Importing (buying products overseas and reselling them in one’s own country) and exporting (selling domestic products to foreign customers) are the oldest and most prevalent forms of international trade. For many companies, importing is the primary link to the global market. American food and beverage wholesalers, for instance, import the bottled water Evian from its source in the French Alps for resale in U.S. supermarkets.Fine Waters Media, “Bottled Water of France,” http://www.finewaters.com/Bottled_Water/France/Evian.asp (accessed May 25, 2006). Other companies get into the global arena by identifying an international market for their products and become exporters. The Chinese, for instance, are increasingly fond of fast foods cooked in soybean oil. Because they also have an increasing appetite for meat, they need high-protein soybeans to raise livestock.H. Frederick Gale, “China’s Growing Affluence: How Food Markets Are Responding” (U.S. Department of Agriculture, June 2003), http://www.ers.usda.gov/Amberwaves/June03/Features/ChinasGrowingAffluence.htm (accessed May 25, 2006). As a result, American farmers now export over $1 billion worth of soybeans to China every year.
Source:
“Business in a Global Environment”, chapter 3 from the book An Introduction to Business (v. 1.0), curated by Andy Schmitz on http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-business-v1.0/s07-business-in-a-global-environme.html