Risks to the Global Supply Chain: Critical Raw Materials

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Critical raw materials are facing rising export restrictions, increasing risks to the global supply chain.

The annual update of the OECD Inventory of Export Restrictions on Critical Raw Materials tracks export restrictions and supports analysis of their impact on availability, prices and global supply chains. 

The OECD continues to monitor these measures over time.

Today in Global Small Business: S.N.L. Explains 'Operation Kill Everybody'

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

• I just love these Saturday Night Live (S.N.L.) skits and this one does not disappoint.  Colin Jost plays Pete Hegseth.  Check it out.
• How global supply chains could become weaponized.
• Quote of the week:  "The past is in your head.  The future is in your hand." – The MindsJournal (Happy Bodhi Day).
• There's always rooms for another player ... Swap Commerce, where you can sell anything, anywhere, from one platform.
• World Bank Scorecard updates and outcomes.
• UCLA Anderson School of Management - Center for Global Management.

Today in Global Small Business: 'Ugly' Fees On Chinese Ships Concern US Ag Exporters

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

• 'Ugly’ fees on Chinese ships concern US ag exporters.
• US strikes trade deals across Latin America, lowers tariffs on Argentina’s beef.
• Quote of the week:  "It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it is not fought on U.S. soil.” Is now “Who cares that we have no merchant ships left to carry supplies overseas.” – Naval quote
• As we look ahead to 2026, the global supply chain enters a chapter defined by relative stability but underscored by persistent uncertainty. 
• OECD finds growing transparency efforts among leading AI developers.
• Learn how to research and select overseas markets confidently.

Dexter GBS CEO Fre Rammeloo Will Discuss Procurement and Global Supply Chain (wegginar® 11/5/25)

©Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

JOIN us today, November 5th at 11 AM CT for a wegginar® with Fre Rammeloo, CEO, Dexter GBS Inc.  To learn more and to register, visit: https://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/2025/10/01/procurement-and-supply-chain-your-secret-growth-and-profitability-weapon/.

Some points that Fre will cover:

• Procurement: Ensure robust contracts with your suppliers and utilize them to support your business goals, financially and otherwise
• Supply Chain: A data driven, optimized supply chain does not only delight customers, it also prevents from incurring a lot of hidden, significant costs
• Growth: Savings in procurement and supply chain can fuel growth, from investment in pricing through to investment in clever technology including AI

Hope to see you there!   

How She Went Global® podcast with Ming Chen, President and CEO, MSL Global Express (9/15/25)

©2025 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

🌟 ☀ 🌟 🌏   Just dropped (September 15, 2025) – the 55th episode of the wegg® How She Went Global® Podcast with Ming Chen, President and CEO of MSL Global Express, Inc., "Charting New Routes: A Woman Entrepreneur in Global Logistics," – sponsored by VISA and Associated Bank.

Her company moves goods around the world via air, sea, or land – handling all aspects of the transaction. Listen to her inspiring journey at your leisure.🌟 ☀ 🌟 🌎  

Diversification is a Primary Global Supply Chain Strategy for Executives

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Since 2018, many global manufacturers have been diversifying their supply chains beyond China. But this diversification has proven to be challenging due to dependencies on certain countries for manufacturing capabilities and critical resources, resulting in a rise in friendshoring and a move towards industrial policy, potentially escalating geopolitical tensions.

Learn how and why diversification is the primary supply chain strategy for global executives.

Firms Are Adapting to Rising Protectionism and Shifting Geopolitical Alliances

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The fifth annual Trade in Transition 2025 study surveyed over 3,500 supply chain executives across the world. The findings reveal firms are being forced to adapt at speed to rising protectionism and shifting geopolitical alliances.

Research unveiled by Economist Impact and DP World at the World Economic Forum highlights this strategic pivot, driven by geopolitical uncertainty which is likely to grow with the ‘America first’ policies of the new administration in the United States.

Click here to view the study.  We are in a new era of globalization. 

Today in Global Small Business: The Global Impact of Tariffs

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

• The global impact of Trump tariffs.
• Global supply chain connectivity remains high, according to a Chinese report.
• Quote of the week: “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” – Mark Twain.
• Top concern of global supply chain leaders:  tariffs and trade barriers.
• Reshaping global supply chains, strategies for resilience.
• Graphic analysis of global supply chains.

Today in Global Small Business: What Will Sweeping Tariffs Across China Cost the United States? Plus, U.S.A. Labor Day

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

• With Donald Trump and Kamala Harris neck-and-neck in polls ahead of the United States presidential election, many are wondering how a second Trump administration would approach China, imposing sweeping tariffs, for example.
• Top geopolitical risks of 2024.
• Quote of the week:  "We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage." – Theodore Roosevelt
• Fed signals September rate cut and other economy stories to read this week (8/23/24).
• Why is cross-cultural communication important?
• Ongoing global supply chain challenges.
• History of Labor Day – may it be reflective.

Leveraging AI in the Global Supply Chain

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Organizations are using AI not only to collect more data but to utilize that data to reduce cost while improving efficiency and resiliency. They’re betting on AI optimizing operations from the global scale to the last mile.

AI can take over some repetitive tasks that can be easily automated. But it doesn’t have intuition or common sense. With customers looking for more and more services, humans can take on those more complex tasks.

Learn more about how to leverage AI in the global supply chain.

Supply Chain Costs to Normalize in 2023

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Last year, footwear brand Skechers's margins were clipped by high supply chain costs, despite its attempt to raise prices. 

This year Skechers expects supply chain costs to normalize as shipping prices come down, developments that will ease margin pressure and propel the brand to its goal of $10 billion in annual sales by 2026, the company’s CFO John Vandemore said at the UBS Consumer and Retail Conference on Wednesday.

“You saw 40-foot-high cube container rates go from an average of about $3,000 to $25,000. So for an average pair of shoes that took the landed embedded freight cost from something between 25 and 50 cents to $2 and $2.50,” he [Vandemore] said. “Last year quite frankly wasn’t my proudest year from a gross margin perspective, but I do believe you know a lot of those exogenous factors are beginning to abate which should lead to improvement later on.”

Read more here.

Today in Global Small Business: Global Supply Chain Finance for Global Small Businesses

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

• To support global supply chains, we need to help global small businesses.
• Tips for expanding your online business globally.
• How to grow your employee benefits as you expand globally.
• Quote of the week:  “Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.” – W. Edwards Deming
• How you can launch an international management career in an affordable way.
• Interested in reinventing your globalization efforts?  Try diversifying.

Let's Make a Deal Freight Rail Companies!

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Early on the morning of Thursday, September 15, 2022, freight rail companies and unions reached a tentative agreement to avoid a strike that could have begun on Friday, September 16, 2022. The agreement now heads to union members for a ratification vote, a process that could take a few weeks. Workers have agreed not to strike while the vote is tallied.

The deal ended an impasse between the rail industry and tens of thousands of workers across the country, averting a shutdown of a critical network that could have made it virtually impossible to transport the vast numbers of products — from oil to grain — that are carried on trains in the United States.

As The New York Times article says, "rail freight is the centerpiece of the global supply chain, which has already been disrupted by the pandemic, with cargo ships, trains and trucks facing continued difficulties transporting goods. A strike would slow down the circulation of goods within the United States and with overseas trade allies."

Today in Global Small Business: The iOS App Economy

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

• Smaller and emerging developers find global success on the App Store – showing the iOS app economy continues to grow.
• How to build resilience in emerging economies? Support global small businesses.
• Staying global:  3 steps.
• Quote of the week: “I'm rarely invited to start-up parties, but who cares about their trinkets and apps anyway?" – Evgeny Morozov
• Conversations at Davos:  From Russia to China.
• To manage global supply chain, manage proactively.

A Global Supply Chain Nightmare

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One in five container ships is now stuck at ports worldwide, with 30% of the backlog coming from China. And Lars Jensen, the CEO of the shipping container industry consulting firm Vespucci Maritime, told Fortune that the full impact of China’s policies will only begin to reveal itself over the coming weeks.

Experts say that China’s strict COVID-19 lockdowns will exacerbate global supply chain woes and add to inflation in the coming months.

The economic effects are starting to show.

When Booking a Shipping Container Seems Akin to Trying to Catch a Unicorn

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Oh, the problems we face lately.  Take Glo, a startup that makes novelty items — plastic cubes that light up when dropped in water.  Hagan Walker along with his business partner, Anna Barker, started the business six years ago in the town of Starkville, Mississippi, while relying on factories 8,000 miles away in China to make his products.

Read on to learn how a supply chain crisis hit Glo, a start-up, at a critical time in its brief history.  It's a story of one shipping container from a factory in China to a warehouse in the United States that traces the arc of a global supply chain consumed by trouble.

How Climate Change Is Disrupting the Global Supply Chain

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The impact of the global pandemic on the global supply chain has been widely reported.  But extreme weather, from floods to wildfires, is increasingly hammering ports, highways, and factories worldwide, and experts warn these climate-induced disruptions will only get worse. 

Learn more about why climate change is a long term problem.

Global Supply Chain Issues Cause Grave Problem for Companies

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George Pantelic, owner of ABC Monuments in Lawndale, Illinois said orders from a domestic supplier used to take four weeks to arrive.  Now, they take seven months.

It’s a grave problem, literally: A shortage of materials, months-long backlogs and rising costs are causing holdups in getting monuments and gravestones.

Read on to learn how COVID-induced supply chain issues have affected almost every step of monument and gravestone production.

Buy It On the Spot

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At first glance, you wouldn’t know the impact the global supply chain crisis has had on global small businesses.  They are facing delays and high supply chain costs. They’re going up, a lot, and invoices are coming with surprises.

Take a look at some of the experiences small businesses are sharing.  Their best advice to consumers?  "If you really want something, buy it on the spot."

Today in Global Small Business: Holiday eCommerce Strategies

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

• Utah small businesses suffer as global supply chain breaks down.
• Interesting twist:  Why shop local? ‘The work of local artists is not sitting on cargo ships.’
• Prep for the holidays with a few good ecommerce strategies.
• Quote of the week: "Remember, every ‘mistake’ your customer makes, it’s not because they’re stupid. It’s because your website sucks.” – Peep Laja, Founder of ConversionXL
• Have yourself some holiday email marketing trend examples.
• U.S. holiday retail sales outlook seems to bring good tidings according to this article.