Government
Bureau to help boost small companies' exports Commerce Department office will use trade specialists, export marketing plan service to help small, medium-sized chemical firms sell abroad One of the Reagan Administration's business priorities is to get more small and medium-sized companies involved in export activities. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Development would be more than happy to hear from chemical companies that might be interested in selling their products overseas. Boosting exports by small and medium-sized chemical companies is of special interest, says Philip Lewis, an industry specialist with the Bureau of Industrial Economics, because "the U.S. chemical industry is probably as technically advanced as any. We still have an edge in chemicals, an edge we've obviously lost in automobiles and shipbuilding. The U.S. is the world's largest market for chemicals. I feel there have to be a lot of products out there that could be sold overseas that aren't being sold now." In the chemical industry as in any other industry, says James Nader, international trade specialist in the bureau's industry relations branch, "the biggest barrier to exporting is that we are not an export-oriented country. As soon as you talk to somebody who has never been in exporting they say its too complicated. It's not complicated." In addition, says international trade specialist Leonard Heimowitz, "most companies just don't know the government has programs to help them. Basically that help is just a phone call away. There are 50 Commerce Department district offices in every major city in the country. Anyone interested in exporting doesn't even have to visit a district office. They can give the office a call and the office will send out a trade specialist to talk about how the company can get into exports." The trade specialist can consult a number of market research studies that Commerce has on hand to de-
termine if there is a market for the company's product and if so where. If the product is one that has never been exported before Heimowitz says that cables can be sent to the department's commercial attachés in countries around the world and they will do some legwork to see if there is a market for that product in that country. Once it has been determined that there is a market for a particular product in a country, the Commerce Department has available for $90 a list of potential agents and distributors in that country. As Heimowitz explains, "It is usually impossible to market a product in another country without an agent or representative in the country to which you want to export. So through that service we can line up a particular agent or distributor for a product." Once a distributor has been decided upon, for another $40 Commerce can provide its World Trade Data Report Service, which is essentially a Dun & Bradstreet-type report on the distributor's financial condition. If a report isn't available, the commercial attaché will check the distributor out to see if it is a good business risk. The company then could contact the distributor either from afar or in person. If the company decides to send agents to check out the situation in person, the commercial office in the local embassy will set up appointments for them after they arrive and accompany them to their meetings, if so desired. If a company doesn't want to go
quite that far at first but still would like to check out the export market, it could decide to participate in the trade opportunities program. This program disseminates information on direct sales leads from prospective overseas private sector buyers, foreign government bid invitations, or on overseas companies seeking to represent U.S. suppliers in their local country markets. The notices are disseminated in accordance with a company's specified seven-digit SIC product codes and are targeted to those country markets the company indicates fall in its area of interest. The data furnished with each notice include country of origin, type of opportunity, description of the product or services sought, descriptive materials and/or bidding data required, name and address of inquirer, as well as the inquirer's telephone number and cable address. For $100 per year a company can subscribe to the TOP Bulletin, which is a weekly compilation of all trade opportunity notices. Or a company could choose to have information on its products circulated abroad through Commercial News USA 9 which is published monthly and circulated to U.S. diplomatic and consular posts around the world. The department says the information it contains is circulated in almost 100 countries through embassy or consulate commercial newsletters, which have a combined overseas readership of more than 100,000 industry and government officials.
The Commerce Department's district offices Birmingham, Ala. Anchorage Phoenix, Ariz. Little Rock Los Angeles and San Francisco Denver Hartford Miami Atlanta and Savannah Honolulu Chicago Indianapolis Des Moines Louisville
New Orleans Augusta, Me. Baltimore Boston Detroit Minneapolis Jackson, Miss. St. Louis and Kansas City Omaha Reno, Nev. Newark, N.J. Albuquerque, N.M. Buffalo and New York City Greensboro, N.C. Cincinnati and Cleveland
Oklahoma City Portland, Ore. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh San Juan, P.R. Providence Columbia, S.C. Memphis Dallas and Houston Salt Lake City Richmond, Va. Seattle Charleston, W.Va. Milwaukee Cheyenne, Wyo.
June 22, 1981 C&EN
21
ΝΕΟ PENTANOIC ACID
Government
your unique tert-buty building block hatever you call it — trimethylacetic Wacid, pivalic acid or alpha-dimethyl-
propionic acid —this isomerically pure synthetic acid is a sood way to introduce the tert-butyl structure in your synthetic scheme. Neo Pentanoic* acid is used in the syn thesis of biologically active molecules for pes ticides and pharmaceuticals and can be easily derivatized to its acyl chloride, ester or amide for further modification. In herbicide and insecticide molecules, the tertiary butyl group offers hydrolytic sta bility to adjacent labile groups; good pene tration through animal and plant tissues; and often, the required stereochemical needs to interact with the molecular receptors in the liv ing organisms. (Examples·. 2-tert-butyl thiadiazoles; 6-tert-butyl-1, 2,4-triazin-5-ones; and car bamoyl ketoximes.) Many esters of neo pentanoic acid are used in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical in dustry due to their hydrolytic stability in aqueous acidic and basic media. Their ability to resist hy drolysis can be used effectively to create slowrelease phenomena of active substances. Uses of neo pentanoic esters include: steroidal ester for treatment of arthritic and hypotensive pa tients; fine odorants and fragrances,· polyol-ester-fdr synthetic lubricants; and synthetic surface*
