Fernando Jimenez

Supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods and services and includes all processes that transform raw materials into final products. It involves the active streamlining of a business's supply-side activities to maximize customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Good supply chain management keeps companies out of the headlines and away from expensive recalls and lawsuits.

A tax treaty is a bilateral (two-party) agreement made by two countries to resolve issues involving double taxation of passive and active income of each of their respective citizens. Income tax treaties generally determine the amount of tax that a country can apply to a taxpayer's income, capital, estate, or wealth.  An income tax treaty is also called a Double Tax Agreement (DTA).
Some countries are seen as being tax havens. Generally, a tax haven is a country or a place with low or no corporate taxes that allow foreign investors to set up businesses there. Tax havens typically do not enter into tax treaties.

Buyer's credit is a short-term loan facility extended to an importer by an overseas lender such as a bank or financial institution to finance the purchase of capital goods, services, and other big-ticket items. The importer, to whom the loan is issued, is the buyer of goods, while the exporter is the seller. Buyer’s credit is a very useful financing method in international trade as it gives importers access to cheaper funds compared to what may be available locally.

Related to voluntary export restraint (VER) is a voluntary import expansion (VIE), which is a change in a country's economic and trade policy to allow for more imports by lowering tariffs or dropping quotas. Often VIEs are part of trade agreements with another country or the result of international pressure.

It's important to note that when shipping internationally, there can be different risk and cost transfer points between the buyer and seller, depending on the type of shipping agreement. Under CIF, the risk transfer is at a different point than the cost transfer. The exact details of the contract will determine when the liability for the goods transfers from seller to buyer.

Since the seller pays the shipping, freight, and insurance costs until the cargo arrives at the buyer's destination port, the cost transfer occurs when the goods have arrived at the buyer's port. However, the risk transfer occurs from the seller to the buyer when the goods have been loaded on the vessel. Although the seller must purchase insurance, the buyer has ownership of the goods once loaded onto the ship, and if the goods have been damaged during transit, the buyer must file a claim with the seller's insurance company.