the trading process with tools to enhance supply
chain visibility, accountability and transparency - if anyone forgets a
deadline the system will tell you, if any deal milestone is closing the system
will remind you.
Centersource Technologies
Website:
https://www.centersource.io/
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