A Critical Analysis of Online Trade and Customs Information Portals

The project is sponsored by Arctic Group (Sweden), a leading vendor of customs software and Arctiquator (Malaysia). It will be made available to three students, each focusing on a different region, so not a group of three. This project is suitable for MBA students who want to develop their business analysis and marketing skills.

Background
In many countries it can be a real challenge finding out how to comply with set trade and customs procedures. Difficulty in accessing information is often described as a non-tariff trade barrier. To help address this information deficit many governments are now beginning to develop trade information portals. Some of these portals also provide functionality for submitting trade and customs declarations to the relevant authorities. Examples of such portals include: The UKs www.businesslink.gov.uk/internationaltrade website Swedens customs website http://www.tullverket.se/en/ The EU Commissions Export Helpdesk http://exporthelp.europa.eu/index_en.html

Problem Statement
Trade Facilitation negotiations at the World Trade Organisation are gaining considerable momentum and governments around the world will soon be required to revisit how they make information about trade and customs procedures accessible to the wider public1. At present it is not clear what best practice for the dissemination of information about trade and customs procedures might be. The internet promises to be a particularly useful medium for information distribution purposes with global reach.

Task
Focus on one specific region, for example: ASIAN, European Union, Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), CARICOM, MERCOSUR, East African Community Review existing information websites offered by administrations in this region Evaluate their functionality and usefulness for business users In your research you are expected to pay particular attention to the customs tariff publications (in its online or in its paper format). A guiding research questions should be whether the information provided in the tariff publication is sufficient for a business to make informed decisions about how to trade. Draw conclusions about user requirements and relevance to GATT Article X or similar policy drivers Tie your research into relevant literature, for example: trade facilitation, supply chain management, ecommerce and e-government

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tradfa_e/tradfa_e.htm

Supervision and support:

Arctiquator will pay all reasonable expenses (e.g. telephone costs, printing) against receipt and prior agreement with the research supervisor at the end of the assignment (after submission). A condition for the payment of expenses is that Arctiquator receives an electronic copy of the students work and that Arctic Group and Arctiquator have the right to use the work and its content for their own commercial purposes. Particularly successful projects may be converted into a an academic publication, conference paper or newsletter article Arctiquator has indicated that they would like to offer a 12 month role to one of the three students in Malaysia. This is of course subject to Arctiqutors review of the final research output, availability and an interview. The indicated internship includes free accommodation, return economy airfare and a fair living-cost allowance (MYR2000 per month).

To Apply:
Develop a short motivation statement (no more than 750 words) explaining your interest and suitability for the project as well as the preferred region you wish to focus on. Send the motivation statement together with a page CV to: kathleen.visser@nottingham.ac.uk by 12 noon 30 March 2011 When choosing your region you will also need to explain how you might address possible language constraints. Selection criteria for awarding this industry sponsored project will be based on motivation, aptitude and capability.