International Trade Plays a Key Role in Small Business Success

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Why does trade matter for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and for our country?

While many think trade is the domain of big business, 98 percent of the 300,000 American companies that export are small and medium-sized businesses. These firms account for one-third of U.S. merchandise exports, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The number of small and mid-sized companies that export has nearly tripled over the past two decades.

The fact of the matter is that international trade plays a key role in small business success.

Read the entire article:  The little-noticed role of trade in small business success. 

The Cloud Is Redefining the Small Business Playing Field

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Will small businesses embrace the cloud for efficiency and global growth purposes?  A few experts -- Steve King, Partner, Emergent Research who we've been following for a number of years, Terry Hicks, Vice President and General Manager, QuickBooks Online Ecosystem, Intuit and Joshua Reeves, CEO & Co-Founder, ZenPayroll -- have an answer for us with their new report "Small Business Success in the Cloud."  The authors say "the cloud is redefining the small business playing field."

If you are on a fence about whether to get in the cloud, read: Dispatches from the New Economy: Small Business Success in the Cloud.