Catching a Train

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"The only way to be sure of catching a train is to miss the one before it." -- Gilbert K. Chesterton

Manufacturing Mecca to the World

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BMW’s biggest auto-producing plant in the world is in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  It has helped draw more than 200 companies from two dozen countries to Spartanburg County.  And the German company — not an American icon like Ford or General Motors — is now the largest exporter of cars made in the United States, turning the port of Charleston, S.C., into a hub for global trade.

But the big question:  Is USA's President Trump setting off a global trade battle that will effect the town's livelihood?

One thing is for sure:

BMW saved Spartanburg and transformed South Carolina into a manufacturing mecca to the world,” said Mr. Britt, a member of the County Council. “When you mess with the golden goose, they’re family, and you’re messing with me.” 

Read more here.

Going Global is One of the Best Engines for Driving Business Growth

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Cost, payment risks and logistical challenges have discouraged online businesses from selling to or working with customers from anywhere but their home turf.  Not anymore.  We have entered -- a long time ago thanks to the Internet -- a world of business without borders.

According to SBA, "Nearly 96 percent of consumers live outside the U.S., and two-thirds of the world’s purchasing power is in foreign countries."

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No matter where a business is physically located, expanding sales and operations to international markets is often one of the best engines for driving growth. Website translation and localization, global payment processing and outsourcing are three of the best methods to help a digital business grow beyond its own borders and to embrace the global marketplace.

Read more about tips and tools your startup can use to maximize your international business.

Women Entrepreneurs Are Unlocking Opportunities for Global Expansion

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Devishobha Chandramouli, guest writer for Entrepreneur Magazine and Founder and Editor, of Kidskintha says:

Understanding women’s entrepreneurial attitudes, trends and activity from all over the globe will help shape government policies at various levels along with the numerous educational and training programs aimed at improving the business environment for women.

She goes on to say, "The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report for Women 2016/17 reports that 274 million women were already running their own businesses across 74 economies, of which 111 million were running well-established businesses by 2016."

Read more about six global trends that Devishobha discovered from the GEM Women report.

Note:  Women entrepreneurs are unlocking opportunities for global expansion and Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global (WEGG), which is referenced in the article, is an organization that supports female entrepreneurs in taking their businesses global.

Risks to Global Growth Are Rising

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While the IMF has maintained its global growth forecast of 3.9% for this year and next, it has cut the outlook for the UK and the eurozone among others.

The outlook for the global economy has darkened as trade tensions rise and growth becomes uneven, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Read more on how Trump's tariffs will hurt global growth, the International Monetary Fund warns.

Today in Global Small Business: The E-Commerce Edition

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• 5 trends that will be a game changer for e-commerce in 2018.
• Setting up an effective e-commerce site.
• Amazon has a mighty big share of the e-commerce market.
• Factors to consider when scaling your e-commerce business.
• E-commerce penetration by country.
• News!  Join a weggchat™ via Twitter with Laurel Delaney on "Take Your Business Global" August 8 at 11:00 a.m. Central time.  Instructions here.  E-commerce will be covered.

Find Perfection in Your Life

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All right reserved.

"It's very hard to find perfection in your life.  But in the art world you can do that." -- Washed Out

Singapore SMEs Need Help Going Global

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Is there room for further global growth for Singaporean SMEs? You bet.  According to new research from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore would like more information and support on global trade opportunities to help them internationalize.

What's the biggest barrier?  Competition.

Some 43 per cent of respondents said that the most helpful measures for enabling more SMEs to participate in global trade were providing more information and support on trade opportunities, while the same number said securing new or improved trade agreements was crucial.

Read more about how Singapore SMEs could do with more help to go global.

The Wimbledon All-White Dress Code

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One of the more famous (and somewhat controversial) traditions at Wimbledon is the all-white dress code for participating athletes. Proper apparel is at the discretion of the referee, who can force a player to change his or her clothing.

Why the big fuss?

The rule apparently dates back to the 1800s when the sight of sweaty patches of colored clothing was seen as inappropriate. The “predominately in white” rule was adopted by Wimbledon in 1963 before it evolved into the “almost entirely in white rule” in 1995. Accessories were included in the rule beginning in 2004.

Read more -- for even if you are an athlete who is a global star, rules are rules and not to be broken.

How Does US Manufacturing Compare to that of Other Nations?

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How does American manufacturing compare to that of other nations?

In a Brookings report, they develop a global manufacturing scorecard that looks at five dimensions of the manufacturing environment: 1) overall policies and regulations; 2) tax policy; 3) energy, transportation, and health costs; 4) workforce quality; and 5) infrastructure and innovation.

Key finding:

China is the top nation in terms of manufacturing output and the percentage of its national output that is generated by that sector. Poland meanwhile has the highest percentage of its workforce employed in manufacturing.

Another insight:

Small manufacturing firms often cite congestion, logistical, or connectivity problems as major barriers to overcome. As developing economies look to export more, increased transportation infrastructure investment is necessary in order to reach global markets. Moreover, countries that already have sound transportation infrastructures need efficient supply chains. 

They go on to say, "One cannot have high-performing manufacturing companies without adequate infrastructure."

We agree.

Learn more to find out how US compares to 18 other nations on manufacturing.

The Australian Age of Entrepreneurship

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According to Bernard Salt, managing director of The Demographics Group, there is very much an Australian age of entrepreneurship.

The 2016 census shows that most business owner-managers are aged between 45 and 53. The peaks are higher for men than for women but both sexes top out in their entrepreneurial capacity at this time in life. 

However, Salt goes on to say, "The grassroots of Australian entrepreneurship is based in the new housing estates and in the shopping strips and centres in middle Australia. But our concept of entrepreneurship doesn’t seem to be capable of being leveraged into the kinds of big businesses [Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc.] that have so defined America in the past generation."

By housing estates, he means that a lot of Australia's entrepreneurial muscle comprises of small businesses associated with house cons­truction.

Read on to learn why Australian entrepreneurs must strive for a global reach.

Today in Global Small Business: Whiskey Wars

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• E-commerce platform Trouva has global ambitions.
• How Sloan's Ice-cream maintained brand and quality on an international scale.
• WEGG knows that women rule the world yet in Nigeria, an airline with women crew members owns the sky.
• Whiskey wars:  trade tariffs are causing a cautious brake on whiskey exports.
• Find out about what cloud computing is, how you can benefit from it and learn key growth lessons from more than 50 startup owners using cloud computing.  Join the WEGGinar™ 7/11 with IBM experts.  It's free of charge but you must register here. 
• Why SMEs need more business -- global business, that is.