As long as Trade Forum has existed,
readers have used Forum articles as a basis for training sessions
and university classes, and as reprints in trade journals, training
courses and textbooks. ITC welcomes this practice - bringing Forum
information to new groups of readers is a key to ITC's success in
order to ensure that its work reaches the broadest number of small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and trade support institutions
in developing countries and economies in transition.
Forum is designed as a working tool with practical "news you can
use" for developing-country SMEs that conduct international trade,
and for the trade support organizations that service them. Many
readers - particularly from small businesses and institutions which
assist them - often write to ITC noting which articles help them in
their work, and follow up with a request for specific ITC
publications.
A tool for your network
ITC encourages readers to take advantage of the magazine in two
ways. One way is for organizations to pass along articles to their
own members, clients or readers. Institutions do this in a variety
of ways, from reprinting material in textbooks to making Internet
links. Some recent examples to stimulate ideas are found on the
following pages.
Contribute to the magazine
The second way is for readers to actively contribute to the
magazine's content, which aims to serve as its name implies: a
forum for experiences, viewpoints and contacts for practical
aspects of international trade. Readers support this
orientation.
"Sections where readers will have an opportunity to share
experiences are indeed innovative measures, and would transform the
magazine to a forum for all", noted M.K. Mwandoro, head of the
Tanzanian Board of External Trade, in a typical comment on the
magazine's new design and structure.
Readers' favourites
If you do make a link to your Internet site, a reprint for your
newsletter or other use of the magazine, please be sure to let us
know, and send two copies of printed materials. It's one of the
most effective ways to know which subjects interest you most, and
how we can continuously improve the contents of the magazine.
As we have noted in recent magazine editorials, ITC has received
many e-mails and letters expressing positive feedback to the new
orientation and format. Articles covering the Internet and trade
have been by far the most popular item, followed by interest in
organic foods. Other topics which sparked readers' comments include
business negotiation tips (a long-time favourite), trade promotion
strategies for SMEs and trends in business law.
We welcome letters to the Editor, with feedback on recent
articles, suggested topics for future coverage or information about
reprints. We also welcome extended comments on recent articles,
based on your organization's experiences, for potential inclusion
in the magazine's Partners News and Views section.
What steps should I take?
For readers who would like to contribute articles, please
contact the Editor by e-mail for guidelines (domeisen@intracen.org).
Contributions should fit with the overall direction of the
magazine, which provides market information relevant to many
developing countries; tips and techniques to improve performance of
exporting and importing firms; news about ITC products and
services; and reports on international trade trends. All
contributions are on a non-paid basis.
ITC encourages readers to translate and reproduce Forum
articles. Prior permission is not necessary, unless the text of the
articles, photos and/or artwork are copyright or taken from another
publication. The credit line should read "Reprinted from the
Trade Forum magazine, published by the
International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO." Articles should include the
author's name.
ITC also welcomes links between your web site and that of the
magazine (http://www.intracen.org/itcnews/forum/forum.htm). When
you make the link, please send an e-mail to the Editor (domeisen@intracen.org).
We look forward to continued dialogue with you in developing an
Trade Forum that reflects your views.
Readers use the Forum...
...in publications
A classic way to use the magazine in your work is to reprint
relevant Forum articles in your publications. Below are a few
recent examples.
• Magazine articles
G-15 Update, a quarterly magazine that promotes trade and
investment in emerging markets, recently reprinted the magazine's
first ITC and the Internet section (Forum 3/98) containing an
initial "web tour" of ITC's Internet site.
• Magazine special issues
The World Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
reprinted an article on trade promotion strategies for SMEs, along
with the entire Close Up section "Investing in the Internet" (Forum
1/99), in a special ITC issue of its newsletter, which is destined
to SME associations around the world.
• Booklets
Malta's External Trade Corporation published two Forum articles
in booklet format.
• Newsletters
Tonga's Chamber of Commerce and Industry published abridged
versions of "Exporting Organic Food" and "The Changing Legal
Landscape" (Forum 3/98) in its latest edition of its journal.
• Journals
La Revue Internationale de l'Achat, the journal of France's
oldest purchasing management university, reprinted "Manage Your
Purchasing with the Internet" (Forum 1/99).
...for web sites
If your organization has a web site, you can offer Forum
magazine to your clientele by making a link to ITC's on-line
version of Forum at
http://www.intracen.org/itcnews/forum/forum.htm
...for news stories
A long-time Forum reader, G. Srinivasan, reported on the
"Exporting Organic Foods" story in a wire service article for the
Hindu-Businessline. The article appeared on the Internet and was
printed by newspapers in India.
...in training workshops
"We have always found the content of Forum of great interest and
relevance to our work, and I have often copied articles to our
contacts overseas," e-mailed Jackie Adams of Traidcraft Exchange, a
United Kingdom-based non-governmental organization. "We work with
small, community-based businesses in developing countries.... Our
six partner organizations (in Bangladesh, India, South Africa, the
Philippines, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia) operate a
market information service of their own, and often use material
from the magazine in one-to-one counselling or in training
workshops."