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Read BusinessWeek's "Mom and Pop Multinationals."
The Definitive Blog for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses
Interested in Going Global
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China is already accounting for 17 per cent of the world's chemical output,' says Thomas. 'The high growth in chemical production will continue in 2010 because of the large number of new chemical plants due to come on stream in the country during the year. Their output will slow down the big inflow of imports into China.'Read more about this topic here at Chemistry World.
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Some people view globalization in positive terms, as a key force in promoting worldwide economic development. But others believe ...More here.
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‘‘SMEs are the backbone of this economy and it’s time the government sat up and took notice of this," said Curran.Further:
‘‘We need to look at improving the export policy of these businesses, but the cost of competitiveness and a reduction in rates and other charges - such as energy - must be addressed. SMEs have done all they possibly can to cut costs.
‘‘We are still reliant on the international economy, and I would be very worried about the first few months of next year. This has probably been the worst year for SMEs in 20 years."Read more at "SMEs Hanging On In Unforgiving Climate."
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"Chinese consumers are buying," says Dong Tao, regional Asia economist for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. "Job prospects are good." Add what he calls "the spice of asset appreciation" in property and stocks, and folks feel richer.Still, Asia must rely on its exports to not just survive but to really thrive. More here.
All of that is good news for the world economy, which has relied on Asia to pull the world out of recession. The International Monetary Fund forecasts inflation adjusted growth in developing Asia will be 7.3% in 2010, compared to 3.1% globally. China has accounted for more than half of the world's economic growth the past three years, according to the IMF.
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Two examples, one small, one large: The first is my childhood friend, Ken Greer, who owns a marketing agency in Minneapolis, Greer & Associates. The Great Recession has forced him to radically downsize, but the Great Inflection has made him radically more productive. He illustrated this by telling me about a film he recently made for a nonprofit.Read the entire column here. When you attempt to access cheap tools and focus on your value add, take it global.
“The budget was about 20 percent of what we normally would charge,” said Greer. “After one meeting with the client, almost all our communication was by e-mail. The script was developed and approved using a collaborative tool provided by www.box.net. Internally, we all could look at the script no matter where we were, make suggestions and get to a final draft with complete transparency — easy, convenient and free. We did not have a budget to shoot new footage, yet we had no budget either for stock photography the old way — paying royalties of $100 to $2,000 per image. We found a source, istockphoto.com, which offered great photos for as little as a few dollars.
“We could easily preview all the images, place them in our program to make sure they worked, purchase them online and download the high-resolution versions — all in seconds,” Greer added. “We had a script that called for 4 to 5 voices. Rather than hiring local voice talent — for $250 to $500 per hour — we searched the Internet for high-quality voices that we could afford. We found several sites offering various forms of narration or voice-overs. We selected www.voices.com. In less than one minute, we created an account, posted our requirements and solicited bids. Within five minutes, we had 10 to 15 ‘applicants’ ” — charging 10 percent of what Greer would have paid live talent.
“Best part,” he said, “within minutes we had sample reads, which could be placed into our film to see if the voices fit. We selected our finalists, wrote them with more specific instructions and within hours had the final read delivered to us via MP3 files over the Web. We could get any accent or ethnicity we wanted. For music, we used a site called www.audiojungle.net,” where he could sample thousands of cuts of music and sound effects with the click of a mouse, and then buy them for pennies.
By being able to access all these cheap tools, Greer got to focus on his value-add: imagination.
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Even before last fall’s crash, sales at Lexington International, a 12-employee maker of a laser device for treating hair loss, started heading south. “People cut down on nonessential health care items, and we really felt it,” said David Michaels, managing director of the company, which is based in Boca Raton, Fla., and was founded nine years ago. When he analyzed his company’s performance, Mr. Michaels concluded that the possibilities for domestic sales growth were slim. But he had started exporting his product, called HairMax, to Canada and Australia in 2001. Perhaps expanding to other countries was the answer.Read the entire article here.
Mr. Michaels turned to the Gold Key Service of the Commerce Department, hiring consultants who spent several months conducting industry research and visiting a handful of countries, the better to pinpoint potential distribution partners. Then, Mr. Michaels traveled to those places to meet his partners in person. At the same time, the consultants helped him understand the regulatory issues he would have to tackle in each country. Ultimately, the licensing process took three to nine months, depending on the region. The most difficult country was South Korea, which, Mr. Michaels said, has a particularly rigorous licensing procedure for medical devices.
Now, he is also selling to Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, in addition to South Korea, where, Mr. Michaels said, “There are significant social advantages to having a great head of hair.” He figures that international sales have more than compensated for the decline in the United States.
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Twin brothers Richard and Antony Joseph founded Joseph Joseph in 2003, combining their respective experience in product design and business – Antony studied design at Central St Martins whilst Richard studied business at Cambridge University.
Specializing in contemporary kitchenware, Joseph Joseph is now internationally recognized for producing some of the most stylish and technically innovative products available, and has become one of the fastest growing companies in the worldwide homewares market.
Their unique ability to match form and function has earned them global recognition for their multi-award-winning designs.
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"U.S. exports appear to be improving much faster than the domestic economy, suggesting that much of the improvement seen in the manufacturing sector reflects strengthening economic conditions abroad and the impact of the weaker dollar," said Nomura Securities economist David Resler.Read all about it here.
Stronger-than-expected net exports lifted growth prospects for the current quarter. The forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers raised its estimate for fourth-quarter growth to 3.8% from 3.4%.
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"One of the key goals of this year's fair is to build an efficient trade platform for domestic SMEs to expand their business in the global market," said Lin Ying, secretary-general of the organizing committee.Learn more here.
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Crafts, baked goods and rummage - all of these will be on sale at the 1st Maple Guides Going Global Christmas sale, Saturday, Dec. 5.Learn more about it here.
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Norman Love® blends a master’s appreciation of the sensuous with the art of the chef to create handcrafted chocolates ... exquisite, silky, rich chocolates ... reserved for those who expect nothing less than perfection. Norman Love Confections® has been satisfying connoisseurs of fine chocolates since 2001, when the chocolatier first introduced the masterpieces he produces at his facility in Fort Myers, Florida.Think about someone special in your life -- employee, partner, spouse, friend, colleague, client, vendor, etc. -- and whether they might be in the mood for a nice surprise from you.
Today, Norman enjoys international recognition for the incomparable, handcrafted natural sweets with tastes and textures that arouse the senses.
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Growth opportunities for Canadian private companies don't always come from north of the border or sea to sea. Increasingly, foreign markets are the places to be if an organization is to achieve maximum growth in today's global economy. Indeed, Canada's future prosperity depends to a large extent on Canadian businesses' ability to compete globally by expanding successfully beyond the country's borders, thus taking full advantage of global markets and opportunities.
The report documents the extent of private companies' foreign operations to date; sheds light on the benefits of global expansion for private companies, and the key challenges and risks of doing so; and provides information about local employee and supply resources in foreign markets.
Access report: Taking on the World
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1. When companies would need to add lots of new knowledge to innovate, such as figuring out how to work with an unfamiliar chemical compound to make a different line of pharmaceuticals.Take a further look here to find out how outsourcing innovation works and affects performance.
2. In the early stages of a project, when there are lots of technical hurdles to be overcome and the outcome is far from certain.
3. When intellectual property isn't well protected in the industry. In these cases, since new ideas spread quickly from company to company, it may not be possible to differentiate products with innovations. So, businesses turn to outsourcing to limit spending.
4. When companies have had lots of experience with outsourcing. Let's say all the factors above are equal—it's basically a toss-up between working on a project in-house and outsourcing it. In these cases, companies with a long track record of contracting tend to hand off the job to outsiders—three times as often, in fact, as businesses with average levels of experience in the practice. The costs and benefits of outsourcing are more certain for experienced firms, and they can better manage the situation to produce effective results.
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Tata: If we assume that the global meltdown is a phenomenon that will be over in the near term, I think we will look back and say that these are very strategic and worthwhile acquisitions.What has he done well?
Tata: One company standout is Tata Motors. It was particularly badly hit with its acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover, which was in trouble because of the collapse of the auto industry abroad. Tata Motors was able to extinguish its borrowing of $3 billion through this difficult period, and most people don't realize the magnitude of that task. This was executed very quietly and very successfully. It was achieved by raising new capital and it was achieved by liquidating some of the assets. And it was done by increasing margins by doing away with some loose practices.How are you conducting the search for your successor?
Tata: ... I would hope, would have integrity and our value systems in the forefront and hopefully would carry on the path that we have tried to set for the company's growth.Interrupt: Amazingly, 65 percent of Tata's revenues come from overseas.
Tata: ... We should not be aggressive and alien to the kind of pain that is happening [in the U.S.]. And we should find ways to be complementary to the needs of U.S. companies and not in fact be a pain to them. I believe we still have the cost advantage which we can use to the benefit of U.S. companies without in fact taking jobs away from them. If we can overcome the difficult period that the U.S. is undergoing, I think we can emerge as a very strong business ally of the U.S.Read the entire interview here.
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He (Stanlib economist Kevin Lings) says that recent data from the United States shows that this powerhouse is recovering, and adds that global manufacturing has turned the corner.This really cracked me up, "I would rather be a pessimist than an optimist." Anyone else feel that way? It seems so opposite of how American SMEs perceive their outlook on business!
It is also worth noting that South Africa takes about three to four months to react to global trends, so our recovery will come after a worldwide upturn.
"We are nowhere close to normal but it seems the worst is over. It is going to take a long time to recover, but the numbers look better."
Mike believes that the world's economic growth will stay muted for the next two or three years, so it will take some time to see significant growth on local soil.
Rode & Associates CEO Erwin Rode echoes these sentiments, saying that a conservative approach to 2010 is probably the best advice for SME decision-makers.
"For planning purposes, I would rather be a pessimist than an optimist. Don't expose yourself to great risks," he says.
Nevertheless, Mike is fairly optimistic about the prospects for SMEs, saying because of their lean and streamlined nature, they will be able to take up opportunities presented in 2010 much quicker than their large counterparts.Read more here.
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Photo credit: Laurel Delaney |
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Long term, however, economists say the U.S. needs to address its trade deficit by spurring exports to help offset imports of other nations' goods and services. One way to do that is by lowering the value of the dollar relative to other currencies, making U.S. goods and services cheaper abroad and more attractive to buyers.Read more here.
That is already beginning to take place, as a recovery of the global economy has reversed investors' "flight to safety" that spurred demand for dollars during the past year. The U.S. dollar has been trading near a 15-month low this week against a basket of other currencies.
Even so, "the dollar may need to decline further," said Mr. Pandl, to spur exports enough to help narrow the trade gap and boost U.S. economic growth.
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China's total trade volumes are expected to drop 20% this year largely because of the U.S. recession. Beijing has to keep exports growing to keep workers employed, and it needs commodities to turn into finished goods. China also needs other nations as customers and suppliers—if not the U.S., then Korea, Japan, Australia, and others will do.Find out what China's strategy is and what the U.S. intends to do to remain competitive here.
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How can governments, at all levels, support the development of entrepreneurship?We will also review the nine (9) recommendations we proposed during our 2008 Forum, aimed at enabling and fostering the development of the various forms of entrepreneurship. They are as follows:
World Entrepreneurship Forum Guiding PrinciplesI hope to have a chance to report out to you while in France but if I get too busy, which is very likely, I will wait until after I return to provide you with key takeaways. However, in the meantime, catch a LIVE broadcast of key moments here (http://www.world-entrepreneurship-forum.com).
1. Reform Regulations
To promote a truly entrepreneurship-centered business climate, reform tax and regulatory environments so as to make it easier, faster, and less costly for entrepreneurs to set up enterprises, grow them if they are successful, or close them if not; minimize the time they spend on licenses, tax procedures, litigation and other similar activities.
2. Create New “Entrepreneur-Friendly” Institutions
Introduce new-style entrepreneurship-friendly support institutions that provide technological knowledge, market information, business know-how, certification services, access to capital, and other essential business support.
3. Promote Proper Governance
Set forth a governance framework which unambiguously encourages risk-taking, while also ensuring that ethics lapses, corruption, and neglect of environmental sustainability carry a high cost to reputation.
4. Foster Positive Entrepreneurial Attitudes
Foster a cultural context where entrepreneurship has a positive image and where entrepreneurial success is publicly celebrated.
5. Create an Early Education Entrepreneurial Curricula
Include within schools a curricula that promotes the development of the skills and attitudes that are the hallmark of entrepreneurship, such as: Creating a vision, perseverance, creativity, spotting needs, empathy, leadership, dealing with ambiguity, risk-taking, and follow-through.
6. Develop Young Adult Entrepreneurial Curricula
Include within an education curricula practical elements of entrepreneurship and business development so as to increase the entrepreneurial IQ within the community.
7. Promote Lifelong Entrepreneurial Education
Provide entrepreneurs lifelong learning and development platforms for sharing of experience and best practices, coaching and mentoring, mutual support, and international networking, with the strong support of key stakeholders from business and civil society.
8. Empower Entrepreneurial Women, Minorities and the Disadvantaged
Support programs must also specifically target women, minorities, and the disadvantaged. Further, governments should implement laws and policies that ensure that entrepreneurs are sensitive to gender empowerment as well as diversity promotion.
9. Understand Entrepreneurship
Make it known that entrepreneurs are positive agents of social change, wealth creation, transparency, sustainability, and innovation.
Formal Guiding Principles can be found here.
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Each nation has found a different way to kick off what is the culmination of months of organizing and engaging their communities.How do you plan to celebrate and connect with the world? You can start by making a comment here with "I support Global Entrepreneurship Week!"
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Great article! Our organization has been supporting women-owned micro-enterprises in less-developed countries for two decades and the results have been remarkable.Learn more about FXB International (http://www.fxb.org). And if you are in the spirit to support, go here.
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Why all the difficulty? Western firms must deal with the fact that for all the excitement of capitalistic economic zones in China, most of the enterprises in China are state owned. That means Western companies must deal with plenty of costly and unending red tape from protective Chinese authorities. And while China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, there is much work to be done to level the playing field for Western companies to effectively compete.So take a moment to read Paul's post to learn tips and strategies for how to prosper in Chinese markets. The comments are enlightening too -- be sure to add your own.
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The Center for Women’s Business Research study shows that there are about 8 million women-owned enterprises in the US. Those businesses have an annual impact of nearly US$3 trillion dollars and create or maintain more than 23 million jobs — 16% of all US employment.And that's not all. What has made a difference for women entrepreneurs lately?
Women entrepreneurs have economic clout. Greater participation of women in the labor force correlates with higher GDP growth.Worldwide, women own or operate 25% to 33% of all private businesses, according to the World Bank. Women-owned enterprises grow faster than those owned by men and faster than businesses overall.
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A place to buy? Try here.
From Oprah's Favorite Things 2007
Established in 1887 in Porto, Portugal, the Ach Brito Company (site in Portugues or English) is the oldest family owned soap and perfume manufacturer in Portugal. Until the 1960's Ach Brito specialized in producing soaps and perfumes for the wealthiest of Porto's merchant families. The products were made and packaged specifically for certain families. The bath products produced in this factory are still made today, using the same turn of the century methods and techniques.
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There are still vast new business frontiers left unexplored.-- thank goodness!