World Trade - October 2008 - (Page 51)

GLOBAL STRATEGIES not maintain the look they were designed to have. If the distributor does not have professional desktop publishers and tools, your brand image may be diluted if your translated materials do not conform to company standards. Legal Liability markets. The cost to handle each call exceeded $35.00, while the company was averaging over 45 calls per day compared to only 25 customer service calls per day in the U.S. for the same product. The total annual cost for the non-U.S. calls was $409,500. WT Jeffrey Jorgensen is a manager at Wisconsin-based International Communication by Design, Inc. (www.icdtranslation.com). For reprints of this article, please contact Cindy Williams at williamsc@bnpmedia.com or 610-436-4220 ext. 8516. Your company can also be exposed to signiﬁcant liability costs for any industrial accidents that can be traced back to the “free” translation of a distributor. By using untrained and uncertiﬁed translators, you can also expose your customers to danger. An example of liability exposure due to inadequate translation is an industrial accident that occurred in which customers of Company C were fatally injured after completing a procedure translated by a distributor. By conducting a test of the procedures, Company C found that incorrect translation of the documents contributed to the accident. While your distributor will have the best of intentions, their experience in translating complex technical material— especially content that involves risk of personal injury—is likely limited. Market Share www.transportlogistic.de Mistakes in the distributor’s translation can affect your market share, especially if your competitors are using ATA-certiﬁed translators. Consider whether your market share has increased or decreased since your distributor started translating your materials and by what growth percentage of growth versus your domestic market. One company noticed that its market in Portugal was not growing as fast as its market in Brazil and that the Brazilian distributor handled both markets. A possible cause was that the distributor was using the same materials that they translated into Brazilian Portuguese in Portugal and had insulted customers in Portugal. The consumer in Portugal may have assumed that the U.S. manufacturer shipped the products with those translations and consequently formed an unﬂattering impression of the manufacturer. Customer Service Calls The industry’s widest range of products. Secure your place. As an exhibitor at transport logistic you beneﬁt from: } The presence of market-leaders and decision-makers } Seeing the entire value chain } A high-carat conference programme Show yourself there – it will be worth it! At the world’s largest trade fair for the logistics, telematics and transport. Apply at once on www.transportlogistic.de/application APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 SEPTEMBER 2008 As you decide whether to accept that “free” translation, consider how many support calls might arise from poor translations and what the average call costs your company. It is possible that using distributor translations will increase the number of support calls your company receives. As the number of target languages increases, customer support calls can increase exponentially. For example, Company A saw an increase in its customer service calls in their non-U.S. including connecting business Messe München GmbH Messegelände D-81823 München Tel.: (+49 89) 9 49-1 13 68 info@transportlogistic.de 12th International Exhibition for Logistics, Telematics and Transport 12 – 15 May 2009 New Munich Trade Fair Centre WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM 51 WTM09084TRAN.indd 1 8/12/08 11:09:37 AM http://www.icdtranslation.com http://www.transportlogistic.de http://www.transportlogistic.de/application http://www.transportlogistic.de http://WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - October 2008

World Trade - October 2008 Contents Tune Up Your Supply Chain Globalization: The Real Competitive Threat Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Shippers and Providers Collaborate to Take on a Challenging Economy Tweaking the Supply Chain to Optimize Value and Minimize Cost Supply Chain Software Morphs Into Enterprise Management Can Warehousing Really, Truly Be Strategic? Everybody is Global Between the Devil and the Deep The Hidden Costs of ‘Free’ Translation Blowing Smoke

World Trade - October 2008

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