Articles by Gerald Bratley | Trade, Politics and Technology- Page 2 of 15 -

You Cannot Avoid Errors If You Don’t Know

20 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A consignment held at a foreign port, a quotation accepted on terms nobody properly understood, or a product sent to a market where it could not legally be sold: these are seldom the result of carelessness alone. More often, they arise because you cannot avoid errors if you don’t know what must be known. The phrase is obvious, yet it cuts against a modern habit of assuming that information is readily available and expertise can be acquired by a quick search.

In serious work, especially international trade, the difficulty is not merely finding facts. It is recognising which facts matter, seeing how one decision affects another, and understanding where personal knowledge ends. That judgement is acquired slowly. It comes from responsibility, from observing consequences, and sometimes from making a modest mistake before it becomes an expensive one.

Why Do Exporters Fail Overseas? The Real Reasons

19 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A promising product and an enthusiastic overseas enquiry can create a dangerous impression: that export success is simply a matter of sending the goods. Why do exporters fail overseas? Usually not because their product is wholly unsuitable, nor because foreign buyers are uniquely difficult. They fail because an export transaction is a chain of separate disciplines, and one weak link can undermine everything that was done well before it.

This is easily overlooked by firms whose domestic trade has been straightforward. At home, a buyer may be familiar, the law understood, delivery routine and payment reasonably predictable. Overseas, distance magnifies every uncertainty. A misunderstanding over specification, a poorly chosen agent, an unsuitable payment term or an inadequate export packing case can turn a profitable order into an expensive lesson.

How Do Totally Unqualified People Get Top Jobs?

18 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A capable engineer is passed over for a senior post by someone who cannot read a technical drawing. An experienced export manager loses out to a candidate who has never negotiated a payment term, arranged a shipment or dealt with an overseas customer. Such cases produce a familiar and justified question: how do totally unqualified people get top jobs?

The short answer is that many senior appointments are not made solely, or even mainly, on demonstrable competence. Organisations often recruit for confidence, familiarity, social fit, political usefulness or the ability to reassure a board. These qualities are not always worthless. Leadership involves judgement and communication as well as technical knowledge. But when they displace knowledge altogether, the cost is eventually paid by staff, customers, taxpayers or shareholders.

10 Best Books About British Power to Read

17 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A measured reading list of the best books about British power, from empire and aristocracy to Whitehall, Parliament and the modern British state today.

Is the Chartered Institute for Export Fit for Purpose?

16 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

Is the Chartered Institute for Export fit for purpose? A seasoned assessment of trade training, practical competence, standards and what exporters need.

Export Digitisation Trends That Change Trade

14 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A shipment can now be entered into a customs system in minutes, yet still be delayed for days because a commodity code is wrong, an origin claim is unsupported, or the buyer’s bank requires a document in a different form. That is the central reality behind export digitisation trends. Technology has accelerated the transmission of information. It has not removed the need to understand what that information means.

For those who remember export business before electronic declarations, the change is remarkable. Orders arrived by post, telex or fax; documents were typed, checked, copied and couriered; and a minor discrepancy could mean a long telephone call across time zones. Much of that labour has rightly disappeared. But the enduring disciplines of international trade – clear contracts, accurate classification, sound packing, appropriate payment terms and dependable local representation – have not disappeared with it.

Gerald’s Weekly International Trade Briefing

13 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

Practical developments for UK exporters and SMEs This was a comparatively quiet week for changes to general customs and export-control procedures. The principal developments concern proposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese industrial products and a markedly stronger—but uneven—WTO outlook for world trade. 1. New duty proposed on Chinese titanium dioxide Status: Proposed—not yet in force. Comments … Read more

British Social History Fiction and Ordinary Lives

13 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A great deal of British social history fiction begins where the official record thins out. Parliamentary debates, factory returns and newspaper leaders can tell us what was decided. They rarely tell us what it felt like to wait for wages, to keep a household respectable on little money, or to recognise that a change made in Whitehall had reached the street outside.

That is the particular value of British social history fiction. At its best, it does not simply dress a modern story in period costume. It restores pressure to the past: the pressure of class, work, family duty, religion, housing, war, education and authority. For readers interested in how Britain became what it is, such fiction can provide something that statistics and grand political narratives often miss – an understanding of consequence at human scale. See Netheroyd Manor.

Direct Exporting Versus Local Distributors

12 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A promising enquiry from overseas can make the choice appear simple: sell direct, keep the margin and speak to the customer yourself. Yet the decision between direct exporting versus local distributors is rarely settled by a spreadsheet alone. It determines who understands the customer, who carries stock, who provides service when something goes wrong, and how much of the market intelligence reaches the manufacturer.

For many British firms, particularly those selling specialised industrial products, the route to market has been the difference between steady overseas growth and an expensive false start. A distributor may appear to take too much margin until the exporter discovers what that margin is expected to pay for: local selling effort, language, credit, warehousing, installation, spares and patient follow-up. Equally, a distributor can become an expensive barrier between a capable exporter and the market it ought to know directly.

A Practical Guide to Cross Cultural Negotiation

11 October 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A contract can be technically sound, competitively priced and carefully presented, yet still fail because the people at the table do not attach the same meaning to a pause, a promise or a handshake. A useful guide to cross-cultural negotiation begins there. International business is not a matter of learning a few national stereotypes. It is the disciplined work of understanding how another party reaches confidence, authority and agreement.

For exporters, agents and senior managers, this is not a soft subject to be left to the social part of a visit. Cultural judgement affects the pace of a sale, the reliability of information received, who can make a decision and how a disagreement should be handled. It can also determine whether a promising first meeting produces a durable commercial relationship or an expensive misunderstanding.