Going global: advice from Indiana experts.

AuthorMcKimmie, Kathy
PositionINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

MARCUS CHANDLER remembers being a young associate at Barnes & Thornburg when he got his feet wet in the international arena. "When I started with the law firm in 1979, that was just the beginning of the land rush of Japanese companies setting up businesses in the Midwest," he says. He was part of the team that brought Subaru-Isuzu to Indiana, which required lots of trips to Japan. Several others Japanese firms followed. Today, Chandler chairs his firm's global services practice group.

Looking back, it is easy to identify other waves of trade following those initial Japanese investments and see how they affect both the inbound and outbound flow of goods and services. There was a surge in international trade for Indiana companies in the '80s; NAFTA with its accompanying Mexico and Canada deals hit in the mid-'90s; the European Union was formed in 1993; and the opening of China in the mid- to late '80s created the 900-pound gorilla that established itself as the place to manufacture goods cheaply

One constant over the last 20 years or so, says Chandler, has been the increased willingness of Indiana companies to set up operations abroad to serve and supply other U.S. companies located there. Many of those companies chose to locate in Europe. "Our laws are close enough to the EU laws, that it can be done without a great deal of difficulty," he says. The EU does, however, have some nuances, such as "somewhat peculiar anti-trust laws that don't come naturally to U.S. companies."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Protection of intellectual property is not a well-established concept in most of Asia and in India," says Chandler, and there is a great deal of piracy. "They will over time gradually adopt the international standards for the protection of intellectual property, but as of now there is a great deal of piracy in that part of the world." As a result, some of his clients will do a certain part of manufacturing here with the final assembly done in Asia so the manufacturing process secrets are not revealed. "It's a little bit like the Coca-Cola formula. You ship the syrup and tell the end user to add the water and sell it over the counter."

Understand laws and customs. As leader of Baker & Daniels' international law practice, Jackie Simmons has worked on international joint ventures in Europe, China and India. Having recently returned from China Simmons is says she sees more and more Indiana products being sold in China.

"Exports from Indiana to China...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT