Hey everyone, I was wondering if some of you could do me a big favor and answer some questions for a class I’m taking. It is an international business class and I need people who are living outside of the U.S. to answer these questions and I will use them in a paper for the class. Thank you all very much. Any feedback is appreciated.

1) What country are you from?

2) What do you think is the most difficult challenge for U.S. businesses that want to do business in your country?

3) What one product or service do many people in your country want to buy but do not have today?

4) What one product or service do many people in your country enjoy that consumers in other countries may not know about?

Don't take my responses the wrong way - I'm actually trying to do you a favor by answering your questions honestly. (And who knows, it could make for a more interesting paper!)

Started out in the US.

Understanding that outside the US, money isn't revered in the same way it is back there. Linked with the idea that labor laws are there to protect the workers, and that even US companies are expected to comply with them (which they often don't).

The French aren't all that into "buying" stuff. Certainly not in the same way they are in the US. And even my list of stuff to stock up on when I'm back in the US has shrunk to almost nothing these days. Most products and services that the French need or want are available here.

Raw milk cheeses, perhaps. Or as my husband would say, "real food" that hasn't been overly processed or plumped up with additives to lengthen its shelf life. But the practicalities of exporting this sort of thing are pretty evident.

One interesting real life product you might like to look into for your paper would be Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. They've just announced that it is available in Europe, though you have to order it from the US and pay customs and VAT in addition to the published price. I'm curious to see what the demand for it might be here, as the French are quite a bit less "gadget happy" than the Americans - and I suspect the issue of the 3G rights here in Europe was quite an interesting one on Amazon's part.

I looked into perhaps getting one (or one of the other e-book readers on the market) due to the expense and inconvenience of having to order English language books from the UK or US - but decided against it on a whole range of criteria. Unfortunately there may not be much available information on sales of the Kindle here until too late for your paper, but maybe it will give you some ideas.
Cheers,
Bev

Thank you very much for this. I appreciate feedback of any kind.