Don’t depend on everyone else’s answers on exporting. Before taking the big leap, planners need to ask themselves (and their organizations) if they have the answers to some key questions. Then, begin the research and planning to develop a new export market.

The value of world exports has increased by nearly five times in the 18 years from 1993 to 2011, according to the World Trade Organization. Exports in 1993 were $ 3,676 billion; rising to $17,816 billion in 2011. There are many factors driving this dramatic rise in exporting. They include lower sourcing and production costs in some developing countries and rising consumption in growing economies. This leads supply chain executives to consider new sourcing and distribution models and then to reexamine and optimize those network models on a more regular basis to balance cost and opportunity.

Amber Road conducted a survey of nearly 150 mid-market companies to better understand their export compliance challenges and the extent to which they are performing compliance checks today.

The mandatory checks and balances for export compliance are fairly standard, and most global US corporations are aware of them. However, only 62% of exporters surveyed in a study by Amber Road actually have a full export compliance program (ECP) in place. This leaves many organizations vulnerable and at risk of noncompliance. Penalties and fines have been on the rise and all organizations, large and small, are susceptible to committing infractions when not exercising due diligence. 

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has reached a $115,000 civil settlement with tech company Intevac, Inc. They committed five violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the first of which occurred in 2007, when Intevac released sensitive material to a Russian national employee for a product used in hard disk drive manufacturing. Intevac did not have the deemed export license required to release the information to that employee and thus, violated the regulation.

Establishing an Export Compliance Program (ECP) can be a daunting task. Don’t worry, we can help! Join Amber Road for our complimentary three-part export compliance webinar series. We will address the three key steps of building an ECP (Restricted Party Screening, Product Classification, and Shipment Screening & Documentation).

Establishing an Export Compliance Program (ECP) can be a daunting task. Don’t worry, we can help! Join Amber Road for our complimentary three-part export compliance webinar series. We will address the three key steps of building an ECP (Restricted Party Screening, Product Classification, and Shipment Screening & Documentation).

The demand for cloud-based supply chain management (SCM) applications has recently seen a drastic increase. In fact, Dwight Klappich, research vice president at Gartner, estimates that cloud-based adoption in the SCM sector grew 40% this year! According to Klappich, “applications that help shippers plan, source, make, and deliver their goods are leading the pack right now in the cloud.”