It is nearly impossible for a country to produce everything that its citizens require for consumption. Thus, countries have to coordinate with each other to allow exchange of goods and services through trade. A country will thus export what it produces more and import what it does not produce. The exchange of products and services among countries creates the balance of trade in the world. Countries that export more to other countries have the capability of importing many goods from other countries. The realization of the inability for nations to produce all that they need has led to specialization. Most countries concentrate on production of goods and services that they can produce best instead of struggling to produce every product. Therefore, there are countries in the world renowned for production of particular products because most other nations source the products from them. For Example, Brazil is recognized for production of tea and coffee, countries in the Middle East are known for production of oil, Japan is known for the production of technology, and Ghana known for the production of cocoa. The specialization enables the nations to produce most of a product.
A research was conducted in a local supermarket to establish the origin of some common products consumed in the United States. The items investigated include five fruits, two types of fresh meats, one canned meat, one canned fish, one package of coffee, one package of tea, and one package of bread. All the products investigated had their places of origin printed on the packaging. The fruits investigated included; custard apples, bananas, oranges, lemon, and grapes. Notably, it was established that custard apples found in the supermarket and consumed domestically by most families come from India. The bananas country of origin was Guatemala while Grapes were imported from Spain. The oranges and lemon were from Arizona and California, USA.
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Two types of fresh meat were also investigated included beef and chicken that were all from USA. Canned beef and canned fish was also researched. There are different varieties of canned beef and canned fish in the supermarket. The type of products chosen included those commonly consumed domestically. The canned meat had different names as determined by the companies that processed and packaged them. The canned beef investigated was known as Spam and was processed and packaged Minnesota, USA. The canned fish was referred to as Sardine in Brine processed and packaged in India.
The coffee and tea investigated included Maxwell House and Lipton. Maxwell House Coffee is processed in Nashville, New York by a company known as Kraft Heinze. Lipton tea, on the other hand, was processed in the United Kingdom and sold under the Unilever brand. Last, bread was also investigated. The bread identified known as Country Potato bread was produced in the United States. The determination of product origin revealed that most items consumed domestically originated from different parts of the world.
The country of origin of a product indicates mainly where an item is processed. The items in most instances require raw materials used to process or manufacture them. Therefore, while an item may originate from a particular country as indicated in the package, raw materials used to produce the same may be imported from varying countries. For example, when producing or manufacturing a watch, different items required to make different parts of the watch may be drawn from different countries. If it is a gold watch, the gold might come from Democratic Republic of Congo, plastic manufactured in the United States, and the nickel battery produced in China. In such an instance, a product has a varying biodiversity although manufactured in a particular country. The coffee consumed in the United States mainly comes from South America. However, companies that process them are mainly based in the United States. The companies thus import dried coffee berries and then process them before giving them different brands. The coffee investigated in this case had a Maxwell House brand name.
Agricultural products are mainly not processed. They are sold as they are from farms. For example, fruits researched in this case were sold as they were harvested from farms. Therefore, country of origin indicated or given by the product manager in the supermarket denoted the place where they were farmed and produced. However, there are some cases where the farm products are processed, for example canned meat and fish. The label on the product indicate the name of the country where the meat or fish was processed. In this case, the canned meat was processed in the United States while the canned fish was processed in India. As for bread, raw material required for production is wheat. Wheat has to be imported from maybe Brazil, ground into flour by another company; then, the flour is used in production of bread among other ingredients. The bread would simply be indicated to have originated from the United States while the varying ingredients are sourced from different countries.
The items researched in this case are all agricultural products. Notably, they are farm products. However, the agricultural methods used to obtain them differ depending on the product. For fruits, the items have to be planted and farmed until they mature and are ready for consumption. Most fruits and vegetables are sold without being processed. However, in the case of meat, such products come from animals reared by farmers. Once the animals are achieve the desired maturity level, they are slaughtered; the meat is processed and tinned. The processing allows products to last for a longer period. Most farm products are perishable. Except for fruits and vegetables, other products can be processed and kept for some time before consumption.
Domestic and foreign products require different processes to get them into the market. In this case, one domestic product was coffee by the brand name Maxwell House. Getting Maxwell house coffee to the market requires first undertaking of marketing research to determine exact markets that are likely to consume the product. The research would also include examining other competitors available in a market to develop an effective sales and marketing plan (Cohn, 2016). Once the market for the goods has been established, the company would supply products directly to retailers. In other instances, a local company would go through a network of suppliers to reach the market. The method is used mostly when the product has developed an established market. Consumers can then get the product from retailers.
The process of getting a product to a foreign market is however more complicated compared to the local products. The chain of supply is longer relative to foreign products. Exporting a product to a foreign market becomes more hectic if the item has to be consumed when fresh, for example, fruits and vegetables. The first step involves screening the areas to identify a potential market. An exporter has to screen the market objectively for both the opportunities and costs (Das, Roberts, & Tybout, 2007). The exporter would also investigate the regulatory environment of potential markets as well as potential red tape. The exporter also has to consider local culture and customs. It will determine how they package their product for the market. For example, if the targeted market is mainly comprised of Muslims, an exporter may package and market their products as halal . The final step will involve making market selections. In this case the exporter will have to travel to the target markets and establish contacts. It will give them an opportunity to identify the competitors and distribution channels.
After identifying the market, the next process is organizing for the products to reach the market. The exporter will liaise with the identified distribution channels to take the product to the targeted market. The exporter may decide to undertake all the processes required to reach the foreign market by themselves or sell the products to an importer in the targeted market and let the importer do the other procedures required to get the product to the market (Das et al., 2007). When the exporter undertakes all the processes, he or she would need to have agents in the foreign country to help in clearing the products and organizing distribution to markets. When products are sold to an importer, the producer would have a reduced task of organizing the products to reach the importer. The importer will then organize how the item will reach the domestic markets.
References
Cohn, T. H. (2016). Global political economy: Theory and practice . Routledge.
Das, S., Roberts, M. J., and Tybout, J. R. (2007). Market entry costs, producer heterogeneity, and export dynamics. Econometrica , 75 (3), 837-873.
