What is the Chamber of Commerce?

Chamber of Commerce refers to an institution or an association of business personnel or individuals established for the protection of the interest of its members. Also referred to as a board of trade, a chamber of commerce consists of a group or set of businesspeople or owners that share a common interest or locality but can also be an international interest. These individuals pick their representatives and decide on what policies to regulate and those that will be discarded. Fairly available around the world, no single chamber is totally responsible for the creation and enactment of laws and regulations, although they hold enough power to influence the actions of lawmakers in their lobbying efforts.

What does the Chamber of Commerce Do?

The origin of the chamber of commerce can be traced back to 1599 in France. This agency was created with the initial intentions of just catering to its member. With the spread of international allying and exchanges, the United States was opportuned to create its first Chamber of Commerce in 1768, and the United States Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1912 with its primary intention being to influence lawmakers and regulators at the national level on commerce and trade-related issues using its organized lobbying effort. The board of trade however focused on organizing and deciding on issues related to membership on the state and local government levels. The chambers on this level neednt maintain a relationship with the national chamber through a Federal Partnership Program, although they may choose to it they so wish. The U.S Chamber of Commerce is distinct from the trade groups and institutions in the sense that they tend to mostly support conservative political leaders, and they own the highest organized lobbying power needed to modify regulations. They also protect the full trade industry as a whole, as opposed to trade groups that stand in for their respective industries.

Benefits of Being a Member of the Chamber of Commerce

Members of the Chamber of Commerce receive different benefits ranging from discounts when associating or trading with other members, promotion of business activities, and unrestricted listings in the systems directory or registry. In the local level, Chamber of Commerce also strives to protect the interest of its members, as well as help them promote their business activities and stand in for them when and where needed. Businesspeople at the local level dont feel left out, as they get to meet each other and discuss certain policies as well as make decisions which will affect their business activities and the economic condition of their regions. Also, these members are featured as preferred vendors or sellers on local registry, websites, books, and magazines, giving them a boost against non-members in their locality.

Activity or Strategy of the Chamber of Commerce

Chambers of commerce are strategic in their operations and they have rules which guide their operations. This institution at different levels tend to follow these strategies:

• Regional and Local Chambers: These chambers are mostly focused on protecting the interests of their members while giving little interest to business promotions. They, however, get involved in promotions from time to time, especially with immigrants who wish to distribute products to their country of origin.
• City Level Chambers: These chambers are more focused on their environmental economy and tend to promote their city's products more often than individual businesses
• State Level Chambers: These chambers have greater influence over regulations and legislation related to pro-business activities as they are mainly focused on state and inter-state levels. This is mostly true for a nation where each state has independent legislations in different sectors.
• International or National Level Chambers: They take into account the interest of trades at all levels.
• Compulsory Chambers: These chambers are mostly located in Europe and Asia, and they require businesses of a certain size to join.

Chamber of Commerce in some nations like Great Britain make use of memberships to survey economic data. An example is the British Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey which is utilized by the government in determining the health of the nations economy.

Related Topics

• Trade Balance: Surplus and Deficit
• Mercantilism
• J Curve
• National Trade Data Bank
• Capital Account (Economics)
• Merchandise Trade Balance
• Current Account 
• Income Payments
• Unilateral Transfer
• Is it better to have a trade surplus or a trade deficit? 
• Export of Goods and Services and Percentage of GDP
• Heckscher-Ohlin Model 
• Linder Hypothesis
• The Balance of Trade as a Balance of Payments
• National Savings and Investment Identity
• Circular Flow of Money
• Financial Capital
• Supply and Demand Sides for Financial Capital? 
• Flow of Capital
• Domestic Saving and Investment Determine the Trade Balance
• National Savings Identity and Trade Deficits
• How the Business Cycle Affects Trade Balances
• Trade Balance or Trade Surplus
• Level of Trade
• Comparative Advantage
• Absolute Advantage
• Specialization and Gain from Trade
• Absolute Advantage in All Goods
• Production Possibilities Frontier and Comparative Advantage
• Comparative Advantage and Mutually Beneficial Trade
• Gain from Trade
• Opportunity Costs and International Trade
• Intra-Industry Trade
• Splitting Up the Value Chain
• How Economies of Scale Lead to Trading Advantages
• Protectionism
• Closed Economy
• Tariffs 
• Double Column Tariff
• Import Quotas
• Double Column Tariff
• Infant Industry Theory
• National Interest Argument
• Race to the Bottom
• Anti-Dumping Laws
• Dumping
• Trade War
• Race to the Bottom
• Non-Tariff Barriers
• Effects of Trade Barriers
• Who Is Benefited and Who is Harmed by Protectionism?
• Infant Industry Theory for Restricting Imports
• What is the Anti-Dumping Argument for Restricting Imports?

• Anti-Dumping Laws
• Dumping

• What is the Environmental Protection Argument for Restricting Imports?
• Race to the Bottom
• Unsafe Consumer Products Argument for Restricting Imports?
• National Interest Argument for Restricting Imports
• What is the WTO?
• What is the GATT?
• What are Free Trade Agreements?
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• Central European Free Trade Agreement
• General Agreement on Free Tariff and Trade (GATT)
• Common Market
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
• Central American Common Market
• Caribbean Community and Common Market
• What are Economic Unions?
• WTO
• International Monetary Fund
• World Economic Forum
• Inter-American Development Bank
• Davos World Economic Forum 
• Chamber of Commerce
• Jackson Hole Economic Symposium