International Cosmopolitan is a company that sells an enormous amount of fine jewelry worldwide from its headquarters in Paris, France. Presently 10 of their revenues come from sales in the United States. International Cosmopolitan would like to grow the business by about 200 over the next three years. Presently, a majority of their product is kept in a private warehouse in France. While the shipments to United States will always be relatively small in size due to the cost and nature of the product, International Cosmopolitan would still like to take advantage of any possible distribution efficiencies by sending their shipments to a distribution center in United States that can then package their small shipments with other jewelry shipments headed towards common retailers and/or wholesalers. In order to do so they'll need to make accommodations for shipment, find retail and wholesale companies willing to distribute their product, find intermediaries to both help export the product out of France and help import the product into the United States. Based on the above information and your knowledge of international transportation, answer the questions below in the hopes of providing International Cosmopolitan with some preliminary information that will aid them in creating a successful logistical itinerary:
a. Which modes of transportation should be utilized in getting the product from International Cosmopolitan's warehouse in France to a distribution center in United States? Why?
b. Which intermediaries should International Cosmopolitan consider in finding customers in United States and exporting the product out of a France? Why?
c. Which intermediary should International Cosmopolitan consider in helping them import the product into United States? Why?
d. Briefly discuss their warehousing plan. Does it make sense? Why?
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