Smart Skills
Go places in international business
Usha Albuquerque

Go to any market and you can get Gucci handbags and Armani perfumes as easily as Toblerone chocolates and McVitie’s biscuits. No longer does one have to make friends with the local smuggler! As one of the key elements in the country’s development efforts, international business offers challenging employment opportunities.

This can include the production, packing, invoicing, transporting, shipping and marketing of products, and the promotion of a variety of services, both technical and non-technical to other countries. Over the years, with the setting up of various export promotion bodies and export service institutions an extensive export promotion system has evolved.

As the range of products and services range from raw agricultural commodities like grain and sugar to jewellery, textiles and IT services, the work in international business is varied. You can work in buying houses, with companies that buy foreign goods and bring them into the country; or with export units, the international business divisions of various multinational companies, or in channelising agencies such as the State Trading Corporation (STC) and the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC).

There are different kinds of work areas in International Business.

The work in a Buying House involves dealing with buyers/agents in international markets, and requires knowledge and an awareness of international prices, trends and opportunities, as well as documentation procedures.

Work in an export industry involves a range of functions like production, invoicing, packing, transport and shipping, marketing and documentation.

Broadly, the various jobs in this field include:

Export managers are responsible for selecting exportable merchandise for exports and for purchasing the raw material for manufacturing a product. He/she looks after matters relating to exports, export incentives, drawbacks, and credits.

Documentation assistant: A documentation assistant has to deal with export promotion councils and shipping agents.

Purchase officer: The purchase officer is responsible for buying raw material for manufacturing a product. Merchant exporters require purchase officers for selecting exportable merchandise.

Manufacturers: Manufacturers produce goods of international standards and sell them to exporters or business agents. Often they export the product themselves.

The channelising agencies are appointed by exporters to minimise expenses and overcome problems of language, government rules and regulations. Channelising agencies like the State Trading Corporation (STC) enroll exporters as business associates to supply them goods for export.

Exporters also appoint sales agents on commission basis to help them in assessing the market and providing consultancy on appropriate methods and strategies for selling their products.

Inspectors work independently or with an organisation and are responsible for the quality control of the product to be exported.

To work in international business you need to be qualified in the area of export, whether in fashion goods, jewellery or IT software, or have training in International Business/ or Foreign Trade. Many have both specialisations. As most of the sought after International Business/Foreign Trade programmes are offered at the post-graduate level, graduation in any discipline (preferably Commerce or Economics, or in the specialisation of choice is the basic eligibility criteria for the 2-year PG diploma in International Business.

There are several institutes offering programmes in International Business, or Foreign Trade. These include the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, Symbiosis Institute of Foreign Trade, Pune, and several of the B-schools which offer the 2-year, full-time Master’s programme in International Business. The Delhi School of Economics offers a 1-year PG Diploma in International Marketing, as well as other diploma courses, many of which are part-time or evening classes.

Other courses include the 1-year PG diploma in International Trade (Punjab University), 6-month course in export business management (Gujarat University) and a 2-semester course in Foreign Trade (University of Madras).

The Export Inspection Council has a full-fledged training centre at Chennai for the management cadre.

There is also the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Indian Institute of Export Management in Calcutta, and Foreign Trade Development Centre that conduct courses in export management, some through correspondence. IGNOU also offers a PG diploma in International Business Operations, as also a PG diploma in marketing management. This latter course is also offered by several other universities through distance learning, including BR Ambedkar University, Kota University and Karnataka State Open University. The Indian Institute of Export Management, Bangalore, (enquiries@iiem.com) and KC College of Management Studies, Mumbai (kccms@bom5.vsnl.net.in) also offer diplomas in export-import management through correspondence.

However, in addition to academic qualifications among the qualities required to be successful in International Business are good communication skills, business aptitude, knowledge of a foreign language, persuasive ability and confidence.

With a professional degree in International Business, you can get yourself a good job in merchandising companies, and international business divisions of various multinational corporations. There are also openings with export units and companies that import or export goods, and with transport and shipping companies. Retail houses involved in import of various products and those in IT export also require graduates on international business. In the government sector, opportunities exist in companies such as STC and MMTC.

Prominent institutions include:

• The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi

• Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University

• Indian Institute of Export Management, Bangalore

• National Institute of Export Management, Chennai

• Indian Institute of Commerce and Trade, Lucknow

• Panjab University, Chandigarh

• Gujarat University, Ahmedabad

• University of Madras, Chennai.

The writer is a noted career expert