International Trade &

Working Capital Management

 International Trade
 Most MNEs are heavily involved in international
trade (exporting and importing), so it is important to
know how it works and the risks involved.
The Trade Cycle
Exporter Importer
Contract
Port of Destination

Land Transport Land Transport

and Delivery

Port of Departure Sea Transport Final Payment

Production
Customs!

The Transaction over Time 7

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 Trade Relationships

 The nature of the relationship between the exporter and

the importer is critical to understanding the methods for
import-export financing utilized in industry.
 There are three categories of relationships (see next
exhibit):
– Unaffiliated unknown
– Unaffiliated known
– Affiliated (sometimes referred to as intra-firm trade)
 The composition of global trade has changed
dramatically over the past few decades, moving from
transactions between unaffiliated parties to affiliated
transactions.

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Trade Relationships

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Trade Dilemma

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 Trade Dilemma

The fundamental dilemma of being unwilling to

trust a stranger in a foreign land is solved by
using a highly respected bank as an intermediary.
The following exhibit is a simplified view
involving a letter of credit (a bank’s promise to
pay) on behalf of the importer.
Two other significant documents are a bill of
lading and a sight draft.

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Solving the Trade Dilemma

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 Solving the Trade Dilemma

This system has been developed and

modified over centuries to protect both
the importer and exporter from:
– The risk of noncompletion
– Foreign exchange risk
– And, to provide a means of financing

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 Letter of Credit

A letter of credit (L/C) is a bank’s conditional

promise to pay issued by a bank at the request
of an importer, in which the bank promises to
pay an exporter upon presentation of documents
specified in the L/C.
An L/C reduces the risk of non-completion
because the bank agrees to pay against
documents rather than actual merchandise.

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 Letter of Credit

 Letters of credit are also classified as:

– Irrevocable versus revocable
– Confirmed versus unconfirmed
 The primary advantage of an L/C is that it reduces risk –
the exporter can sell against a bank’s promise to pay
rather than against the promise of a commercial firm.
 The major advantage of an L/C to an importer is that the
importer need not pay out funds until the documents
have arrived at the bank that issued the L/C and after all
conditions stated in the credit have been fulfilled.

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Letter of Credit

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 Draft

 A draft, sometimes called a bill of exchange (B/E), is the

instrument normally used in international commerce to
effect payment.
 A draft is simply an order written by an exporter (seller)
instructing and importer (buyer) or its agent to pay a
specified amount of money at a specified time.
 The person or business initiating the draft is known as
the maker, drawer or originator.
 Normally this is the exporter who sells and ships the
merchandise.
 The party to whom the draft is addressed is the drawee.

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 Draft
 If properly drawn, drafts can become negotiable instruments.
 As such, they provide a convenient instrument for financing the
international movement of merchandise (freely bought and sold).
 To become a negotiable instrument, a draft must conform to the
following four requirements:
– It must be in writing and signed by the maker or drawer.
– It must contain an unconditional promise or order to pay a
definite sum of money.
– It must be payable on demand or at a fixed or determinable
future date.
– It must be payable to order or to bearer.
 There are time drafts and sight drafts.

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 Bill of Lading

The third key document for financing

international trade is the bill of lading or B/L.
The bill of lading is issued to the exporter by a
common carrier transporting the merchandise.
It serves three purposes: a receipt, a contract
and a document of title.
Bills of lading are either straight or to order.

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 Typical Trade Transaction

A trade transaction could conceivably be

handled in many ways.
The transaction that would best illustrate the
interactions of the various documents would be
an export financed under a documentary
commercial letter of credit, requiring an order
bill of lading, with the exporter collecting via a
time draft accepted by the importer’s bank.
The following exhibit illustrates such a
transaction.

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 Trade Financing Alternatives

In order to finance international trade

receivables, firms use the same financing
instruments as they use for domestic trade
receivables, plus a few specialized instruments
that are only available for financing international
trade.
There are short-term financing instruments and
longer-term instruments in addition to the use of
various types of barter to substitute for these
instruments.
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 Trade Financing Alternatives

Some of the shorter term financing instruments

include:
– Bankers Acceptances
– Trade Acceptances
– Factoring
– Securitization
– Bank Credit Lines Covered by Export Credit Insurance
– Commercial Paper
Forfaiting is a longer term financing instrument.

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 Countertrade

 The word countertrade refers to a variety of international

trade arrangements in which goods and services are
exported by a manufacturer with compensation linked to
that manufacturer accepting imports of other goods and
services.
 In other words, an export sale is tied by contract to an
import.
 The countertrade may take place at the same time as the
original export, in which case credit is not an issue; or
the countertrade may take place later, in which case
financing becomes important.

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 Government Trade Promotion

 Governments of most export-oriented industrialized countries

have special financial institutions that provide some form of
subsidized credit to their own national exporters.
 These export finance institutions offer terms that are better
than those generally available from the competitive private
sector.
 Thus domestic taxpayers are subsidizing lower financial costs
for foreign buyers in order to create employment and
maintain a technological edge.
 The most important institutions usually offer export credit
insurance and a government-supported bank for export
financing.

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 Working Capital Management

 Working capital management in a multinational

enterprise requires managing current assets (cash
balances, accounts receivable and inventory) and current
liabilities (accounts payable and short-term debt) when
faced with political, foreign exchange, tax and liquidity
constraints.
 The overall goal is to reduce funds tied up in working
capital while simultaneously providing sufficient funding
and liquidity for the conduct of global business.
 Working capital management should enhance return on
assets and return on equity and should also improve
efficiency ratios and other performance measures.

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 International Cash Management

 International cash management is the set of activities

determining the levels of cash balances held throughout
the MNE (cash management) and the facilitation of its
movement cross-border (settlements and processing).
 These activities are typically handled by the international
treasury of the MNE.
 Cash balances, including marketable securities, are
held partly to enable normal day-to-day cash
disbursements and partly to protect against
unanticipated variations from budgeted cash flows.
These two motives are called the transaction motive
and the precautionary motive.

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 International Cash Management

 Efficient cash management aims to reduce cash tied up

unnecessarily in the system, without diminishing profit
or increasing risk, so as to increase the rate of return on
invested assets.
 Over time a number of techniques and services have
evolved that simplify and reduce the costs of making
cross-border payments.
 Four such techniques include:
– Wire transfers
– Cash pooling
– Payment netting
– Electronic fund transfers

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Payment Netting

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Payment Netting

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 Accounts Receivable Management
 Trade credit is provided to customers on the
expectation that it increases overall profits by:
Expanding sales volume
Retaining customers
 Companies must keep a close eye on who they are
extended, why they are doing it and in which currency.
 One way to better manage overseas receivables is to
adjust staff sales bonuses for the interest and currency
costs of credit sales.

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 Inventory Management
 MNCs tend to have difficulties in inventory
management due to long transit times and lengthy
customs procedures.
 Overseas production can lead to higher inventory
carrying costs.
 Must weigh up benefits and costs of inventory
stockpiling.
 Could adjust affiliates profit margins to reflect added
stockpiling costs.

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 Inventory Management
 Example: Cypress Semiconductor decided not to
manufacture their circuits overseas. By producing
overseas they can reduce labour costs by $0.032 per
chip.
 BUT, offshore production incurs extra shipping and
customs costs of $0.025 per chip.
 AND, ties up capital in inventory for extra 5 weeks:
Capital cost = cost of funds x extra time x cost of part
= 0.20 x 5/52 x $8
= $0.154

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 Short-Term Financing
 Take advantage of discount on Accounts Payable?
 2/10 net 60 – effective cost?

 Three principal short-term financing options:

 Internal financing – borrowing from parent
company or other affiliates.
 Local currency loans – overdrafts, line of credit,
discounting (commercial paper) and term loans.
 Euro market loans/issues – Euronotes and Euro-CP.

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 Managing the MNE Financial System

 A firm operating globally faces a variety of political, tax, foreign

exchange and liquidity considerations that limit its ability to
move funds easily and without cost from one country or
currency to another.
 Political constraints can block the transfer of funds either
overtly or covertly.
 Tax constraints arise because of the complex and possibly
contradictory tax structures of various national governments
through whose jurisdictions funds might pass.
 Foreign exchange transaction costs are incurred when one
currency is exchanged for another.
 Liquidity needs are often driven by individual locations (difficult
to conduct worldwide cash handling).

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 Unbundling Funds
 Multinational firms often unbundle their transfer of
funds into separate flows for specific purposes.
 Host countries are then more likely to perceive that
a portion of what might otherwise be called
remittance of profits constitutes and essential
purchase of specific benefits that command
worldwide values and benefit the host country.
 Unbundling allows a multinational firm to recover
funds from subsidiaries without piquing host
country sensitivities over large dividend drains.

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Unbundling Funds

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 Transfer Pricing
 Pricing internally traded goods of the firm for the
purpose of moving profits to a more tax-friendly
location.
 This can reduce taxes, tariffs and circumvent exchange
controls.

 Example: Suppose that affiliate A produces 100,000

circuit boards for $10 apiece and sells them to affiliate
B. Affiliate B, in turn, sells these boards for $22 apiece
to an unrelated customer. Pretax profit for the
consolidated company is $1 million regardless of the
price at which the goods are transferred for A to B.

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 Transfer Pricing - Example
(internal unit price = $15):
A B A+B
Revenue 1,500 2,200 2,200
COGS -1,000 -1,500 -1,000
Gross Profits 500 700 1,200
Expenses -100 -100 -200
Income b/t 400 600 1,000
Taxes (30/50) -120 -300 -420
Net Income 280 300 580
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 Transfer Pricing - Example
HIGH MARK-UP POLICY (unit price = $18):
A B A+B
Revenue 1,800 2,200 2,200
COGS -1,000 -1,800 -1,000
Gross Profits 800 400 1,200
Expenses -100 -100 -200
Income b/t 700 300 1,000
Taxes (30/50) -210 -150 -360
Net Income 490 150 640

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 Transfer Pricing

 In effect: Profits are shifted from a higher to a

lower tax jurisdiction.

Basic rules:
• If tA > tB then set the transfer price and the
mark-up policy as LOW as possible.

• If tA < tB then set the transfer price and the

mark-up policy as HIGH as possible.

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 Transfer Pricing
Methods of Determining Transfer Prices
– Tax Office regulations provide three methods to
establish arm’s length prices:
• Comparable uncontrolled prices
• Resale prices
• Cost-plus calculations
– In some cases, combinations of these three methods
are used.

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 Reinvoicing Centers
 Reinvoicing centers can help coordinate transfer
pricing policy. They are set up in low-tax countries.
 Goods travel directly from buyer to seller, but
ownership passes through the reinvoicing center.
 Advantages:
 Easier control on currency exposure
 Flexibility in invoicing currency
 Disadvantages:
 Increased costs
 Suspicion of tax evasion by local governments

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 Internal Loans
 Internal loans add value to the MNE if credit rationing,
currency controls or differences in tax rates exist.
 Three main types:
 Direct loans – from parent to affiliate.
 Back-to-back loans – deposit by parent is lent to affiliate
through a bank.
 Parallel loans – like a loan swap between two MNEs and
their affiliates.
 All of these internal funds flow mechanisms are designed so that the MNE
wins at the expense of other parties – usually governments.

 Therefore, it is imperative that MNEs do this as quietly and subtly as

possible.
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