Network reader-to-reader advice.
Adrian Visan has opened a Bucharest, Romania, branch for his translation and interpretation company. How can he find U.S. companies interested in Eastern Europe (When in Romania, No. 03921112, March 1992)?
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Look through the U.S. Importers and Exporters Directory, published by the Journal of Commerce (212-837-7000). Subscribe to World Trade (714-725-0233), Export Today (202-737-1060), and International Business (914-381-7700); all three are sources of targeted leads. And send press releases to world-trade organizations like the American Association of Exporters and Importers (212-944-2230) and the National Association of Export Companies (212-725-3311).
Kay M. Jones
Asia Specialist
Aja Consultants
Great Neck, N.Y.
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The Eastern Europe Business Information Center, U.S. Department of Commerce (202-377-2645), publishes a list of U.S. companies operating in the region. Because the situation in Eastern Europe is so fluid, the most recent list probably requires revision, but it's a start. For more current information, contact the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service post, in Bucharest (Washington, D.C., headquarters: 202-377-1600).
Steve Holmes
President
Steve Holmes Productions
Iowa City, Iowa
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I edit a newsletter, Business Tech Romania, that reaches 2,000 U.S. companies doing business in Romania. A year's subscription (six issues) costs $60. For more information, contact me at 203-293-2714.
Ruth Guzulescu
Editor
ASE World Enterprises
Hartford, Conn.
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Collection agencies and lawyers haven't helped Leonard Shutzberg collect on stubborn debts (Antique Collectibles, No. 03921112, March 1992). "We haven't seen a dime on cases we've taken to court," he says.
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An asset search, which you can do by collecting information directly from public offices, will reveal assets -- such as automobiles, landlord rents and deposits, utility deposits, and real-estate holdings -- that you may attach to satisfy those judgments that have proved uncollectible. A Private Eye's Guide to Collecting Bad Debt, by Fay Faron (Creighton-Morgan Publishing, San Francisco, 1991, $12.95), will tell you how.
Harry Campos Jr.
Manager
River City Detectives
Shreveport, La.
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In December Bryan Chaney asked how large a discount he should give to friends who visit his new bicycle sales-and-repair shop. Readers agreed he should give them no discount at all (Price of Friendship, No. 03921111, March 1992). Now, a note of dissent:
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A consistent discount of 25% to friends allows me to profit on each transaction and encourages friends to tell others about my business. It also encourages loyalty: big retailers continually advertise steeper discounts than I give my friends, yet my friends come back to me. It's consistent with a philosophy that values friends at least as much as profits.
Nick Tillman
President
Suntime Sunglass
Chicago
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