What Is Your Ultimate Business Goal: Local or Global?

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Small-to-midsize business owners (SMB) are often faced with contradictory advice on whether to go global or stay local. Article after article explains the benefits of buying local and working with homegrown businesses. Yet SMBs are also encouraged to harness technological advances to realize their global aspirations.

As Frederick Crosby, Chief Revenue Officer of Veem says, "when faced with a decision between staying local or expanding to international markets, small business owners need to consider their ultimate business goals, target market/audience, and ultimately, their bandwidth."

Read more about which is best for your business:  local or global?

China Has 200 Unicorns With Global Aspirations

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About 200 Chinese startups have valuations of $1 billion or more, and many are preparing to go global.  Most of the companies are largely unknown outside China, but that is likely to change over the next decade.

More than 70 percent of the leaders of Chinese unicorn companies say they already have plans or strategies for overseas expansion. This is in part thanks to government encouragement: China’s Belt and Road Initiative emphasizes international “innovation-based open cooperation,” and China has introduced a series of measures to create a favorable environment for innovation. 

When it comes to growth, most of the unicorn leaders say they value independent, long-term development over flipping their companies for immediate gain because they want to create tomorrow's great global enterprises.

Dig deeper.  It's all in the story about China's herd of unicorns.

Adopt Globalization As a Key Driver For Business Growth

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According to findings of an in-depth study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on behalf of DHL Express, the majority of SMEs see growth opportunities internationally and expect to derive up to 50 percent of their revenues internationally in five years’ time.

What else was discovered?  Those SMEs that trade internationally are likely to perform better than their single market counterparts.

The study also reveals that severe obstacles remain for smaller businesses with global aspirations, these challenges include political instability, cultural factors, different market environments and inadequate infrastructures.

Learn more:  The importance of global connectedness for SMEs

Download report:  Most SMEs planning to be global by 2019