This tradition is just a small part of Japan’s rich history, a history that has seen Japan grow to become a thriving business hub. In fact Japan is the third largest global economy and Australia’s second largest trading partner, both in terms of two-way trade and export. In 2010/11 Australian exports to Japan amounted to A$46.8 billion.

For the founders of Perfect Potion, Salvatore Battaglia and Carolyn Stubbin, Japan has been an important market in their business strategy. Since opening their first store in Brisbane in 1991, Salvatore and Carolyn have worked to make shopping at Perfect Potion a ‘total customer experience’. This concept is now led by their 70 staff who work across eight Australian stores and 10 stores in Japan.

“We had a distributor in Japan for more than 10 years but they never understood our brand,” Salvatore says. “Our vision is to provide customers with an experience that is the most sought after in the world. Having our brand with a distributor meant that it was just another brand among thousands of other skincare products. But we’ve never seen ourselves like that because there is a whole experience around Perfect Potion.”

Salvatore says the secret to success in Japan has been in setting up a separate company with a business partner, a Japanese national. “The fact that she speaks English well and is very business savvy – plus has a strong passion for Perfect Potion – has made it very easy.”

Solid protection of the company’s intellectual property (IP), like its brand, before exporting was also essential. “It is so important before you enter a country for export that your brand name is going to be protected. We have our trade mark protected in Australia, Japan, Singapore and the UK.”

To ensure the brand is well and truly covered, Perfect Potion employed the services of an experienced local patent and trade mark attorney firm in Brisbane. “We have really good trade mark attorneys. Without their help, there was no way we could register the IP worldwide. They’ve been able to achieve everything from their offices here in Australia,” Salvatore says.

The attorneys liaise with relevant IP specialists in Japan, lodging all applications and coordinating IP searches for all markets. “And where they have needed to contact somebody overseas, they have done so on our behalf.”

So far the experience has been very positive. “In all honesty, I’d say it’s easier to set up shops in Japan than it is to set up in Australia!” Salvatore says. “I find people very reliable, in terms of organising others to do things. If someone says something will be done by a certain date, it is done by that date.”

Although there haven’t been any infringements of their trade marks to date, regular communication with their Japanese partners means they can be alerted to any potential problems quickly.

For other companies looking to crack the Japanese market, or indeed any international market, Salvatore has some advice: “If you want to be successful, make sure you go into a business relationship with someone who really understands what you’re trying to achieve. It is difficult to set up a business in Japan without having a strong input from Japanese nationals – either having a business partner who is Japanese or a person who really understands the Japanese culture.”

If you are looking at exporting to Japan IP Australia has country specific information on IP issues exporters may face in Japan, and other markets. For information about exporting to a range of countries visit our doing business overseas page.

StartUp House was officially opened earlier this year by Stoner along with the NSW Government’s new trade office in San Francisco.

“The NSW Government is committed to growing our digital sector and this announcement will help Australian entrepreneurs get a foothold in the US market by providing a subsidy to access the co-working space and accommodation at StartUp House from May 2012,” Stoner said.

The 36,000 square foot facility that is StartUp House is a joint venture between Australian entrepreneurs Elias Bizannes and Bardia Houseman and New Zealander Stephen Weir. It offers premium office space and will house 210 desks, a cafe and hostel for early stage companies.

“Silicon Valley continues to be a leading hub for high-tech innovation in the United States and an important target point for NSW technology companies with global ambitions,” Stoner said.

“Helping NSW entrepreneurs link into key global technology centres like Silicon Valley will open access to critical markets, capital and mentoring beyond the opportunities available in Sydney.”

AIEx is interested to discover how exporters use online to drive international sales.

If you are an exporter and would like to take part, please visit the survey website.

The service, studylane, was set up after reports showed that education services were Australia’s third largest export earner.

Education services bring in $16 billion dollars to the Australian economy, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010 – 2011.

studylane is a new online portal which will make Australia more accessible for the 300, 000 international students each year who choose to study in Australia.

Founder and CEO of studylane, Bipul Kafley, says that the service will provide trained counsellors to help provide assistance and believes it will help education in Australia overall.

“International students can also add different social and cultural perspectives that help the educational experience for all students- which can be very important in the globalised business world of today,” Kafley said.

studylane has access to universities and other education tools in all parts of Australia.

The surplus rose by $366 million in December with export value rising by 2.3 per cent.

A strong rise in resources exports was also recorded with a large recovery in coal exports following the Queensland Floods.

Australia’s exports continue to be dominated by resources, comprising approximately 62 percent of total exports in December.

There was a drop in services exports recorded that indicated a weakness in travel and education exports.

The divergent economy remains weak with a low rate of building approvals that have continued falling 24.5 percent year on year.

Recent interest rate cuts, and further expected cuts, are expected to provide support for the divergent economy and modest growth is expected in late 2012.

Following the unexpected rise in trade surplus it is predicted to moderate throughout 2012.

The most popular destination for these businesses is South East Asia, with Singapore, The Philipines, Malaysia and Indonesia topping the list, followed by East Asia and China, Japan and Mongolia. Asian markets are the main focus for Australian businesses, due to their proximity as well as their speed of growth.

“SE Asia is a natural choice for many Australian businesses looking to expand operations and break into new and emerging markets,” said William Willems, Regus Regional Vice President Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. “The lower export, travel and freight costs are also key selling points. This is in comparison to Northern and Western Europe, where only 27% of firms plan to expand.”

Despite world economic outlook, only three percent of businesses said they were looking to downgrade their international operations, suggesting that 2012 will be a growth year for Australian businesses.

Some businesses were unsure about international growth, with 17 percent said that they were undecided as to whether they were going to expand or contract in 2012, with 42 percent of them saying that was due to focus on Australian growth. Willems suggests caution before heading overseas. “The strong intention of many Australian firms to expand in 2012 is an exciting trend. However, some firms may underestimate the costs and challenges of operating in a different market. It takes time to explore the economic, political and legal landscape of a new country, including the terms of trade, tax and the payments system. Having a strong understanding of the business culture is also important, in order to find new partners and identify new customers and partners,” he said.

Mr O’Farrell said an assessment had found the potential benefits of the project were outweighed by the possible adverse impacts.

The $2.5 billion coal-loader was proposed to be built on the former BHP steelworks site at Mayfield. Yet the site is “more suited to handling multi product, container, general cargo and dry bulk terminal freight,” said O’Farrell in a January 28 statement.

He said the proposal for the large scale coal loading facility at Mayfield had created uncertainty in the coal industry.

“The government will continue to build on the existing industry-supported framework for the expansion of coal terminal capacity,” O’Farrell said.

Tinker’s proposal, under his Hunter Ports Ltd, would have had a capacity of 100 million tonnes a year and included a new rail link to take coal trains out of Mayfield.

The Hunter Ports project was competing with the $5 billion Port Waratah Coal Services proposal for a fourth loader, to expand existing port facilities.

Port Waratah Coal Services  said the decision of the NSW government to reject the Hunter Ports ‘Terminal 5’ proposal gave the Hunter Valley coal industry certainty. The group labelled the proposal an “incomplete concept from outside the hard-won industry framework”, saying that it did not seem to have costed or modelled against the overall coal chain.

Australian coal exporters have recently been struggling with existing railroads and ports under pressure to cope with increased demand.

The port of Newcastle, located about 125 kilometers north-northeast of Sydney is the world’s largest thermal coal port.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced today that Venamore is expected to take up her appointment next month.

Venamore will replace Glenn White, who has been Ambassador since January 2009.

Currently Australia has a partnership with Jordan that includes trade, agriculture, investment, education, defence and cultural cooperation, including archaeological research, over 50 years.

Recent new areas of bilateral cooperation include law enforcement and customs cooperation. Bilateral merchandise trade stood at $189 million for  the year 2010 – 11.

As a strategically significant country in the Middle East, Australia has welcomed Jordan’s efforts to promote peace talks in the region.

Previously Venamore was serving as counsellor at the Australia High Commission in London.

This was an increase of five percent from the previous year, with iron ore showing a massive 70 percent growth, accounting for more than half of the state’s total merchandise exports. Other exports of gas, crude petroleum, precious metal ores and nickel ores also showed very strong growth.

South Australia’s exports also grew over 21 percent, primarily driven by wheat. The ACT and NSW showed some growth but in numbers far smaller than WA and SA while Queensland’s export numbers dropped due to last year’s extreme weather including floods and Cyclone Yasi.

New South Wales remained the nation’s largest importer, with $104 billion worth of goods and services entering the state.

The value of Australian exports also grew 17.3 percent in the financial year 2010/11 with price being the main driver as volumes remained steady.

Full analyses and tables from the annual publication Australia’s Trade by State and Territory 2010-11 are available without charge on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

In the Australian Financial Review this week, Rhiannon said that Agricultural Minister Joe Ludwig couldn’t budge on the February deadline for accrediting live sheep exports to the Middle East.

“This is a litmus test of the government’s commitment to live export reforms and Senator Ludwig will betray the public if he buckles to industry bullying and gives sheep traders more time to conform”, said Senator Rhiannon.

Live exporters were given till the end of February to conduct an independent audit of their supply chain to show that animals are processed according to internationally accepted standards.

“In October the government set a clear deadline of 29 February to comply with supply chain accreditation. The industry has had over four months to get its act together and there is no excuse for extending the deadline,” Rhiannon added. ”Industry claims that the rules do not suit Middle East markets are far from convincing. Supply chain assurances to improve animal welfare standards should not be negotiable.”

Rhiannon went on to say that sheep traders needed to be more aware of their supply chain in order to guarantee animal welfare. ”Too many sheep die at sea and are subject to unacceptable suffering, both on board ships and once they arrive in destination countries. Holding sheep traders to a deadline to have their supply chains audited is the very least the government can do.”

Rhiannon said the Greens were still determined to end live export. ”When parliament resumes the Greens will reintroduce a bill to end the live export industry.”