European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes business news americans get boost by drop in Antish Pound. Americans living in England May finally have something to cheer about. After being buffeted by interest Rales in the 13 percent Range and an expensive Pound one Pound Cost As much As 11.90 Las december . Personnel in great Britain saw their Bucks gain some buying Power in the past five Days. At the Start of last week one Pound cosi in the. Neighbourhood of j1.7535. Bui by week s end another set of poor British Trade figures and a reluctance by the government to raise interest rates because of recession fears knocked the Pound Down by 3 cents to s 1 7230 some analysts believe the British currency could continue falling in the next few Days de spite the widespread belief11hat the Bank of eng land will try to prop up the Pound through intervention on foreign Exchange markets. It was also a Good week for the Dollar in West Germany. The Buck was Worth Only 1.8170 Marks at the Star of last week but on Fri. Day the Greenback had fought is Way up to the i.b-1-Mnrit  military Exchange rate gained a pfennig on the by week after a shaky Randy Mcclam Start. On monday a Dollar will buy 1.82 Murks at Community banking facilities. Hut the Dollar s Best gains in Europe came again hit Pound. The Ball started rolling downhill for the Brit ish currency on wednesday when it was announced that great Britain s Trade Gap widened in january by 1.7 billion pounds some s2.9 bit lion thai came on the heels of a 1,36 billion Pound 52.34 billion Trade Gap in december and it was worse than economists had expected. A foreign caching analyst for Barclays Bank in London said inc poor Trade figures have put the fir Fisli government Between a Rock and a hard plate Lew than iwo weeks before the government is due to release next fiscal year s budget. The Chancellor has been counting on a Strong Pound and High interest rates to Batten Down the hutches on inflation but now the effectiveness of one of those weapons is being eroded the analyst said. He said one response could be a further hike in Britain s already High interest Rales but that would be widely viewed As a Polit ical embarrassment coming so close to inc gov Ern men s unveil i Tig of its budget. This analyst said the Best bet for the week ahead is that currency traders still Down on the Pound because of the British Trade Gap will try to drive inc currency oven  Bank of England is expected to fight Back., How far could the Pound go perhaps to s1.70, the analyst said but anything More would be a Surprise. As for the Dollar is. The Mark one foreign Exchange trader in Frankfurt said he expects the Buck to remain in a narrow Range Between 1.83 and l 85 Marks. On Friday the Dollar split the difference in Frankfurt to stand by late afternoon trading exactly Al 1.84. The Dollar gained some support late last week when the West German Bundesbank chose not to raise interest rates in response to inc . Federal Reserve s move of a week ago that boosted inc . Discount rate to 7 percent hut Market concern about the . Budget deficit will prevent the Dollar from staging much of a rally the Frankfurt trader said. What we saw this week was a lot of technical Maneu vers on Exchange Rales he wid. I would t put Loo much Stock in it to have any Teal Impact on the Dollar the . Government sooner of later tin to come out with some Clear facts and figures on How it plans to tight inc budget deficit he trader said. Connections . Super salesmen Busy b Randy Mcclaln financial writer Donald Burden and his colleagues Are out to con Quer Europe help businesses Back Home sell their products overseas and improve the . Trade deficit. In the process. Burdon who goes by the title of director of Trade development is a hired uti. He used to work for the state of Louisiana in Frankfurt West Germany and then Paris. Now he s on Connecticut s payroll As part of a three person sales office in Frankfurt. His Job is a simple one to promote Connecticut made products to european companies and to encourage european businessmen interested in building manufacturing plants or offices in. The United states to bring their jobs and tax dollars straight to Connecticut one Factor that makes Burden s life difficult is Hathe has a lot of Competition. Al last count 28 slates have opened economic development offices in places like Frankfurt Stuttgart and Doss Oldorf in West Ger Many Brussels in Belgium and London. They re All after the same things Burdon Hopes to win for Connecticut. What we re trying to do is Plant a few seeds and generate some business Burdon said. We re in particular trying to do something for smaller companies in Pur state that would otherwise have no exposure at All in the european  so far his i year old office has enrolled 160 Connecticut firms in the state s Trade Lead program which promotes their products overseas at Trade shows and through contacts with individual european Busi Nesses. Some other states have As Many As Soo Compa Nies enrolled in similar programs. I advertise people s products and try to bring Ihm together with a distributor Burdon said. Hopefully that leads to european sales for the firm and makes that company a More stable employer and taxpayer in ils Home Community. This year Burden has found himself touting every thing from an environmental testing kit thai identifies pollutants escaping from Industrial smokestacks to fake fingernails manufactured by a Connecticut cosmetics firm. Every Little bit helps improve the . Trade deficit he said. Burdon and representatives of several other Stales overseas Trade offices interviewed by the stars and stripes say their offices can be expensive to operate $250,000 a year for a two person office is not unheard of but having a foothold in Europe pays Oft Over inc Long haul. Whatever we do has to be done first Rale said Dieter by Loehr director of Wisconsin s european of fice which is located in one of inc fancies hotels in downtown Frankfurt. Youon Lyght out wha Lyou put in by Loehr said of his Plush offices acc. You can t get a top european executive to visit you at the Myca. We have to have a representative office and  go on inc Road we have to stay in the top  Thomas Beyer managing director of european operations for Pennsylvania said the Cost of overseas operations made that much higher because of the recent weakness of the Dollar sometimes raises a few government eyebrows Back Home but enlightened politicians know economic development does t come cheap. It would be easy for someone to try to make in Kim like All we do Over Here is party but i can pro Duce a Tysl of the companies we have been instrumental in bringing to Pennsylvania Beyer said we produce  companies that have started new operations or expanded recently in Pennsylvania with the help of inc stale s Trade office arc Bayer the German pharmaceuticals company and Hon feel which Beyer described As West Germany s Procter & Gamble. Both Are Jarge companies but Beyer said his slate also is interested in luring Small to medium sized european firms overseas we love to hit on the biggies but a lot of those kinds of companies made their move to the United states 0 to ii years ago he said. As a consequence we now focus on smaller companies and even Start  on the other Side of he investment Coin by Loehr of Wisconsin said he believes there s never been a better time for . Companies to think about Export ing to Europe. The Dollar is relatively Low which reduces inc Cost of . Exports and the european Community has taken its first Steps toward dismantling internal Trade barriers in Advance of making Europe � single Market be. _. Thomas Beyer runs Frankfurt s Pennsylvania Trade office. With unified product standards by 1992, he said. Today products have to be reviewed and meet dilute ring standards several times for each of the euro Pean Community countries Breloer said. It s mainly for protectionist purposes.". Brela Wihr said that s changing. He does t believe european protectionism Wilf fad away completely by 1992, but he thinks enough Progress will be made to Ward towering Trade barriers thai a smart and Well pre pared . Exporter vill be Able to reap some benefits. Fortress Europe is greatly  he said. Thai does t mean doing business in Europe Wilt suddenly become a Breeze by Loehr. And others said. One thing Trade officials from the United states have Learned is thai doing business overseas requires flexibility and a keen Eye for cultural differences. There s nothing v like a general european approach said Beyer. You must Lake in country by country and even Region by Region. In Germany Bavaria is different from Bremen and Hamburg. In inc North the businessmen As a Rule arc very conservative. I d never dare to j b Toa meeting without wearing a dark Blue suit in Bavaria you Ted More of the entrepreneurial Type with their shirtsleeves rolled up " k a. For his part by Loehr sees a big difference Between the French and the germans personality Wise the French arc a nationalistic peo ple he said. They May understand the English or German language but they won t speak  a knowledge of French and research material printed in the French language you can t negotiate he said. Others say the germans while they might speak English with a visiting Salesman from inc United states expect business meetings to follow n strict Eti Quette. In German you Don t Call a business executive out of the Blue said h. Paul Wagner director of Iowa s european office. You announce yourself by letter firs and May you will be  Shaun Mcgrath Trade manager for Lite Kansas eco nomic development office in Stuttgart and Caincr Mauser the office s director Are just starting to learn these  state s office Haj been open just a Lillic More than a year people in Europe Don t know much about Kansas but the state also does t have a negative  its said. Mauser and Mcgrath try to sell what they Sec As the stale s Strong Points Energy costs and the Cost of living Are Low and the state s work Force is heavily non Union. We re widening our stale s prospects Mauser said. We re showing the europeans that Kansas is More than just wheat Fields