Mindful of these issues, Knepper attended a trade seminar sponsored by the U.S. Commercial
Service’s Export Assistance Center of Philadelphia that featured market analysis and trade reports on
the fast-growing, emerging economies of Asia. Taking his seat, he couldn't help but wonder about the
opportunities. Sure, they sounded great. However, he had seen hype like this come back to bite, not to
mention the horror stories he’d heard at trade shows about the inevitable problems and evolving pitfalls
of exports. indeed, he reflected, a key reason for attending the seminar was to reconcile his vague sense
of the opportunities and threats.