STUDY HELPS BUSINESS WITH TRADE

A recent graduate of Southeast Missouri State University has developed a guide on international business finance to help small businesses considering operating in a foreign trade zone.

Cary L. Schreiner of Oak Ridge, a 1991 graduate of Southeast with a degree in finance, developed the guide last year in cooperation with the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority as part of an independent study project in international finance. The study was funded by the university's Small Business Institute (SBI).

William Walker, associate professor of accounting and finance and faculty adviser on the project, recently released the report, titled "A Primer on International Business Finance."

Steve Byrd, director of the Small Business Institute, said the Small Business Association (SBA) in St. Louis planted the seed for the study, asking the SBI to commission a study on import-export business in the area. The SBI receives funding from the SBA to conduct research and marketing studies.

The Small Business Institute arranged for Walker and Schreiner to develop the study through the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority, because of its ties to the import-export business, Byrd said.

The Small Business Institute paid Walker $250 for overseeing the study, which he is returning to the institute to help fund more local projects.

"Cary's study provides a working document for small businesses that may be attracted to the free-trade zone that we hope to develop in the local port-airport area," Walker said.

"It provides examples and a work sheet for anyone to use if they want to work in a free-trade zone. It would help them analyze whether it would be beneficial to operate in a free-trade zone."

Schreiner's study focuses on how local foreign trade zones and customs facilities can provide cost savings for businesses.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority has applied for port of entry and foreign trade zone status, Walker said.

A foreign trade zone is an isolated, enclosed and policed area, operated as a public utility in or adjacent to a port of entry. Within such zones, foreign and domestic goods may be stored, distributed, exhibited, manufactured or combined with other foreign or domestic products. However, since foreign trade zones are outside U.S. Customs territory, companies can escape, postpone or reduce tariffs and other restrictions on foreign goods that enter these zones.

Thus, foreign trade zones stimulate foreign trade, create new employment and allow businesses operating in them to realize significant savings, Walker said.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority centers around a public terminal facility that includes a cargo dock and about 10 acres of land on the south bank of the slackwater harbor along the Mississippi River near Scott City.

In addition to the public terminal, the port authority has about 440 acres of land zoned for general commercial and industrial development. Located in a state enterprise zone, the port authority serves as both a docking facility and transportation authority, and is designed to attract businesses to the facility that will create jobs for area residents.

"I hope my efforts are beneficial in that the port authority can attain foreign trade zone status and continue its success," Schreiner said.

He added that his study provides a good overview of what international business entails and what the port authority can do for small businesses. Schreiner, who also earned a marketing degree from Southeast in 1989, said the port authority could use his study during initial contacts with businesses in helping to explain free-trade zones.

"A lot of small businesses don't know a lot about free-trade zones and what monetary savings and convenience a free-trade zone offers," Schreiner said.

Copies of Schreiner's study can be obtained by calling Walker at (314) 651-2321 or Byrd at (314) 651-2851.