Tag: Partner

Nigeria: A Rising Trade Partner With the West

In recent years, people may be apt to dismiss Nigeria as a legitimate player in the global trade arena. For all the resources this country offers the West and other parts of the world, the association of the country with the rapid rise in Internet and phone scams risks the Nigerian reputation. These dubious e-mails are referred to as such as in the beginning the majority of messages originated (or claimed to come from) Nigeria – although now similar Internet scams come from other parts of the world. Despite this mark, it should be noted that Nigeria is a growing member of the Next 11 group of trading countries, an emerging mixed economy ranked among the top forty nations in the world in terms of gross domestic product.

In its home continent, the republic follows only South Africa in ranking the top African nations by overall economy – and is the largest in West Africa. Thanks to rich oil fields, the country provides a powerful resource for petroleum that hasn’t gone unnoticed among western nations, including the United States. The US alone accounts for Nigeria’s greatest percentage of foreign investment.

Top Exports of Nigeria

The majority of the republic’s overall income is derived from petroleum and crude oil exports. As a member of OPEC and one of the largest suppliers in the world, Nigeria exports billions of dollars worth of oil annually – with the United States receiving the lion’s share. Other popular exports include:

Cocoa beans – While not a major figure in this commodity as other countries, several million dollars’ worth of cocoa exported around the world makes this crop quite valuable.

Natural rubber – With a growing interest in manufacture of “green products,” Nigeria has seen a rise in demand for rubber and tree gum.

Tree and ground nuts – More than half of the republic’s labor force is agricultural, and ground nuts especially make up a good percentage of crops.

Cooking oils – Palm and coconut oils are pressed and exported regularly.

Top Imports of Nigeria

Nigeria’s primarily agrarian environment leaves her people to rely upon global imports to sustain the domestic economy. Drilling equipment for their natural oil resources is especially in demand, as is other excavating machinery. Other top imports from the United States and elsewhere include:

Grains – Corn and rice come in high demand, for though Nigeria has plenty of land for farming it is used more for what they export.

Automotive – Cars and transportation are shipped regularly into country to ensure business stays moving.

Refined petroleum byproducts – As with other countries, Nigeria tends to export more crude and raw materials and leave refinement to trading partners.

With western nations continuing to seek alternative fuel partners, it is a great probability Nigeria will figure more into American trading. There is definitely more to this country than an unfortunate association with Internet misbehavior.

The Three Essential Strategies of Partner and Channel Stewardship

Channel stewardship is the most effective way of realizing success in channel-dependent businesses, especially if amalgamated with other management solutions. Nowadays, majority of hi-tech companies are keen on investing substantial amounts of money to promote and sell products and services via partner portals and channels. However, such a multi-channel strategy is difficult to keep track of, hence the vital role of channel stewards in the distribution chain.

A steward is usually the dominant company in the channel value chain and has the responsibility of participating proactively in the design and execution of a company’s go-to-market strategy. They extend the intra-enterprise framework which allows the various partners and end consumers to conduct business easier and more efficiently. This move increases brand equity, market share and profitability. The role of stewards rests on critical elements like coordination and influence; the different roles in the channel distribution network; excellent response to end consumer demands and needs; and return of investment and margins to all channel partners. But what are the specific strategies that stewards employ to guarantee effective channel management?

Channel stewardship makes use of three strategies which are Partner Portals, eMarketplace and Volume Channel.

• Storefront or eBusiness Partner Portal – This strategy grants companies the ability to create portals that are especially dedicated, customized or personalized for the members of the channel and their customers. These portals enable partners by offering self-service tools that can be utilized to browse catalogs, research product information and details, configure solutions, view change orders, track shipments and receive pay invoices. Additionally, they offer a certain set of product catalog and pricing information that are based on the needs of partners and customers. It is deeply integrated into the channel procurement system. Usually, larger customers and affiliates prefer this approach.

• eMarketplace – The reality is that it is expensive and practically unmanageable to propose partner portals for each every channel partner. This makes it critically important to bring down the number of product segments through standardization of platforms and functional modularization. These would then be offered through an eMarketplace, which is most suitable for organizations that are ahead in their value chains. Usually beneficial to mid-sized companies that serve small and medium businesses, this strategy is a single platform for order fulfillment and it provides flexible means for partners to enable brokering to bundle products with various accessories, services and the like.

• Volume Channel – This approach focuses on the efficiency of operations in the distribution of product knowledge and the seamless process of quote orders and returns. To ensure the successful execution of the model, it is important to bear in mind the key elements which are lower complexity and range of offered products, high partner and customer self-service and close monitoring of Key Performance Indicators and Distributors, and ODM/CM Service level Agreements. This is most useful during scenarios where the complexity of products is low.

The real challenge, however, is choosing the appropriate strategy or approach. This calls for the need to conduct a thorough assessment of individual businesses before making a decision. The choice should be grounded on a framework that is dependent on factors like relative size and dominance of partners and customers, existing business relationships and product complexity.

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