A Revival in Global Economic Activity

Exports during the month hit their highest level since August 2008, the month before the financial crisis.

"More and more of our exports have started going to the faster-growing regions in Asia, Latin America and Canada," said Morgan Stanley economist Ted Wieseman. "It highlights that the emerging markets never really had much of a slowdown at all. They've continued to outperform throughout the crisis."

Exports of industrial supplies were particularly strong, rising 8%, driven by chemicals and plastics. Food exports also surged. Among the big gains: Soybean exports jumped to almost $2.4 billion, an all-time high, from $1.8 billion in September.

Read the entire article here.

What is the Smartest Decision You Made in Starting Your Business?

 

Mine was going global at the outset.  What was yours?

What's Nato's New Role?

A little late on this but still worth a look:

Nato's new strategic concept unveiled in Lisbon underlines the global role of the alliance's new non-continental or non-geographic preoccupations such as cyber and space.

Watch a video and learn more here.

Illustration clip here.

10 Things to Consider Before You Start a Business in the United States

The following article covers ten areas that anyone wishing to start a small business had better think about before moving forward.  Here's a glimpse at No. 7:

Foreign Competition

Especially if you are creating a small business that does manufacturing, you are going to have to deal with foreign competition.

So are you going to be able to compete with the companies in your industry that pay their workers on the other side of the world less than a tenth of what you are paying to your American workers?

On the other side of the world, companies often don’t have to worry about unions, worker’s comp, health benefits, retirement benefits, nightmarish environmental regulations, crushing taxes or miles of paperwork and red tape.

Are you certain that you can compete against that?

Read the entire article here.

How to Become a Micro-Multinational Small Business

Here are 5 steps that a startup or a small business can take to become a micro-multinational.

Read the entire article here.

Illustration credit here.

How to Leverage Your Existing Customers To Go Global

For small businesses doing a great job for big-name clients close to home can leverage those relationships to expand abroad.   This is a savvy way to grow global for a small business.  That is what economist Jayson Myers, head of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, one of the country’s biggest industry groups, said in an interview.

“Often the best sales strategy is not going directly into new markets, but it’s leveraging up your existing customers. We are seeing this in a lot of manufacturing sectors, in a lot of technology companies. We [Canadians] have very, very good products, but often these products have to be packaged or integrated into a bigger service for customers.”

Read the entire article here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Turn To Other Parts of the World to Grow Your Business

Here are ten fabulous things you need to know about doing business in China.

It’s a global economy. We know that. But what does that really mean? It means that even if you decide to start a business tomorrow in your hometown, more likely than not, you’re going to have to turn to other parts of the world to make your business efficient and profitable. For many business owners, that other part of the world will most likely be China.

Read:  The Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Doing Business in China

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Growing Small Business Exporting

A very interesting perspective on small-business exporters:

Thinking Small
The Obama administration's efforts to grow small-business exporting, and how Congress could derail them.

Pictured:  United States President Obama

Going Down the Export Road

Find out how you can boost sales by looking for customers across borders.

Tapping into exports

Illustration:  Ricky's Lucky Nuts as featured in the above article.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Toolkit Kiosk Helps SMEs Go Global

SMEs got a boost recently when the Small and Medium Enterprise Corp Malaysia (SME Corp) unveiled the first of its kind SME Toolkit kiosk in the country aimed at helping SMEs go global.

The kiosk, which is located at SME Corp's office in Menara Matrade, also helps them leverage on the toolkit to enhance their business by reducing their operational cost. SMEs can gain access to the relevant information in the toolkit via the Internet and need not go to the kiosk personally to access it.

The SME Toolkit is an online program that enables entrepreneurs and small businesses to learn how to implement sustainable business management practices needed for growth in areas such as finance, accounting, international business, marketing, human resources or legal, at no cost.

Learn more here.

Illustration credit here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Gum and Greetings Around the World

Chicago-based Wrigley offers a nice season's greetings around the world ... check it out and enjoy your weekend.

Photo credit:  Laurel Delaney, GlobeTrade.com -- captured in my car near a stop light at Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Global Gaga

My latest contribution for Small Business Trends at the American Express OPEN Forum:

How to Market Your Business Lady Gaga Style

Pictured:  Lady Gaga

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, for The Global Small Business Blog

Notes from the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010 (Part I)

After attending the third edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum (www.world-entrepreneurship-forum.com/2010/), I was overwhelmed by the inspiring presentations from thought leaders around the world.

With this blog post -- the first in a series that I'll cover over the coming weeks --  Patrick Molle (pictured at microphone), President of Emlyon Business School (founding member of World Entrepreneurship Forum) is featured.

According to my notes, here are some of the points he touched on during his welcome presentation on "Shaping the World of 2050."

• Worldwide environmental changes
• Accelerating backlash against globalization
• Depletion of vital resources
• There will be 9 billion people by 2050
• At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10/day!
• Africa is the only continent creating bigger youth population than older population

Challenges:

• The world needs more (environmentally friendly) jobs
• The world needs to reinvent itself
• The world needs a new development model which reconciles the creation of wealth and with social justice (Laurel here ... which is what the World Entrepreneurship Forum is based on)

Ambitions for the World Entrepreneurship Forum:

Primary:  Educating entrepreneurs of the world (with emphasis on early stage).

Secondary considerations:

• How to prepare young people?
• How to train (to become agile)?
• How to educate cross-cultural leaders?

Goal: To produce entrepreneurs for the world!

"Entrepreneurs are not born but created by their experience." ~ Patrick Molle, President of EMLYON

His conclusions and recommendations can be found here (requires translation).

Revert to this post for photos from the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010 and go here to learn more about what took place and its overall mission.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

New Kid On the Block: GlobalTrade.Net

Welcome neighbor GlobalTrade.net!  A new marketplace for international trade services run by FITA Online, with the support of the Federation of International Trade Associations , in cooperation with the U.S. Commercial Service , United Kingdom Trade & Investment , ThomasNet , Alibaba and Kompass.

Ahhhhhhh, if only we could truly have an open source global trade platform that the whole world could tap into (similar to a Wikipedia for global trade) and benefit from!

We hope to see eBay and Global Sources welcomed into this exchange soon.

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, GlobeTrade.com and The Global Small Business Blog

The iPad Makes It Easy to Take Your Business Global

According to Gartner research analyst Raphael Vasquez:

"PC market growth will be impacted by devices that enable better on-the-go content consumption such as media tablets and next-generation smartphones," added research analyst Raphael Vasquez. "These devices will be increasingly embraced as complements if not substitutes for PCs where voice and light data consumption are desired."

 And according to Laurel Delaney, founder of GlobeTrade:

"The iPad will make it a whole heck of lot easier and more fun to take your business global."

Read more here.

Learn How To Do Business With People in Other Countries

Need help negotiating with clients, suppliers and partners in other countries?  Trying to work more effectively with customers and colleagues from another culture?

Go here for assistance.  The books alone are worth a read.

Illustration credit here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

How To Do Business With American Importers

Hello world! For those of you residing outside the United States, this one's for you.  A valuable resource that covers:

• The Steps In Selling To US Importers 
• Best Ways To Market And Sell To US Importers
• How NOT To Market And Sell To US Importers
• Reasons Exporters Are Not Successful In The US Market
• What Are The Opportunities For Exporting To The USA
• How To Be An Agent Or Middleman For US Importers
• Making Sure You Get Paid
• How To Know If A US Importer Is Reliable
• US Import Requirements

Visit American Importers Association: Bringing exporters worldwide together with importers in the USA.

From the World Ice Art Championship

And this is pretty cool too: Ice Carving Secrets.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Thanksgivingworld

Turkey (pictured) just about done.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving and be grateful for every precious little thing in your life.  I am blessed by your readership -- thank you!  Enjoy the day.

Photo credit:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

The Whole World is Going Global

Based on this article, it is vital to build your global skill sets, to learn how work is done offshore, and to educate yourself on projects and teams that work with offshore components either internationally or through a service provider.

“The whole world is going global, and especially in the last three or four years, it has really taken off,” said Janssen. “The revenue growth is in Asia—with some in Europe, but [revenue growth in] the United States is virtually flat. The jobless recovery here is very, very real. The war for talent in the United States [consists of] finding those who have skills to manage a global group—those who have global awareness and understand the complexities in doing global business. It’s only a handful of people right now.”

Read the entire article here.

Web Start-Ups Go Global

According to a recent article in the WSJ, "Web Start-Ups Search History," a newer generation of start-ups such as Yelp Inc. and Groupon Inc. are going global. They are studying their predecessors and adapting successful ideas -- such as using acquisitions or partnerships to enter markets where a strong competitor exists -- with the intent of improving their chance of success in the global marketplace.

Read the entire article here.

When It Comes to Going Global, Preparation is Everything

Read our esteemed colleague (and friend) Anita's Campbell's (founder of Small Business Trends) great post:

How to Prepare Your Business to Go Global

She offers five helpful tips to consider before you take the leap.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Flag Fascination

Sometimes the first photo is not always the best.  It's more intriguing to capture moments as they occur.  I love the simpleness, cleanness and color in these shots.  On the day (11/19/10) these flags were photographed, I was out at the Chicago lakefront.  The temperature was about 39 degrees F -- chilly -- and the wind was blowing fiercely.

Enjoy your weekend.  May it be filled with magnificence and many more colorful flags!

Photo credit:  Laurel Delaney

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Pork Butt Goes Global

The most underutilized meat export, pork butt -- genteel name is Boston Shoulder Roast -- is set to go international.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation thinks that the butt, which has enjoyed a surge in popularity in the U.S. as the raw material for pulled pork sandwiches (as shown), should go international.

Read all about it here.

USMEF is looking at a variety of markets for this initiative, including Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada, South Korea and Japan,” said Dan Halstrom, USMEF senior vice president of marketing and communications.  “U.S. pork is the protein of choice globally, and we see opportunities to expand market share and compete with other proteins by educating our contacts there about the advantages of the pork butt.”

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Young Entrepreneurs Hold the Key to Our Global Economic Future

For one week, millions of young people around the world join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and to seek better ways of doing things.

The movement is called Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010 (runs November 15-21).

How are you getting involved?

Learn more here.

Illustration credit here.

Netflix Poised to Expand Internationally

According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Netflix Inc. is “primarily a streaming company that also offers DVD-by-mail.”

In addition, the company is also looking to expand internationally. Already, Netflix is available in Canada. However, the company is considering moving “beyond North America” in the second half of 2011. It’s unknown which countries Netflix has its eyes one, but the company is expected to invest up to $50 million trying to expand to countries other than United States and Canada.

Source:  Erictric

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

The Kardashian Brand is Borderless

Never in a million years could I ever imagine writing about Kim Kardashian (pictured) and her sister Kourtney going global; but here I am.

Kim Kardashian and sister Kourtney Kardashian are going global with cover spreads in far flung India and South Africa.  It’s a far cry from Wilshire Blvd. but the Kardashian brand apparently knows no bounds, even in the Third World.

What can we learn from them?  That anything is possible when it comes to taking a brand global.

Read more here.

Photo credit: GlobalGrind, The World According to Hip-Hop

Groundbreaking Ways to Get More Finance to SMEs Worldwide

The SME Finance Challenge was born to identify and fund innovative initiatives that help grow local businesses in developing markets.  It came together as a result of Ashoka, the White House, Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank and several other of the world's leading institutions.

Most of the winners of the SME Finance Challenge were announced recently at the G20 summit -- and one winner is Peace Dividend Trust with a mission to:

Making peace and humanitarian operations more effective, efficient and equitable so that they deliver cheaper, faster, smarter missions - resulting in a stronger peace and a larger peace dividend. 

Learn more here about their fascinating approach to get more money to SMEs worldwide and change the way aid and peacekeeping is delivered.

Illustration credit from Peace Dividend Trust.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

The Internet Is Revolutionizing the Import-Export Business

The Internet is revolutionizing the import-export business, affecting everything from how small firms compete with larger ones to how much a husband or wife might pay in alimony.

Read more about this here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

10 Notable Photos From the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010

Mr. Inderjit Singh, Member of Parliament (Singapore)

World Entrepreneurship Forum Team (France)!

Mr. Claude Robichaud (L), President, Falpaco Plastic and Rubber Inc. (Canada) and Dave Frood (R), Author, The Thinking Corporation (Australia)

Innovation and the Development of High-Growth Organizations Workshop Team

Prof. Riadh Zghal (microphone), Senator, Tunisian Chamber of Councillors (Tunisia) and Ms. Lisa Fecteau (right front), President, Groupement des chefs d'entreprise du Quebec (Canada)

Mr. Antti Kangaslahti (microphone), Founder, Finntastico.com (Finland) and Mr. Dan Evans (right), Chief Innovation Officer Executive Education Emlyon, Professor in Entrepreneurship (France)

Mr. Liu Chuan-Zhi (L), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lenovo Group (China), Interpreter (China), Ms. Bhatt (India) and Mr. Steve Strauss (United States)

Ms. Ela R. Bhatt, Founder, Self-Employed Women's Association (India)

Mr. Yves-Henri Robillard, Director, World Entrepreneurship Forum (France)

Mr. Steve Strauss, The Strauss Group, Inc., United States

Photo credits: Laurel Delaney, Founder, GlobeTrade.com; pioneering member and appointed Board member of the World Entrepreneurship Forum.  Watch for recap of the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010 coming soon.  Quick take here.

The Young and the Restless Go Global

OEDb published a list of the 50 Best Blogs for Young Entrepreneurs and we made it!  We are delighted to be among so many accomplished and popular bloggers.  Whether you are young or a seasoned entrepreneur -- this list is worth a read.

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, GlobeTrade.com

U.S. Commitment to Free Trade

President Obama visited India and reassured the people of his strong support for a strategic partnership along with encouraging words about his commitment to free trade.

Read more here.

Related article:  Time to advance free trade pacts

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Outlook for India Outsourcers in the U.S.

The worry for Indian executives is that protectionist measures in the U.S. could quickly change the outlook for India outsourcers from robust to dreadful in a market that represents 61 percent of India's $50 billion in annual IT service exports.

Read more here.

Illustration credit here.

Note:  Hexaware Technologies is an Indian IT company and business process outsourcing service provider established in 1990.