| Overseas
Trade: Our Point of View
The following
statement is meant to elaborate April Cornell's point of view
regarding issues of trade and Cornell Trading:
Most of the rest of the world outside the U.S., Canada, and Western
Europe have standards of living well below ours. The world is
a steadily shrinking place with regards to the access through
communication, travel and technology. The disparities between
our living standards is so great and the knowledge of these differences
so transparent that the status quo is unsustainable.
World social stability it seems to us is dependent on narrowing
the differences. It doesn’t necessarily follow that our
standard of living has to go down but that their (the third world)
standard of living has to go up. The policy of aid has proven
a dismal failure creating weak dependencies and inflaming corrupt
practices. Trade on the other hand has from our vantagepoint been
tremendously successful. It has created meaningful work in the
countries that badly need it. It has created work and hope and
pride in communities.
April Cornell sees itself as a small part of this positive process.
We buy product from countries such as India, China, and Indonesia.
We have been first hand witnesses to the developing self-confidence
of business in these countries to produce beautiful product that
the world wants. The benefits do not end here however. Companies
such as our own involved in the process of trade have other effects.
We have great influence on the companies with which we do business
in the Far East. We talk business with them and they listen, ever
eager to learn. We explain the business benefits of respecting
the worker. We encourage them to train people and develop expertise
to produce better product. We push for hierarchies to delegate
responsibilities for greater efficiencies. We invite them to visit
our operations here to witness first hand our methods. |
