Regional Trade Agreements

 A regional trade agreement (RTA) is an economic trade agreement to reduce tariffs and restrictions on trade between two or more nations within a certain region.

European Union (EU)

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe.The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC) formed by six countries in the 1950s. In the intervening years the EU has grown in size by the accession of new member states, and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993.
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 The EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws which apply in all member states including the abolition of passport controls within the Schengen area.It ensures the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, enacts legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintains common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. A monetary union, the eurozone, was established in 1999 and is currently composed of seventeen member states. Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy the EU has developed a limited role in external relations and defence. Permanent diplomatic missions have been established around the world and the EU is represented at the United Nations, the WTO, the G8 and the G-20.
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North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. In terms of combined purchasing power parity GDP of its members, as of 2007 the trade bloc is the largest in the world and second largest by nominal GDP comparison. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has two supplements, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC).
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GATT
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was formed in 1949 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995. The original GATT text (GATT 1947) is still in effect under the WTO framework, subject to the modifications of GATT 1994.
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WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worlds trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.
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IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the intergovernmental organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rate and the balance of payments. It is an organization formed with a stated objective of stabilizing international exchange rates and facilitating development through the enforcement of liberalising economic policies on other countries as a 8 condition for loans, restructuring or aid.

 It also offers loans with varying levels of conditionality, mainly to poorer countries. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., United States. The IMF's relatively high influence in world affairs and development
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World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes. The World Bank has a goal of reducing poverty. By law, all of its decisions must be guided by a commitment to promote foreign investment, international trade and facilitate capital investment.
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 World Bank comprises two institutions: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) whereas the latter incorporates these two in addition to three more: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
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UNCTAD
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body. It deals with trade, investment, and development issues. The organization's goals are to "maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis.
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 The creation of the conference was based on concerns of developing countries over the international market, multi-national corporations, and great disparity between developed nations and developing nations.

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ILO
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat the people who are employed by it throughout the world is known as the International Labour Office. The organization received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.
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Regional Economic Integration

Regional economic integration is an agreement among countries in a geographic region to reduce and ultimately remove, tariff and non tariff barriers to the free flow of goods or services and factors of production among each others. It can be also refers as any type of arrangement in which countries agree to coordinate their trade, fiscal, and/or monetary policies are referred to as economic integration.
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 There are many different levels of integration. Free Trade Area: A free trade area occurs when a group of countries agree to eliminate tariffs between themselves, but maintain their own external tariff on imports from the rest of the world.
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 Common Market: A common market establishes free trade in goods and services, sets common external tariffs among members and also allows for the free mobility of capital and labor across countries.
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 Economic Union: An economic union typically will maintain free trade in goods and services, set common external tariffs among members, allow the free mobility of capital and labor. Regional Economic Integration plays a major importance role in global trade. It enhances trade among member through the elimination of customs barriers, and to quickly and substantially improves the allocation of resources
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'Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC)

The 'Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
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 OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965,and hosts regular meetings among the oil ministers of its Member Countries. Indonesia withdrew in 2008 after it became a net importer of oil, but stated it would likely return if it became a net exporter again.
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 OPEC's influence on the market has been increased, since it became effective in determining production and prices OPEC's ability to control the price of oil has diminished somewhat since then, due to the subsequent discovery and development of large oil reserves in Alaska, the North Sea, Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, the opening up of Russia, and market modernization.
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 As of November 2010, OPEC members collectively hold 79% of world crude oil reserves and 44% of the worlds crude oil production, affording them considerable control over the global market.

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Customs Union
A customs union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas. Common competition policy is also helpful to avoid competition deficiency. Purposes for establishing a customs union normally include increasing economic efficiency and establishing closer political and cultural ties between the member countries.
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Commercial policy implications of customs union

Trade creation and Trade diversion. Higher the initial pre-union tariffs between the union members Lead to realization of dynamic gains
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International Economic Policy

Economic policy refers to the actions that governments take in the economic field. It covers the systems for setting interest rates and Exchange Rates as well as the labour market, and many other areas of government interventions into the economy. Such policies are often influenced by international institutions like the International Monetary Fund or World Bank as well as political beliefs and the consequent policies of parties.
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Barriers to Trade
Trade barriers are a general term that describes any government policy or regulation that restricts international trade. The barriers can take many forms, including the following terms that include many restrictions in international trade within multiple countries that import and export any items of trade: Tariffs Non-tariff barriers to trade Import licenses Export licenses
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Import quotas Subsidies Voluntary Export Restraints Embargo

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Protectionism Vs Free Trade

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to discourage imports and prevent foreign take-over of domestic markets and companies.
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 Protectionism contrasts with free trade, where government barriers to trade and movement of capital are kept to a minimum. In recent years, protectionism has become closely aligned with anti-globalization. The term is mostly used in the context of economics, where protectionism refers to policies or doctrines which protect businesses and workers within a country by restricting or regulating trade with foreign nations.
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China Syndrome
Since 1978, China has been experiencing a period of fundamental economic restructuring, involving a gradual transition from a planned economy to a socialist market economy. The Chinese economy has been gradually integrating itself into the global economic system, with changes undertaken in the following: The structure of ownership through the introduction of individual, private and foreign capital ownership, Economic operations through the combination of planning and market mechanisms, The decentralization of decision-making.
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WTO

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IMF

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World Bank

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ILO

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International Marketing Strategy

Product Strategy Pricing Strategy Promotional Strategy Place Strategy

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International HR Strategy
Three broad activities of IHRM: Procurement Allocating Utilizing Three types of employees: Parent country nationals Host country nationals Third country nationals
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 Ethnocentric Approach-top positions held by home country nationals Polycentric Approach- top positions held by host country nationals

Geocentric Approach-top position held by any nationality

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International Operations Strategy

Mass production reduces cost of production Production smoothing For ethnocentric MNCs For polycentric MNCs For geocentric MNCS

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International Finance Strategy

Problems associated with Interest rates Forex rates Three types of exposures Translation exposure Transaction exposure Economic exposure
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