Invitation Politicians Active Municipality

INVITATION

International Municipality
– Kick off Workshop City representatives

Expanding International Municipality.

Day: xxxxx

Time: Noon to 5 p.m. (We start with lunch)

Place xxxxx

At this workshop, participants will gain valuable new information about developing International Municipalities practice dealing with real-life situations through role-playing, and share ideas through group work. The idea is to promote involvement and not passively listen to information. All the activities will allow you to get a first-hand sense of the kinds of challenges and opportunities involved in creating an International Town as well as an understanding of the skills and techniques required to maximise the benefits of this type of economic development

To get your thinking creatively and stimulate discussions, we have retained the services of Leif Holmvall of Export Pro Inc. (www.exportpro.com ) who will lead us through the workshop. Leif has taken municipalities and companies internationally in North America and in Europe. We promise you a very active and beneficial few hours with lots of new ideas. More importantly, we will develop foundation for us to continue our international expansion for the Municipality and its industries.

This workshop is important for many reasons. It will be the starting point for activities aiming at developing relations with our industry and attracting new domestic and international industry. Furthermore, it enhances our strategy for developing the local industry and also forms a base for Municipality’s future international activities. Your participation as a politician is therefore very important.

Please confirm your participation to xxx before xxxx

Looking forward to seeing you there.

xxxx

(Mayor or Senior Business development officer)

See enclosure

Overview of session:

International Municipality

– Workshop local representatives of the Municipality

Background

“Municipality” is an international city. There are many individuals with broad experience of international business. At the same time, we at Economic Development Department, believe there is a good potential to increase the domestic and international activities even further

In Municipality, we can divide the companies in three groups

1. Those that are already doing business internationally

2. Those that ought to be able to do it

3. Those that are better off staying outside of the international arena

It is therefore easy to see group 2 as one of the target groups. However, we are also aware that those already doing international business can improve in their efforts.

Group 2 is clearly a group that will benefit from information and education about how to do business internationally. Group 1 can also benefit significantly, in terms of improving their current practices. The Active Municipality project will assist these two groups of companies precisely by providing the information and education required to start doing business internationally and/or to do it better.

It is important that our industry as well as we get a better understanding of the possibilities that domestic and international business will provide as well as making us more interesting for other industries outside Municipality

In order to support this understanding there is a demand for information and education. That is what this activity is all about. The demand that the representatives of Municipality actively support and show their commitment for these activities. Not as much with money but more so that it is important to be active in domestic and international Business.

Here Municipality’s we know we can improve. We are confident we can assist our industry to expand their business. We can, together, do much more than is done today. These should be some thoughts in our industry economic expansion.

Activities

In order to create awareness and knowledge about what possibilities a domestic and international industry can offer, we need to focus on what we can offer companies, a number of activities will be carried out. This workshop is the 1^st step. Press coverage on international business is another. This will be a start of an ongoing project for the next number years.

Work shop xxxxxx

Four hours with information, discussions and group work.

Aim

1. To change our thoughts of an international active city and what is important for Municipality

2. To find ways for how this kind of work can be initiated and carried trough

Goal

To define how we take the next steps. To decide and secure that #2 is carried out in a professional way. At a later stage we should have activities for municipality staff with a broader target group. This in order to create the understanding so that all parties involved work towards the same goal.

Target Group

Leading individuals within the Municipality with authority, interest and responsibility for the development of the local industry, as well as other strategical partners like Chamber of commerce, representatives from small business, key decision makers

At a later stage we will have activities that will bring together Town Representatives and a broader target group. This will allow increased understanding of the common goals of the different sectors of the community

Working in groups participants will work on some of the topics listed below, discuss solutions, questions and make a presentation to a larger group. Export Pro Inc. will give an introduction to each topic to give a base for the discussions:

Why must Municipality and companies become more international?
How today’s and tomorrows markets look and how that influences Municipality years 2015, 2020 and 2050.
Why are existing companies so important and how can we stimulate them? How do we create more employment?
How do larger foreign companies establish themselves on a foreign market and how does the smaller one do it? How can we utilise this?
How to work with developers and what are they looking for?
To set the profile on expansion of existent companies and foreign investments.
How can we work with colleges and universities in a way that provides valuable human resources to companies and allows students to gain skills that will lead to stable, satisfying employment?
To make Municipality more attractive. Municipality The North American base for European and Asian companies?
What should Municipality do in order to stimulate existing companies and to attract new.
What can the Municipality offer
Presentation of “International Municipality”.
What is the best strategy for expanding existing Municipality companies based on the Municipality’s current business profile and population?
What does our Municipality have to offer the international business community? How can we make our Municipality more attractive to companies looking for representatives as well as potential foreign investors?
How can we improve to streamline the Municipality’s current business processes and rules to be more business friendly?

We strongly believe that this project can be of great benefit to the Municipality in improving not only our competitiveness but also the relationship with our stake holders. We know that to make it a success, we will need the support of local representatives. We therefore hope that you can attend this activity, find out more about our goals and strategies, offer us your suggestions and be a part of this exciting process.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

xxxxxxxx

Export Pro has developed a broad range of seminars and workshops. Programs can also be customized to the needs of each client. Programs can be delivered in English and Swedish. Visit www.exportpro.com for more details and user testimonials.

Read our book:

Export & Import – Winning in the Global Marketplace: A practical hands-on guide to success in international business, with 100s of real-world examples + exercises (ISBN 9780968114810). Order one today. We promise that after reading the book, you will have a better understanding of international business. Visit www.exportpro.com to view the table of contents and look inside the book.

Leif Holmvall, Owner and President of Export Pro Inc.

Leif has more than 40 years’ experience in International Business in more than 100 countries. He has lived and worked in Europe and North America. He gained his experience as an executive of several Swedish companies, covering a broad range of industries, and as Swedish Trade Commissioner to Canada. He has operated his own consulting businesses since 1982, coaching companies to become successful in international business. Leif also teaches at international universities and conducts seminars for executives in Europe.

Most of Leif’s business is with overseas clients. His portfolio includes acting as an agent or representative for foreign companies to set up distribution, select distributors and activate them. His clients today include companies in North America, Europe and Asia.

Leif has over four decades of practical, hands-on experience. He is known for his ability to discuss not only each company’s specific activities but also to give detailed answers on country-specific questions. His presentations are down-to-earth, interactive, refreshing and based on his many years of real-life business experience. He is the author of many books on international business (a list can be found at www.exportpro.com) and is a popular guest speaker at universities, business schools and corporations in North America and Europe. Over 5,000 company representatives and individuals have attended his seminars and workshops. Over 200 companies have expanded into international business using his expertise.

Leif is an engineer with numerous degrees and credentials in international marketing.

For more information about his company, visit www.exportpro.com .