Competences and description of competences of the “Internationalisation Service Officer

The “Internationalisation Service Officer” profession, refers to a specialised employee whose task is to approach and sell in other countries and to mediate in corporate exchanges between companies from different countries. The ISO training manual aims at equipping employees with the necessary knowledge to successfully complete their tasks of approaching, servicing and selling abroad.

His/her second task is to create and maintain international relations with organisations of entrepreneurs and international institutions, including European and overseas organisations.

The proposed knowledge and competences that will be gained following training are:

International trade

This includes the appropriate rules and practices for handling trade between countries, currency regulations and the international monetary system.

InCoTerms

The Incoterms or International Commercial Terms are pre-defined commercial terms that describe obligations, costs, and risks involved in the delivery of goods from an exporting to an importing company.

International business

This includes all that someone needs to know in order to do business in a foreign country (language, local cultures, trade agreements, legal systems, political systems, economic policy, corporate cultures and ethics, foreign-exchange markets, tariffs, import regulations, standards dealing with accounting, living, and the environment).

Principles of Sales and Marketing

This includes the best ways of analysing market opportunities, selecting target markets, designing strategies, planning programs, organising, implementing and controlling the marketing effort, analysis of customer needs and expectations, systems of managing customer relations, and after-sales service.

Assessment of Export Readiness

This includes an assessment that should be made on the company in order to assess whether it is ready or not to start exporting activities. The aim is to gauge the company’s experience, capacity and motivation to move forward in order to find collaborative partners overseas.

Risk management in International business

Risk in international business, describes the possibility of loss due to any unfavorable event in business operation. There are different kinds of risks such as: political risk which is due to political instability in the target country, exchange risk which is due to changing values of two different currencies, credit risk when a borrower fails to repay a loan, transport risk which is the risk associated with transportation, market risk which is the risk associated with changes in the interest rates, recessions, natural disasters or terrorist attacks and finally cultural risk which is associated with different language, customs, norms and customer preferences.

European Initiatives for promoting Exporting –the Enterprise Europe Network

As mentioned above, there are many organisations and networks that can help firms in extroversion activities. In Europe, the most important is the Enterprise Europe Network. The Enterprise Europe Network helps businesses innovate and grow on an international scale. It is the world’s largest support network for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with international ambitions. The Network is active in more than 60 countries worldwide. It brings together 3,000 experts from more than 600-member organisations – all renowned for their excellence in business support.

Shipping activities

Shipping is dealing with organising and monitoring the transport of goods from origin to destination.

Transportation methods

This includes various processes and information requirements, the conditions of transportation in addition to the performance and legal frameworks of different modes of transport (air, sea, road, rail).

Transport insurance

This includes clauses dealing with the responsibility of the carriers, special exemption cases and the removal of the liability ceiling, insurance solutions, and special clauses about damage cases.

Customs rulings

This includes all advance rulings and other legal decisions in connection with the import of merchandise into a particular country

Packaging and labelling

This includes everything that a firm must know before exporting goods.  It must first ensure that packaging and labelling complies with the regulations of the target country. It may need to translate labels into the local language or to mark the origin of goods, or it may need to follow local customs to make its goods acceptable to customers.

Certifications

This refers to written assurances given by a certification organisation concerning a product, a service or a process that is complying with standard requirements. The purpose of the certification is to provide trust to the clients and to improve the image of a company, allowing it to set itself apart from its competitors.

Trademark protection

This refers to all actions a firm must take in order to protect its trademark including registration with national intellectual property organisations and, where appropriate, to opt for an international filing procedure.

Patent protection

This refers to all actions a firm can take in order to possess the exclusive rights of an invention for a determined period of time so that it can have exclusivity of use and protection for its creation.

Resource Management

This includes the process of pre-planning, scheduling, and allocating the existing resources of a firm in order to maximize efficiency.

Internet Promotion & Cybersecurity

This includes the tools a firm can use such as websites, online marketing, search engine optimisation, promotional videos, product catalogues, and social media in order to promote its products in foreign markets.  It also includes the safe use of the internet for payments and online transactions and correspondence.

Creation of an agreement

This describes the clauses that an agreement between international partners should include such as: the parties to the contract, the nature of the contract, prices and modes of payment, methods of transport, methods of delivery, force majeure, guarantees, the jurisdiction in the case of legal disputes and the language of the agreement.

Non-Discrimination Policies

This includes the ways a firm interacts and communicates foreign customers in alignment with non-discrimination laws which refers to legislation designed to prevent discrimination against particular groups of people, for example groups based on sex, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, mental illness or ability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, religion, or political orientations.

Spotting opportunities in foreign markets

This refers to the ability to seize and take advantage of opportunities in foreign markets, to respond to challenges and identify needs for clients’ products through exploring the cultural and economic situation in each target country.

Creativity

This refers to the ability to experiment with creating value and innovative approaches, finding new methods of doing things, developing knowledge and innovation and finally transforming ideas into solutions and profits for entrepreneurs.

Vision

This refers to the ability of a person to use his/her vision to inspire others, to guide strategic decision-making and create a road map in order to achieve that vision.

Valuing ideas

This refers to the ability to recognise the potential different ideas have, to develop strategies to make the most of the value generated by ideas (e.g. ideas of their clients which can bring growth to their business). Developing a tailored strategy focused on exports and intellectual property rights is also important for exporting companies.

Ethical and sustainable thinking

This refers to the ability of assessing the consequences of ideas that bring value and their effects on the market, the target community, society and the environment.  Assessment is also needed on how sustainable long-term social, cultural and economic goals are, and the course of action chosen.

Taking the initiative

This refers to the willingness to search for new opportunities, to take the initiative and take actions that add value for one’s clients. That can be achieved by actively facing challenges, creating new ideas, solving problems and finally creating value for clients.

Coping with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk

This refers to the procedure of evaluating the benefits and risks of alternative options (e.g. exporting to emerging markets) and making choices that reflect those preferences.

Planning and management

This involves the ability to design managerial procedures to effectively deliver value in challenging circumstances.

Team working

This involves building a team and networks based on creating added-value activities for clients.

Learning through experience

This refers to improving abilities to create value for clients by building on previous experiences and interactions with others, especially with successful exporters.