Ventures Dialogue

Learning about potential partners, foreign or domestic, is an important part of any business.  Doing your homework and deciding on a foreign supplier to obtain needed inputs for product development is no exception.  ”Choosing the wrong one can be very costly,” as noted by the experts at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT).  They note that there are six must-ask questions to help you decide on a foreign supplier:

1. What is the company’s history?
2. What do you know about the key personnel?
3. Does the supplier have a sound financial history?
4. What is the operational capacity of the supplier?
5. What terms and pricing are they offering?
6. Are they prepared to offer any additional support?

While these questions may seem straight forward and their importance obvious, it may surprise you, as DFATI notes, that some businesses are not seeking the answers to these basic questions.  It’s best not to find yourselves falling into this category.  To better understand why these questions are important, read DFAIT’s article. 

Photo by Jim Frazier

During Stockwell Day’s recent trade mission promoting Canadian building systems and energy-efficient construction companies to China and Japan, the federal government’s Minister of International Trade and Minister of Asia-Pacific Gateway’s also used the visit to announce the launch of six new Canada-China science and technology research collaborations.  These projects, partly funding by $6.87 million of Canadian funds, is part of the government’s International Science and Technology Partnerships Program (ISTPP).  The projects differ, ranging from healthcare and climate change to wastewater treatment and wireless technology.

ISTPP is a $20 million five-year program administered by ISTPCanada, a non-profit organization.  The program aims to encourage commercialization by bringing together key stakeholders in both countries from the private and public sectors.  Collaboartion with universities have their place as well as being important hubs of knowledge and innovation.  

Canada’s partnership with China was launched in January 2007 with the focus on energy, including fuel cells; environment, life sciences and biotechnology; agricultural foods and bioproducts; and information and communications technologies and nanotechnology.  In May 2008, the inaugural 20 projects (worth more than $11 million) were unveiled. 

China is not the only nation that with which Canada has science and technology agreements.  Canada has also signed partnerships with Brazil, India and Israel. 

Other than supporting research and development projects, ISTPCanada also supports development activities such as workshops, symposia, conferences etc., with the goal of promoting international research collaboration.     

If you think your business could fit into these categories, it is worth a following up. Take a look at the backgrounder from this media release/backgrounder for a complete list of the six projects and their partnering organizations.

Photo by Dominik Mayer of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

Stockwell Day, Canada’s Minister of International Trade and Minister of Asia-Pacific Gateway, has just concluded a 10 day trade mission to China and Japan where he got quite a lot accomplished.  The mission’s purpose was to promote Canadian businesses in building systems (wood frame and light steel construction), and energy-efficient construction (building products, technologies and design, including retrofitting, energy and water conservation, heating and cooling equipment, new building materials, cold climate building technologies, and architectural services).  While there, he also participated in four separate trade missions covering a variety of sectors: 1) transportation firms and organizations promoting the Asia-Pacific Gateway as a key North American corridor; 2) information and communications technology companies; 3) construction companies with expertise in energy-efficient products and building designs; and 4) a medical devices delegation. 

For China specifically, Minister Day signed a new trade logistics agreement to further support trade and transportation between countries, an action plan for collaboration in the transportation sector, and also an agreement on cooperation in civil aviation industries.  He wasn’t done there however, as it was also announced that Canada will open two new trade offices in Chengdu and Shenzhen by July 1, with four others to be open by year’s end. These six new offices will complement Canada’s four existing offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing.

Chengdu is a vital economic, transportation and communication center in the southwest, and according to the US Commerical Service, the most important commercial center in West China.  Its key manufacturing sectors are electronics, machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, metallurgy and food processing industries.  Shenzhen on the other hand is noted as being China’s first and so far, most successful Special Economic Zone.  It attracts a lot of foreign investment, is the second busiest port in mainland China (following Shanghai), is where quite a few of China’s high-tech companies are headquartered, and is considered one of the fastest growing cities in the world.  The Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well is located there.

Photo from http://www.international.gc.ca/commerce/visit-visite/jap-chi-2009-photos2.aspx

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is inviting all Ontarians to join in a grassroots movement to shift focus from today’s challenges to tomorrow’s potential by celebrating the advantages offered in the province.

Pointing to the many people who have come to Ontario from other parts of the world, to work or study, to invest, or to raise a family, the OCC has identified the various reasons why Ontario is a ‘magnet for the world’. 

It’s inviting all Ontarians to share their stories about Ontario on their website.  Stories are being gathered today in Toronto and at subsequent events throughout the province.

In a follow-up to my December 22 post, China and the European Union have agreed that by September 1, 2009 China will take measures to comply with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ruling about the extra fees applied to the importation of automobile parts.  The agreement was first reached with the EU, however Canada and the US have settled on agreements as well.

To recap, this issue was brought forward by the EU, US and Canada back in 2006.  The WTO ruled in 2008 that China’s policy auto part importation policy was not in line with its WTO responsibilities.  In addition to a 10 per cent customs duty, China was also imposing a 15 per cent fee on imported car parts when those parts accounted for 60 per cent or more of the price of the complete vehicle, or when specific combinations of imported parts are used to assemble a complete vehicle.  In February, China told the WTO it was taking steps to comply with their ruling and needed a reasonable amount of time to fully comply.   Continue reading ‘China sets September 1 as a deadline for auto parts fee compliance’

Cathay Pacific was honored as the world’s best airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards on April 1.  This prestigious prize was the result of an eight month-long survey of almost 16 million travelers from 97 countries. 

The Hong Kong airliner, Cathay Pacific, was not the only Asian airline honored.  In fact, carriers from Asia and the Pacific were overwhelmingly present.  Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Qantas, Etihad Airways, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways round of the top 10, respectively.  Continue reading ‘Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific flies off with world’s best airline title’

An interesting article from the Financial Post discusses a new study released by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, in which it measures that more than 14,000 people are now directly employed by more than 247 Canadian video-game companies.  This amount surpasses the number of Canadian retail and transportation jobs.  It also eclipses the UK, for the third ranked spot, Japan and the US round off the top two positions.

The article also mentioned that protecting intellectual property rights is quickly becoming an important issue in Canada:

” “We have to start looking at intellectual-property industries like the video-game industry as really significant and important to the future of our country,” said Danielle Parr, executive director of the ESAC. “We are not going to be successful unless people really understand that this industry is important, it’s growing and it’s valuable to Canada.”

According to Parr, most jobs in the video-game industry are high-paying software development jobs. Based on the most recent statistics provided by Statistics Canada, 138,000 people were employed as computer programmers and interactive media developers in Canada in 2008. When compared with the ESAC numbers, it shows as much as 10 per cent of Canada’s software jobs are in the video-game industry.”