By: Ravi Parameswaran

In the September 15, 2014 minutes of the East Michigan District Export Council (EMDEC), Terry Kalley had remarked, “The DEC website is an ongoing project, and we can really do with DEC members writing articles for the website.” In the January 20, 2015 (which unfortunately I could not even remotely attend), Richard Corson “reiterated the importance of focusing on the (educational) role of the
EMDEC…, and away from administrative tasks” after Noel Nevshehir presented the following highlight based on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.  He stated “there are issues with trade due to
theocracy and Sharia law. Obtaining a visa is problematic and costly ($1,000). It takes multiple agencies to process each visa, and women attending mission needed permission from the religious police to
attend meetings and cannot travel without a male escort. He emphasized that the potential for trade deals was positive but dependent on connections within the monarchy. Dubai and Saudi Arabia are in a
position to diversify, and there is potential in defense, automotive, and IT.” The most recent minutes (April 23, 2015) is chock full of details on USEAC (United States Export Assistance Centers) activities such as the rural initiative, educational and other trade missions, automobile team training and matchmaking events, technological university, OPIC, EXIM, NASBITE, and NAFTA and BIS workshops and
conferences; and discussions on TPA and TPP, and China, Russia and the US contemporary new Silk Road initiatives.

In the meantime, I began preparing for the first session (three contact hours) of my Oakland University Fall 2015 Graduate International Marketing Class (where I begin to introduce my students to the global
business environment and provide a flavor of what is to come in the rest of the term regards global business and marketing). It struck me that this might be the opportunity for me to fulfil my commitment
to the article mentioned above as well as give the EMDEC a flavor of the complexity of contemporary global business, probably way beyond what our global business immersed DEC colleagues impute in
their day to day execution of the trade. The second purpose of this article is to determine if we can then evolve an EMDEC initiated educational curriculum that would serve the advanced needs of our DEC
members while also charting out a systematically layered global business curriculum that DECs can implement to train their clientele on the subtleties of doing business around the globe.

To Read More, please go to the Export articles in our Resources section.