Are You Ready to Go International?

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You may never feel entirely ready to go international, but there are some important benchmarks you should reach before you start considering interest from overseas.  Here are six.

1. Have a profitable business model in your home country, with systems and procedures that have been proven across multiple locations.
2. Have adequate experience and maturity to interact meaningfully with foreign partners. 
3. Be the primary point of contact for your international partners, both during agreement negotiations and after the deal is signed.
4. Add someone to your team to focus specifically on identifying target markets and searching for partners
5. Have patience.
6. Be prepared to invest significant time and money before your international efforts pay off.

Read the entire article to be sure you are ready for international expansion.

75% of Intel's Business Is Overseas

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This is a trend that might continue. Global stimulus money has something to do with it.

Find out more here.

Sample: Intel India Systems Research Center

Global Economy Is No Longer U.S.-Centric

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Is the U.S. housing blowout going to hurt the rest of the world? Certainly, a major slowdown in the planet's biggest economy would cause some countries pain.

But much of the globe will likely shrug off the worst effects of any American slump. "The global economy is no longer U.S.-centric," says Ed Yardeni, an economist who heads Yardeni Research in New York. "We may find that the global economic boom continues, notwithstanding the slowdown in the U.S."

The old theory is that when America sneezes the rest of the world gets sick (hence, the photo of an American girl sneezing) but it may not apply these days.

More here.