REFERENCES

BARNES, J. H. The World of Business at Rome. The Nation's Business. May, 1923. Pp. 53-55.

DUN'S INTERNATIONAL REVIEW SERVICE DEPARTMENT. Foreign Chambers of Commerce at New York.

DAVIS, O. K. The National Foreign Trade Council. Annals of the American Academy of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1921. Pp. 118–121. FAHEY, J. H. The International Chamber of Commerce. Annals of the Amer. Academy of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1921. Pp. 126–130. FITZGERALD, J. E. American Chambers of Commerce in Foreign Countries. Annals of the Amer. Academy of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1921. Pp. 122-126.

FILSINGER, E. B. Exporting to Latin America, Chaps. XXV and XXVI. FISK, G. M. International Commercial Policies, Chap. XXV.

FOREIGN COMMERCE DEPARTMENT. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. Promoting Foreign Trade with Particular Reference to the Work of Chambers of Commerce.

DE HAAS, J. A.

DE HAAS, J. A.

Foreign Trade and Shipping, Chap. V.

Foreign Trade Organization, Chaps. V-VIII.

KIDD, H. C. Foreign Trade, Chap. XXV.

SAVAY, N. Principles of Foreign Trade, Chap. XVI.

SIMPICH, F. Fairs: Their Influence on Trade. The Nation's Business.

May, 1923. Pp. 23-24.

SNOW, C. D. Factors in Trade Building. Course in Foreign Trade. Vol. XII, Chaps. VII-XI.

SNOW, C. D. The Foreign Trade Work of the Chambers of Commerce of the United States. Annals of the Amer. Acad. of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1921. Pp. 114-118.

TOSDAL, H. R. Foreign Trade Organization in Europe since the War. Annals of the Amer. Academy of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1921. Pp. 100-106.

WARFORD, L. E., and MAY, R. A. Trade Association Activities. (Department of Commerce. Elimination of Waste Series.)

WOLFE, A. J. Theory and Practice of International Trade. Pp. 506–522.

PART II

PRIVATE ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL

TRADE

CHAPTER XIV

MARKET ANALYSIS

Methods of Procedure.-Success in foreign trade, like success in domestic trade, is dependent upon a careful analysis of the possibilities of the different markets which the manufacturer wishes to cultivate.

One of the best methods of acquiring the needed information regarding a foreign market is to have it investigated by a competent observer. However, as this method involves considerable expense, it is advisable to have the territory to which an investigator is to be sent subjected to a preliminary survey by means available at home. Such a survey permits the elimination of those localities which can not be of any interest to the exporting manufacturer and in which there is no reason for conducting personal investigations. No investigators are necessary to inform manufacturers of heavy furs that the lowlands in the tropics are not a market for their wares nor to tell the makers of lightweight fabrics that their shipments to polar regions are likely to remain unsold.

Sources of Market Information. For a preliminary investigation at home many sources of information are available. These include various publications issued by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and by other Departments of the United States Government, as well as reports of foreign governments, data supplied by trade associations, banks, mercantile agencies, express companies, trade journals, and books dealing with economic conditions in foreign countries. Many articles have appeared in technical and in popular magazines which may

be of assistance; but these articles should be carefully scrutinized and verified, as many of them are the result of a short visit to a foreign country by some superficial observer, while others have been carelessly compiled from data which were available at the time of the writing of the article. To a certain extent, this also holds true of some of the books purporting to give an accurate description of various lands and their people. The perusal of some of these publications is likely to do more harm than good to those who would use them as a basis for market analysis.

Personal Investigations.-The cost of personal investigation is high; it may be reduced by the cooperation of a number of manufacturers, preferably of allied but noncompeting lines, and of their employment of a joint representative. Since the passage of the Webb-Pomerene Law competing manufacturers may also employ such representatives. Desire to effect savings should never overrule other considerations which must guide one in selecting men for the investigating work. Such men must be trained observers, intelligent, painstaking gatherers of facts, capable of distinguishing between essentials and nonessentials, between important and trivial details.

The first item to consider is the established active demand existing in the market for different commodities; this demand may be easily ascertained and it may be reduced to more or less definite terms. But, important as is the knowledge of existing demand, of much greater importance is the recognition of the various forces and factors which have brought it about and which are likely to shape it in the future. The demand is largely determined by the degree of the economic development of the people, and by the occupations in which they are engaged. Advanced communities use typewriters and talking machines, automobiles and cameras, while people in industrially backward countries are buyers of inexpensive textile fabrics, of simple utensils and cheap trinkets.