Innovation Without Limits

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In Michigan, 75-year-old General Fasteners has watched its business grow rapidly, covering more ground in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Now branded as GF, the company needed to update its cybersecurity infrastructure to fit its new global footprint and stay ahead of modern threats; ultimately, it adopted platformization as a long-term, scalable solution. 

How to adopt a growth mindset and purposefully choose the right mix of solutions to meet our customer's needs – now and for the future – and unlock innovation.  Discover innovation without limits.

Is Your Global Strategy Focused on the Wrong Things?

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In today’s ultra-competitive business climate, companies expanding their global footprint need to manage resources efficiently and base their plans on validated options so goals are achieved and expectations are met.

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. Is your leadership aligned from the onset?
2. Are you seeing the big picture and thinking holistically?
3. Are you focusing on the right drivers and challenges?

You want to make sure you are navigating the right path to global growth. To get the details on assessing and improving your global enterprise strategy, download this e-book.

Today in Global Small Business: The Backstory on Globalization

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

• The world has undergone a transformation in the structure of the global economy – known as "globalization."  This commentary examines the why and how behind it all.
• The global economy's 200-year growth spurt – and what comes next.
• Quote of the week: “Globalization for a startup is exciting; you have to learn so fast about the different cultures of the world." – Adam Neumann
• Marriott International is expanding its global footprint for future growth.
• Three key aspects to get in line when expanding globally.
• Mews secures $100 million to fuel global expansion and accelerate strategic acquisitions of hotel technology

Establish Sales in Other Countries

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Outside the high-tech realm, pundits say automotive suppliers need to broaden their geographic reach by establishing sales and satellite operations in other countries.  You have to think big.

“This is the way of the future. You have to have a global footprint or representation of some type in other countries,” said Azzopardi [Jonathon Azzopardi, president and CEO of Laval Intl., a mould manufacturer in Tecumseh, Ont.].

Read more about the automotive outlook -- local and global.

The New World Order: Innovation

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As research and development programs become more global, a geographic footprint of innovation is changing dramatically.

An overwhelming 94 percent of the world’s largest innovators now conduct elements of their R&D programs abroad, according to the 2015 Global Innovation 1000 study, our [PwC's Strategy&] annual analysis of corporate R&D spending.

Where are innovation dollars going?  To countries in which their sales and manufacturing are growing fastest, and where they can access the right technical talent.  Markets like China and India are booming (no surprises there).

Bottom line:  Firms that favor a more global R&D footprint outperform their less globalized competitors on a variety of financial measures.

Read more:  Innovation's New World Order

What Constitutes a Global Footprint?

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According to crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, to develop a global footprint, a company must support more currencies, languages and offer more localized websites.  Therefore, is Indiegogo global?

Does that mean Kickstarter is global too?

Find out here.