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Hello International Traders! John McDonnell here, with your latest issue of Really Useful
Sites for International Trade Professionals. Italy is a country
with a healthy appetite for trade, and I've got a site in this
issue that will help you research the Italian market. Plus, what
sites do librarians use for research? I've got a list of them in
this issue. And, you can get the jump on your competitors with
the site I found on competitive intelligence. Finally, I have two
sites where you can reach out to the victims of the tsunami
tragedy.
If you'd like more information about international trade, go to FITA's
International Trade/ Import-Export Portal ( http://fita.org ), an excellent
source for trade leads, news, events, and a link library of 7,000 sites related
to international trade.
| ITALY -- OUR FEATURED COUNTRY
Italians have known the value of international trade since at
least the time of Marco Polo, who brought back spaghetti, silk,
and recipes for water ice from his travels in the Far East.
These days, Italy has a diversified industrial economy with
roughly the same total and per capita output as France and the
UK, and a good portion of it comes from trade -- imports and
exports both exceeded US $270 billion in 2003.
If you'd like to learn more about trade opportunities with Italy, a good site
to visit is the Italy
country profile at globalEDGE (TM) ( http://globaledge.msu.edu/ibrd/CountryIntro.asp?CountryID=59
). Click on categories of interest (Statistics, Economy, Corporations, etc.)
in the left column, or you can read the latest news by clicking on headlines
in the right column. Scroll down the page and you'll see links to Web portals
with detailed country profiles and more useful information about Italy. There's
enough here to keep you busy for awhile, and get your research off to a good
start.
There are more useful links to Italy at the FITA site. Simply go to http://www.fita.org/webindex/countries.html,
then go to "Europe" and click on Italy. Or, you can type "Italy"
in the search box at http://www.fita.org.
And the FITA
Global Trade Book Store has several books about doing
business with Italy. Take a look at Business
Italy: A Practical Guide to Understanding Italian Business
Culture, Doing
Business in Italy and Passport
Italy.
BEST FREE REFERENCE SITES -- 2004
When I was in school, librarians were considered hopelessly out of touch, with
their thick glasses and their pocket protectors. Times have changed, however,
and librarians have come up in the world, because people understand that they're
information experts. Librarians hold the keys to success in the Information Age,
and any Web site endorsed by librarians is one I'm going to pay attention to.
That's why I like the American Library Association's Best Free Reference Sites
2004, a collection of sites that librarians recommend. It's a page worth bookmarking,
because it has links to sites about history, the environment, banking, food, science,
market research, homework help, company research, word definitions, and much more.
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LOOKING FOR A QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE?
Advertise your opening here.
http://careerhq.fita.org
Have a job opening? Do you want access to a well defined and
qualified internationally-focused talent pool? Post your opening for FREE.
FITA - The
Federation of International Trade Associations (www.fita.org), the premier
online portal that represents the international trade community, invites you
to take advantage of their FITA Career Headquarters FREE job posting special.
Employers have come to expect a certain level of technology
when it comes to recruiting online. The FITA
Career Headquarters (http://careerhq.fita.org) goes above and beyond this
level of expectation. Instead of searching thousands of resumes and being flooded
with resumes from unqualified candidates, you and your human resources staff
will have access to a more qualified talent pool. You will not only be able
to take advantage of our FREE posting special (includes access to FITA's searchable
database of 900 resumes), but you will be able to receive lower pricing than
the typical commercial job boards once the special expires February 28, 2005.
To post your jobs with us for free, go to http://careerhq.fita.org
and just enter this text in the online promotion code field: FREE
With questions please contact the FITA Career Headquarters
Program Manager, at 703-707-8686, ext. 9560 or visit http://careerhq.fita.org.
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SUPER SEARCHERS ON COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
It's a high stakes world in business these days, and no company can afford to
be ignorant of their competition. Luckily, there are lots of ways you can research
your competitors on the Web. Just go to Super
Searchers on Competitive Intelligence ( http://www.infotoday.com/supersearchers/ssci.htm
), and you'll find hundreds of links to good sources of information. There are
free and fee-based sites for specific industries, financial data, news services,
market research, university libraries, company profiles, and research tips, to
name just a few.
TSUNAMI RELIEF
The tsunami that hit Asia on December 26 is not the biggest in
recorded history, but the United Nations says the effects may be
the biggest ever because many more people live in exposed areas
than ever before. If you'd like to help in the massive relief
effort for the countries affected by the killer wave, here are
two sites to visit.
- Catastrophe in Asia:
How to Help ( http://sfgate.com/tsunamiaid/ ). This site has a list of
recommended U.S. charities doing tsunami relief work. It is based on lists
put together by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a watchdog group,
and the Better Business Bureau. There are links to dozens of charities, plus
advice about checking out charities before you send them your money.
- Asia
Quake Disaster: an In-Depth Look at CARE's Response. CARE staff in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand have
been on the ground dispensing food, water purification tablets, shelter materials
and basic medical supplies to victims in the hardest-hit areas. CARE has been
providing poverty relief programs in these countries for more than 30 years,
and it is a worthwhile charity to support. At this site you can read about
the tsunami relief effort, and learn about many different ways to make donations.
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GIVE US FEEDBACK!
Please tell us what you think of these Really Useful Sites! Send
us your comments (newsletter@fita.org) about this or past issues
or to give us suggestions about future editions!
BENEFITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
http://www.fita.org/marketplace
FITA offers our subscribers many benefits. Go to the "Global
Trade Shop" for services that are of great value. For
example:
Take a look!
We welcome our subscribers to publish this whole issue or articles
from it. But please note that all material is copyrighted by FITA
and must be copied with the following attribution:
"This is copied from the newsletter Really
Useful Sites for International Trade Professionals,
a free, bi-weekly email publication of FITA - The Federation
of International Trade Associations. Please feel free to subscribe
to this newsletter at http://fita.org/useful."
If you'd like to see all back issues of Really Useful Sites
for International Trade Professionals, the full list is at http://www.fita.org/useful/archives.
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Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to others.
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Published by Federation of International Trade Associations
Copyright © 2004 Federation of International Trade Associations.
All rights reserved.
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