Feet on the street.
At the same time that air travel is becoming less favored by businesses, the world is more connected than ever before.
There are lots of organizations that want to do business internationally but might not be as eager to fly across the world to visit a factory or meet with a supplier. And so the pharmaceuticals, the software, the fabrics, the call centers, the chips—it becomes ever more difficult to truly understand how to source and produce the components that world-based products demand.
The expediter is local talent. They speak the language. They are retained by the company to join in on zoom calls and to do site visits if needed. The modern expediter provides something that’s more useful than ever: insight.
My friend Jojo does this in China. I’m guessing that there are others who do it in many other countries around the world, but they’re not easy to find.
I’ll update this post next week with a list of folks who are now doing this new sort of work. Feel free to submit your info via this form if you’d like to be included.