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If there was a recurring theme during the second annual Global Vision/LI symposium at the Huntington Hilton on May 10, it was that LI businesses have got to wake up and get into the global marketplace before the window of opportunity slams shut.
As Spencer Ross, president of the National Institute for World Trade (Old Westbury), told representatives from more than 150 LI businesses, exporting could mean an additional 30,000-50,000 jobs on LI over three to five years once there is a coordinated, structured program that targets small and mid-sized firms in place.
Judging by the number of world trade related events held on LI within the past month, it would seem that LI is beginning to get that message.
Export fever kicked off this spring with the Hauppauge Industrial Assn's Sixth Annual Trade Expo Apr 21 at the Sheraton Smithtown. It shifted into high gear Apr 26, as the LI International Trade Resource Coalition (Mineola) sponsored "NAFTA...New Directions for LI Exports," at Hofstra University (Hempstead). And it climaxed with the National Institute for World Trade Global Business/LI event, which coincided with the historical swearing in of Nelson Mandela, as South Africa's first black president.
WORLD TRADE/GLOBAL BUSINESS 2000
This year's event was compressed into one day, ushered in by a nine-member panel discussion, a departure from the usual line-up of expert speakers that characterizes most symposiums. Its significance was reinforced by the events in the Republic of South Africa and the galvanizing appearance of South African Consul General Joe Stauch, who was in and out of the symposium in 30 minutes because of another engagement in NYC.
The lessons came in the form of statistics, such as KPMG Peat Marwick (Jericho) Managing Partner Eugene DeMark's statement that for every one successful foray into global business there are four or five failures. They also came in the form of personal experience, such as that shared by Sprint (Reston, VA) International Director of Human Resources Bill Manfredi, who lived in Asia for three years and urged the crowd to understand the foreign cities we operate in rather than do what we do well here and...