Happy Labor Day

© 2006 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Labor Day is a celebration and a tribute to the contributions of workers in America who have made our country stronger. Enjoy.

P.S. This photo is taken a block from where I live.

Book It

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Five global business books you need to read.  (If link does not work, try this one.)

And if you just want to admire books, visit here: The most exploitive (and breathtaking) pictures of libraries ever gawked at.

Go global with eBay

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If you plan to go global one unit, one customer and one country at a time, eBay is it. Find out why here.

However, if you plan to go global in a BIG way -- selling lots of products to lots of customers in lots of countries, test drive these other sophisticated trading places:

• Alibaba
• Global Sources

Web Site Branding: Go Global or Stay Local?

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You decide.

What Can Brown Do For You in China?

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Everything. If you are serious about doing business in China, download this report now. It offers the inside scoop on what Chinese people really want.

Jump to PDF file here.  More can be found here.

And remember, you saw it here first! In China, no excuses ... just results.

LISA: The 2006 Global Business Practice Survey Report

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Meeting the critical need to provide comparative data on how companies create and implement successful strategies for global business imperatives at the local level, the Localization Industry Standard Association (LISA) announces the 2006 Global Business Practices Report.

Responding to what it really takes to successfully support customers worldwide, the report provides a clearer picture of the globalization landscape by enabling readers to:

• Confirm where companies are placing their global priorities
• Better understand the international business issues affecting organizations worldwide
• Learn who is paying for what services, and how much they are paying
• Determine the exact skills required by their teams to succeed globally in the future

Learn more about it here. You can also download -- at no charge -- a detailed table of contents and a short excerpt from the 52-page report.

Note:  Since the date of this post, LISA has shut down.

Going Global, Part I

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Small businesses are joining their larger counterparts in the international arena. The first of a two-part series published by BusinessWeek online looks at key issues and challenges. I don't see anything new here other than the same old, same old.

But go ahead and read it yourself.

Want a shortcut to exporting? Try this online guide. It covers everything you wanted to know about exporting but were afraid to ask.

The picture is merely a reflection of my mood and to make the posting a little more interesting.

Note:  Since the date of this post, BusinessWeek may have removed its content.  Try here for a similar article.  And for more on exporting, go here.

The Collapse of the Doha Round of Trade Talks

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There was something unseemly about the way Europe and the U.S. blamed each other for the collapse of global trade talks. Like two bullies standing amid the wreckage of their brawl, they looked a little ridiculous, especially when their squabbling turned so quickly to who was responsible for the breakdown. Almost five years after the launch of the World Trade Organization's Doha round, which set out to boost the developing world's share of global trade, poor countries don't really care which rich country is to blame for the breakdown.

What do they care about? Read the article here to find out for yourself.

Note:  Since the date of this post, the article noted has been moved or taken off the site. We apologize for the inconvenience.  As a courtesy, we have added Quotes of the Day on the same topic and by the same source back in 2006.

Taking Your Online Business Global

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The lure of selling internationally and right from your couch is undeniable. What easier way to expand your marketplace than to move beyond the United States? The numbers speak for themselves - a market of billions rather than millions. As the late but oft-quoted business guru Peter Drucker said: “E-commerce does not merely master distance, it eliminates it.”

What should you consider before you start cross-border selling? Find out here.

Note: The article referenced may have been removed since 2006 or, as in this case, been taken over by another company. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The 12 Best Global Websites for Exporters

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As Reported In National Business Association ...

Filtering through the millions of websites throughout the world to find the few helpful sites is a daunting task. There are a handful of truly great websites that can be an excellent sales and market information tool for exporting your products or services. Highlighted throughout this article are 12 of the best global websites categorized by geographic location.  (Note:  Requires membership to review. As an alternative, visit the right sidebar of The Global Small Business Blog for Laurel's Top 10 list.)

12 Best Global Websites for Exporters

And here's one they inadvertently left out.

Creating (Global) Opportunity One Bite At A Time

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The mission of South African-based Khayelitsha Cookie Company is to create a company that could not only produce the best cookies in South Africa, but which also radically changed the lives of everyone involved in the company.

For customers, they produce the biggest, best range of baked goods: chocolate chunk cookies, ginger snaps, nutty fudge brownies and shortbread biscuits. For employees, they give every opportunity for significant growth and career expansion.

They also hire previously unemployed women from Khayelitsha and then train and skill them in permanent, affirming employment.

Visit the Khayelitsha Cookie Company here.

What's your global cause?

Exports: The Recipe For a Healthy and Prosperous Economy

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Read the article and think along the lines that no matter where you are located in our big flat world that the recipe for fostering a healthy and prosperous economy is to have a vigorous and dynamic export sector ...

Note:  The article may have been removed since the original date of publication.  Go here for more information.  To learn more about exporting, go here.

Going Global: Risks and Rewards

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Interbrand’s annual Best Global Brands study of brand value generates great interest and debate. A recurring question is whether being global affords a brand more benefits than a geographically-focused one. Many brand owners are interested in the attributes shared by successful global brands (i.e., BMW). Interbrand’s work with leading global brands and the conclusions reached through our ranking indicate significant implications for brands that choose to operate globally.

The criteria for the study states that a global brand must achieve more than a third of its sales outside of its home country and have a visible external market presence. A global brand is one that is available in many nations and, though it may differ from country to country, the local versions have common values and a similar identity. The brand’s positioning, advertising strategy, personality, look and feel are, in most respects, the same but allow for regional customization. What remains consistent market-to-market are the values communicated and delivered by the brand.

This paper explores the attraction and risks associated with going global.

And the first question asked: Why go global?

Read the paper here.

Globalization: Synergy and Discontent

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Globalization continues its advance, but is market convergence a net positive for the US and world economies? Who benefits from globalization, and who might suffer?

Read the article here.

Note:  The link may no longer be active.  Try this on for size.

New Generation of Global Entrepreneurship

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Patrick Casserly started small in the business dedicated to the provision of back office processing and call centre services. His primary duty on his first day of operation was to mop the floor. But he was thinking big, building on the advantage of Jamaica as the third largest English speaking country in the hemisphere, and their propensity to talk, and now Patrick has a business that employs 2,100 people, which is likely to grow to 2,600 by year-end. How did he do it?

Hints: Start small. Position globally. Think BIG.

Harvard Professor Who Coined "Globalization" Dies

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One of my favorite people (minds) on the planet and the person who coined the term "globalization" died at age 81: Theodore Levitt. The reason why Professor Levitt became such a force in my life was because in the '80s -- before any individual or company was thinking about going global -- he turned me on to the importance of looking at the world as your market. He also knew how to deconstruct and solve problems by asking the right questions. Something to this day I still find myself doing. Here are some things I will remember the most about Levitt:

• Harvard Business Review -- He holds the record with Peter Drucker for publishing the most articles in HBR.

• What turned me on to Levitt -- "The Globalization of Markets" and five other great articles authored by HBR talents.

Using the term "globalization" in a 1983 Harvard Business Review article about the emergence of standardized, low-priced consumer products. He defined that globalization as the changes in social behaviors and technology which allowed companies to sell the same products around the world.

• Marketing Myopia -- HBR Classic: A groundbreaking article originally published in the Harvard Business Review (1960) in which he asked managers, “What business are you really in?” And that's probably why Starbucks is doing so well with its business model because they figured out early on that they were not just in the "coffee" business but in the "people" business. Levitt would be proud that his ideas were turned into practical solutions. Even Wikipedia features Levitt's work. We all know that focusing too narrowly on anything creates limited results.

Another way Levitt posed a question is like this: “What problem are we trying to solve for our customers?” For tool makers, the implication is that it is not really about the tool. Rather, it is about the resulting condition that customers desire from the use of the tool. That is to say, it is holes in the ground they want, not shovels. Fascinating stuff. So pure. So simple. But so many people just don't get it. Levitt did.

• Design Sense magazine No. 26 -- And I bet you didn't know Levitt contributed to this publication. Here's the title his work went under:

"How Major Companies Change Their Names"

An analysis of successful -- and not-so-successful -- name changes by New York Stock Exchange-listed corporations in the late 1950s and early '60s. Also: excerpts from Innovation in Marketing, by Harvard Business School Professor Theodore Levitt.

• Marketing Imagination by Theodore M.Levitt -- My absolute favorite book (and according to my notes in the inside cover, I read it in 1984) on marketing that I still refer to today. It's so relevant that you never want to put it away.

• Two favorite remarks by Levitt that were made in "The Marketing Imagination" -- Henry Ford's: "They can have any color car they want, so long as it's black." -- Page 142. And Levitt's: "The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer." -- Page 5.

HBR obituary on Professor Levitt can be found here. My sympathies go out to the Levitt family during this time of great sadness.

May Professor Levitt rest in peace in our brave new world and I thank him for helping me and millions of other people understand (global) marketing.

Abridged Borderbuster: 7/5/06

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CONTENTS

If you are not a subscriber to Borderbuster, here's a glimpse of what you missed this month:

1. Welcome From The Publisher
2. Feedback From Our Readers
3. Exploring the International Market for Data*
4. Business and Cultural Tips: Have Some Fun!*
5. Lost in Translation*
6. How I Went Global: Ongoing Series
7. A Reader Asks: Q&A*
8. Everybody Loves a Freebie*
9. The Starbucks Effect*
10. Innocents Abroad*
11. The Soft Skills of Global Managers*
12. Blog World: MarketingProfs*
13. Laurel’s New e-Book: “GODZILLA Global Marketing!”
14. Take A Walk On The Wild Side (TAWOTWS)*
15. Wind Behind Your Sail*
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

*Indicates exclusive to Borderbuster subscribers only.

Sample section:

11. THE SOFT SKILLS OF GLOBAL MANAGERS
*Subscriber Exclusive*

Despite nearly two decades of corporate globalization efforts, many organizations still struggle to find managers who are comfortable and effective in the increasingly global economy. Most suffer both from a lack of cultural awareness when dealing with employees and partners overseas and from a lack of experience managing increasingly complex processes over long distances.

To read the lead story, visit here.

###

To subscribe to Borderbuster, visit:
Sign Up For Borderbuster!

Gates Goes Global

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Gates recently announced plans to ease out of his chief executive position at Microsoft over the next couple of years and dedicate more time to his $30 billion (now $60 billion thanks to Buffett) Gates Foundation.

Read the article here to find out how Gates is going to conquer the world on health problems.

Earn More by Exporting

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Martha Montoya has found a way to grow her small business: She exports. While "exporting" conjures up images of vast shipyards and warehouses, Montoya, a comic-strip artist in Santa Ana, Calif., sells her colorful cartoon characters (shown in B/W) for use on snack packages in China, Ecuador, Colombia and other far-away places. She tells other entrepreneurs — no matter their business — to think about going global.

Read the inspiring article here.

Top 10 Best Blogs and Best Podcast of 2006

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Although we did not win, we sure were happy to be nominated and make the cut. Thank you to all of you who voted for us. Your support means the world to us. Maybe next year MarketingSherpa will include a new category on "Global Marketing." Congratulations to all the winners. (Note:  link may have changed since the original publication of this post.)  Way to go!

It's a Small Business World After All

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Lou Hoffman used to share the common misperception that overseas markets are only open to the big guys like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Proctor & Gamble. Not anymore. It's the little guys who are slowly taking over the planet.

Learn more about Lou's story and how you can go global too. Read the article here.

P.S. Voting ends today at midnight for the MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice Blog and Podcasting Awards ... see our nomination in category No. 9!

French Blogging: Why (Global) Marketers Should Start Paying Attention

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It was when The Global Small Business Blog was nominated and made the cut for the BIG MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice Blog and Podcasting Awards -- yes you read that right! -- for best in its class for category No. 9 Small Business Marketing (cast your vote of "Excellent!" for us ... deadline is Monday, June 26 at midnight) that I discovered Eric Kintz's The Marketing Excellence Blog. And what a blog it is. Here's an entry I particularly liked: French blogging -- why marketers should start paying attention.

The only thing missing from both the contest and Kintz's entry is this: global. Someday, everyone will have a worldview.

P.S. Since we are Chicago-based, we are trying to work with Oprah to see if Pontiac or maybe Peugeot will give each of you a new car for voting EXCELLENT for The Global Small Business Blog! There are no guarantees ... stay tuned.

Global Marketing 101 Lesson

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Your global marketing test for today consists of two questions.

1). Why do most companies want to globalize their operations?
2). What’s the best way to reach global markets?

Find the answers here.

How to Take Your Small Business Global

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Okay ... every once in a while I have to do a little shameless self-promotion and this is one of those times. Jennifer LeClaire did such a great job with this article for E-Commerce Times that I had to share it with you. It sings the gospel on globalization!

Read it here and then take action!

Make Globalization Work For You

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The outsourcing trend almost killed Kalexsyn -- until its founders made globalization work in their favor.

The timing could not have been worse for Robert Gadwood and David Zimmermann. After being laid off by drug giant Pfizer in 2003, the scientists founded Kalexsyn, a chemical research company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Kalexsyn's plan was to help large pharmaceutical companies create new drugs by examining thousands of molecules to pinpoint the ones that had medicinal potential.

But by the time Gadwood and Zimmermann built a lab, bought equipment, and hired 10 employees, the strategy had become obsolete. "All of our customers disappeared," Gadwood says.

What did they do? Find out here.

The Thinking Man's Outsourcing

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Globe Trotter CEO Brian Reale (center) outsourced his R&D (and himself) to Bolivia.

A surprising number of U.S. companies are sending their most complex activities overseas. Read the article here.

A Quest for the Global Best: America

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Globalization has been a boon for some U.S. service companies. Last year, a surplus of $58 billion in services was outsourced overseas. Here is a selection of recent data on cross-border trade from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Read the article here: America, At Your Service.

Opportunities in Globalization

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Smart innovation is key to long-term prosperity. Nations won't thrive by just accepting low pay.

The seed of globalization germinated 60 years ago at the University of Pennsylvania, where ENIAC, the first operational general-purpose electronic digital computer, was unveiled in 1946. That single 11-ton machine has spawned more than 200 million computers worldwide, a number growing at 20 percent per year. Its stepchild, the cell phone, has grown to more than 1 billion units in one-quarter the time, and that number will at least double in the next 10 years. We can now connect with anyone, anywhere, at any time. This on-demand world fulfills the vision of a "global village" Marshall McLuhan put forward in 1964.

Read Rocco Leonard Martino's provocative article in its entirety here.

Stop Fakes, That Is, Global Intellectual Ones

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Are you a small business? Well I sure hope so if you are reading this blog. As we are learning, success in a global economy depends more and more on intellectual property (IP) assets. In fact, IP-based businesses and entrepreneurs drive more economic growth in the United States than any other single sector.

Unfortunately, intellectual property has captured the attention of pirates and organized crime. Today, piracy, counterfeiting and the theft of intellectual property pose a serious threat to all U.S. businesses. Industry estimates of the cost of such theft range from $250 billion to 750,000 jobs per year. These threats to ongoing invention and innovation make it important to consider securing IP protection, whether you're a major multinational firm or a 1-person home business.

Stop fakes (fraud) and start taking action. Visit the site here.

Web Sites for Discerning Global Finance Students

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John Wachowicz, Jr., Ph.D., CPA and Professor of Finance at The University of Tennessee contacted me in response to a letter I wrote in February to the editor of CEO Magazine. (Wo)Man did I sound off! He apparently liked the horn-blowing so much that he decided to link it -- Globetrade.com not the letter! -- to his own educational financial management website. Seeing that John is a Ph.D. and CPA, I paid a visit to his site and found it to be quite good. You might like it too.

Wachowicz's Web World

Thanks John!

Brilliance At Its Best

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WOW -- what a post! Read it to appreciate it but it's not simple. Here's an excerpt from the ending:

Investment banks like Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, technology companies like Microsoft and Google and many others are creating captive organizations in many parts of the globe to get access to this local talent pool. Why is this important? Well very few of the thinking workers "trade" on a global basis. Put another way, of the millions of engineers in Russia or India, few of them can move to where the work is -- so the smart companies, who have models where they can create high leverage for thinking work, are moving to that local supply of talent. The challenge is, very few organizations analyze who their thinking workers are, and which ones add the most leverage. Fewer yet ask, do we have the best in the world?

The immortal word of the founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, Sr. , was "THINK." If he were alive today he might say, "THINK! BUT WHERE?"

Catch the post by John Sviokla here: Thinking About the Thinking Class: Outsource low leverage thinking work, offshore high leverage thinking work

An Interview with Thomas Friedman

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Business Strategies Magazine conducts an interview with Thomas J. Friedman, New York Times columnist and author of "The World Is Flat."

"I've been at the right place and the right time to see a lot of things ... What that's made me is very much someone who is aware of the important role that America plays in the world."

Read the interview here.

Is Your Business On The Verge of Extinction?

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Going global is no longer an either / or proposition. Propelling your business globally could be as simple as setting up a Website to market your goods and services.

To find out if your business is on the verge of extinction read the article here. Then let me know.

Foreign Exchange Precautions for Exporters

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Canada perspective: Virtually every business in Canada is affected by the ever-changing value of the dollar. While many of us consider this unpredictability a nuisance, the volatility of the Canadian dollar and other currencies around the world can mean the difference between success and failure for many exporters.

Read the article here.

United States perspective: Exports are improving. The Bush administration hopes a falling dollar will boost export trade by making U.S. exports cheaper for foreigners and goods made abroad more expensive for Americans. The dollar began falling late last year. Since the start of April, its drop has accelerated against a variety of currencies, from the euro to the yen.

Bottom line: Understanding foreign exchange risk is critical to any export venture.

Global Experience Talks

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"Small companies often are able to respond to market changes more quickly than large firms, giving them an edge as the pace of global change quickens."

Read the article here.

Global Brain: A Small Business Must Have One

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Shop around to find global trends, ideas and insights at one of my favorite futuristic places: Trendwatching.com

Headlining the World's Greatest Marketing Blog!

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Going Global!

Globalization in a Can

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Read the review here.  Note:  Can refers to a shipping container.

Global News Junkies: This One's For You

Check it out!

Think Global, Think "Out Of The Box" and ...

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put yourself in a position to win!

How Do You Pick A Product For Export?

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When it comes to exporting, you cannot be all things to all customers.

Decide on something. Then stick with it. But how do select a product for export?

What gives you the most pleasure as a businessperson? Is it creating satisfaction by meeting consumer demands? Is it the challenge of spotting a trend, positioning yourself to take advantage of it, and striking it rich? Or is it the chance to spend your time dealing with a commodity you love? You have two viable reasons for choosing a product to export: because you know it will sell -- if not everywhere, at least somewhere, or because you like it.

Here's an example of how it works. You might start with a product you really like and know something about. This will probably prove much easier than deciding where you want to sell it. Let's say you love gardening. Your friends call you another Martha Stewart because you collect every gadget ever manufactured to help you devise more creative and beautiful ways of doing things. You ask yourself, "What if I could take some of these handy tools or accessories and get them to gardeners in other parts of the world who might enjoy them?" That's how you plant the seed, so to speak.

Once you have a likely export product in mind, learn everything there is to know about it. If you were its creator, how would you improve it? Go to a manufacturer, offer your export services, and suggest product improvements to turn a mediocre product -- gardening gloves -- into something extraordinary.

Your suggestions might mean the difference between a mobile transistor radio and the Apple iPod.

Do you Squidoo? We do.

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Not only do we Squidoo but one of our selected Magnificent Seven Borderbusting Books -- "The Box" -- was reviewed in The Wall Street Journal's bookshelf section yesterday (4/12/06)!

View our lens here: Borderbuster

Note:  If original link doesn't work, go here.

The Truth (Perhaps) About Global Outsourcing

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10 lessons 2 authors have learned about the difficulties of "getting it done."

Read the article here.

Abridged Borderbuster: 4/5/06

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CONTENTS

If you are not a subscriber to Borderbuster, here's a glimpse of what you missed this month:

1. Welcome From The Publisher
2. Feedback From Our Readers
3. Purchasing Translation Services*
4. Business and Cultural Tips: Have Some Fun!*
5. A Backlash Against Globalization*
6. How I Went Global: Ongoing Series* // Aniruddha Paul, India
7. A Reader Asks: Q&A*
8. Everybody Loves a Freebie -- repeat: FREE OFFER*
9. After India And China, Where Next?*
10. How to Wrap 5 Jewels*
11. Abroad – The Corporate Merry-Go-Round*
12. Blog World: Do You Squidoo? We do.*
13. Laurel’s New e-Book: “GODZILLA Global Marketing!”
14. Take A Walk On The Wild Side (TAWOTWS)*
15. Wind Behind Your Sail*
16. Miscellany*
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

*Indicates exclusive to Borderbuster subscribers only.

Sample section:

3. PURCHASING TRANSLATION SERVICES: UNRAVELING SOME OF THE MYSTERY
*Subscriber Exclusive*

This is a major breakthrough! Having a Web presence means that your potential market now is – literally – the world. Whether the role of a Website is to pursue actively or inform passively, companies are now doing business internationally whether they like it or not.

To read the article, visit:
Illinois I.T. Association

###

To subscribe to Borderbuster, visit:
Sign Up For Borderbuster!

Companies Share Global Trade Tips

"I understand better how I could be or should be doing international business," said Jason Golly, president of the state trade association.

Read the article here.

Global Small Business At Its Finest

Think small. That was the basic starting point for Mike Cayelli when he decided to open an online retail business two years ago. With a tiny house, little capital to invest, and only "spare time" to devote to the project, Cayelli knew his big dream had to stay manageable. The Washington (D.C.) entrepreneur still hasn't quit his day job, but he's projecting $500,000 in sales this year for his company, Cuff Daddy (www.cuff-daddy.com).

He spoke recently with BusinessWeek Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein. Read the interview here. Be sure not to miss three great tips: 1. Global Sources. 2. Alibaba. 3. Andale.

For more information on Nos. 1 and 2, visit e-magnify where I wrote an article in January, 2005 highlighting these great (secret) places to take your business global.

Do Brands Have Global Personalities?

In 1974, Japan’s Sanrio Company turned loose upon the world a demure cat by the name of Hello Kitty. Since that time, the feline’s popularity has grown by leaps and bounds, gracing the covers of notebooks and stationery pads, as well as accessories. In 2002, Kitty was ranked the third most recognizable Asian brand. At one point, she earned the distinction of being voted the third most popular figure in Taiwan. Today, recognized in more than 40 countries in Asia, Europe, and North America, Kitty is one of the world’s most successful commercial images.

Do Asian brands like Hello Kitty have global personalities?

Read the article here.

Dip Your Toe Into Global Markets

On global marketing, where does your company fit in? This is an interesting look at what you should do if you see yourself and your business cast in one of the three scenarios the author writes about. You'll enjoy this. I did.

Read the article here.

There's Fierce Global Competition, The Issue Is Price

If you found out you needed bypass surgery and couldn't afford the cost, would you outsource the procedure? A self-employed man in Durham did and saved U.S. $193,250.

Read the article here.

Hint: A fundamental change is needed in America, particularly in educational methods and encouraging creativity and entrepreneurship to compete with China, India and other emerging markets.

Good for Skype, They're Taking Us Global!

Read the article here.

“Skype is dedicated to being the champion of these companies -- small businesses -- by making it incredibly easy for them to be productive, save money and have access to a sophisticated global communications solution that helps them compete.”

Yeah Skype!

[Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! ~ O'Laurel!]

Best (Global) Companies Ride Changes

And according to management guru Tom Peters:

"Given the nature of global competition, we have to go beyond the initiatives of companies."

Read the article here.

Why Johnny Can't Export

Check this debate out!

Abridged Borderbuster 3/6/06

CONTENTS

If you are not a subscriber to Borderbuster, here's a glimpse of what you missed this month:

1. Welcome From The Publisher
2. Feedback From Our Readers
3. Expanding in China: Smaller Companies Step In*
4. Business and Cultural Tips: Have Some Fun!*
5. Outlook 2006: Outsourcing*
6. How I Went Global: Ongoing Series* // Brian Schwarz, China
7. A Reader Asks: Q&A*
8. Everybody Loves a Freebie -- repeat: FREE OFFER*
9. Being Small Can Help Win the Big (Global) Contract*
10. Batteries.com Re-energizes Its Global Markets*
11. Lost in Translation*
12. Blog World: The Globalization Institute*
13. Laurel’s New e-Book: “GODZILLA Global Marketing!”
14. Take A Walk On The Wild Side (TAWOTWS)*
15. Wind Behind Your Sail*
16. Miscellany*
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

*Indicates exclusive to Borderbuster subscribers only.

Sample section:

11. LOST IN TRANSLATION
*Subscriber Exclusive*

The art of communication is the key to international productivity and the simplest way to foster business sans frontiers.

To read the article, visit
MIS

###

To subscribe to Borderbuster, visit:
Sign Up For Borderbuster!

Ten Trends To Watch in 2006, Nearly All Are Global-related

In The McKinsey Quarterly

The provocative article below features ten trends to watch and is so good that I decided to feature the whole thing. I hope you don't mind but I am saving you the trouble of registering and possibly not being able to access the article due to its premium content status.

Ten trends to watch in 2006

Macroeconomic factors, environmental and social issues, and business and industry developments will all profoundly shape the corporate landscape in the coming years.

Ian Davis and Elizabeth Stephenson

Web exclusive, January 2006

Those who say that business success is all about execution are wrong. The right product markets, technology, and geography are critical components of long-term economic performance. Bad industries usually trump good management, however: in sectors such as banking, telecommunications, and technology, almost two-thirds of the organic growth of listed Western companies can be attributed to being in the right markets and geographies. Companies that ride the currents succeed; those that swim against them usually struggle. Identifying these currents and developing strategies to navigate them are vital to corporate success.

What are the currents that will make the world of 2015 a very different place to do business from the world of today? Predicting short-term changes or shocks is often a fool's errand. But forecasting long-term directional change is possible by identifying trends through an analysis of deep history rather than of the shallow past. Even the Internet took more than 30 years to become an overnight phenomenon.

Macroeconomic trends

We would highlight ten trends that will change the business landscape. First, we have identified three macroeconomic trends that will deeply transform the underlying global economy.

1. Centers of economic activity will shift profoundly, not just globally, but also regionally. As a consequence of economic liberalization, technological advances, capital market developments, and demographic shifts, the world has embarked on a massive realignment of economic activity. Although there will undoubtedly be shocks and setbacks, this realignment will persist. Today, Asia (excluding Japan) accounts for 13 percent of world GDP, while Western Europe accounts for more than 30 percent. Within the next 20 years the two will nearly converge. Some industries and functions—manufacturing and IT services, for example—will shift even more dramatically. The story is not simply the march to Asia. Shifts within regions are as significant as those occurring across regions. The United States will still account for the largest share of absolute economic growth in the next two decades.

Further reading:
China and India: The race to growth
Mapping the global capital markets

2. Public-sector activities will balloon, making productivity gains essential. The unprecedented aging of populations across the developed world will call for new levels of efficiency and creativity from the public sector. Without clear productivity gains, the pension and health care burden will drive taxes to stifling proportions.

Nor is the problem confined to the developed economies. Many emerging-market governments will have to decide what level of social services to provide to citizens who increasingly demand state-provided protections such as health care and retirement security. The adoption of proven private-sector approaches will likely become pervasive in the provision of social services in both the developed and the developing worlds.

Further reading:
The demographic deficit: How aging will reduce global wealth
Boosting government productivity

3. The consumer landscape will change and expand significantly. Almost a billion new consumers will enter the global marketplace in the next decade as economic growth in emerging markets pushes them beyond the threshold level of $5,000 in annual household income—a point when people generally begin to spend on discretionary goods. From now to 2015, the consumer's spending power in emerging economies will increase from $4 trillion to more than $9 trillion—nearly the current spending power of Western Europe.

Shifts within consumer segments in developed economies will also be profound. Populations are not only aging, of course, but changing in other ways too: for example, by 2015 the Hispanic population in the United States will have spending power equivalent to that of 60 percent of all Chinese consumers. And consumers, wherever they live, will increasingly have information about and access to the same products and brands.

Further reading:
Premium marketing to the masses: An interview with LG Electronics India's managing director
New strategies for consumer goods

Social and environmental trends

Next, we have identified four social and environmental trends. Although they are less predictable and their impact on the business world is less certain, they will fundamentally change how we live and work.

4. Technological connectivity will transform the way people live and interact. The technology revolution has been just that. Yet we are at the early, not mature, stage of this revolution. Individuals, public sectors, and businesses are learning how to make the best use of IT in designing processes and in developing and accessing knowledge. New developments in fields such as biotechnology, laser technology, and nanotechnology are moving well beyond the realm of products and services.

More transformational than technology itself is the shift in behavior that it enables. We work not just globally but also instantaneously. We are forming communities and relationships in new ways (indeed, 12 percent of US newlyweds last year met online). More than two billion people now use cell phones. We send nine trillion e-mails a year. We do a billion Google searches a day, more than half in languages other than English. For perhaps the first time in history, geography is not the primary constraint on the limits of social and economic organization.

Further reading:
The next revolution in interactions
The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives, July 2005

5. The battlefield for talent will shift. Ongoing shifts in labor and talent will be far more profound than the widely observed migration of jobs to low-wage countries. The shift to knowledge-intensive industries highlights the importance and scarcity of well-trained talent. The increasing integration of global labor markets, however, is opening up vast new talent sources. The 33 million university-educated young professionals in developing countries is more than double the number in developed ones. For many companies and governments, global labor and talent strategies will become as important as global sourcing and manufacturing strategies.

Further reading:
China's looming talent shortage
Sizing the emerging global labor market

6. The role and behavior of big business will come under increasingly sharp scrutiny. As businesses expand their global reach, and as the economic demands on the environment intensify, the level of societal suspicion about big business is likely to increase. The tenets of current global business ideology—for example, shareholder value, free trade, intellectual-property rights, and profit repatriation—are not understood, let alone accepted, in many parts of the world. Scandals and environmental mishaps seem as inevitable as the likelihood that these incidents will be subsequently blown out of proportion, thereby fueling resentment and creating a political and regulatory backlash. This trend is not just of the past 5 years but of the past 250 years. The increasing pace and extent of global business, and the emergence of truly giant global corporations, will exacerbate the pressures over the next 10 years.

Business, particularly big business, will never be loved. It can, however, be more appreciated. Business leaders need to argue and demonstrate more forcefully the intellectual, social, and economic case for business in society and the massive contributions business makes to social welfare.

Further reading:
What is the business of business?
The role of regulation in strategy

7. Demand for natural resources will grow, as will the strain on the environment. As economic growth accelerates—particularly in emerging markets—we are using natural resources at unprecedented rates. Oil demand is projected to grow by 50 percent in the next two decades, and without large new discoveries or radical innovations supply is unlikely to keep up. We are seeing similar surges in demand across a broad range of commodities. In China, for example, demand for copper, steel, and aluminum has nearly tripled in the past decade.

The world's resources are increasingly constrained. Water shortages will be the key constraint to growth in many countries. And one of our scarcest natural resources—the atmosphere—will require dramatic shifts in human behavior to keep it from being depleted further. Innovation in technology, regulation, and the use of resources will be central to creating a world that can both drive robust economic growth and sustain environmental demands.

Further reading:
Preparing for a low-carbon future
What's next for Big Oil?

Business and industry trends

Finally, we have identified a third set of trends: business and industry trends, which are driving change at the company level.

8. New global industry structures are emerging. In response to changing market regulation and the advent of new technologies, nontraditional business models are flourishing, often coexisting in the same market and sector space.
In many industries, a barbell-like structure is appearing, with a few giants on top, a narrow middle, and then a flourish of smaller, fast-moving players on the bottom. Similarly, corporate borders are becoming blurrier as interlinked "ecosystems" of suppliers, producers, and customers emerge. Even basic structural assumptions are being upended: for example, the emergence of robust private equity financing is changing corporate ownership, life cycles, and performance expectations. Winning companies, using efficiencies gained by new structural possibilities, will capitalize on these transformations.

Further reading:
Strategy in an era of global giants
Loosening up: How process networks unlock the power of specialization

9. Management will go from art to science. Bigger, more complex companies demand new tools to run and manage them. Indeed, improved technology and statistical-control tools have given rise to new management approaches that make even mega-institutions viable.

Long gone is the day of the "gut instinct" management style. Today's business leaders are adopting algorithmic decision-making techniques and using highly sophisticated software to run their organizations. Scientific management is moving from a skill that creates competitive advantage to an ante that gives companies the right to play the game.

Further reading:
Do you know who your experts are?
Matching people and jobs

10. Ubiquitous access to information is changing the economics of knowledge. Knowledge is increasingly available and, at the same time, increasingly specialized. The most obvious manifestation of this trend is the rise of search engines (such as Google), which make an almost infinite amount of information available instantaneously. Access to knowledge has become almost universal. Yet the transformation is much more profound than simply broad access.

New models of knowledge production, access, distribution, and ownership are emerging. We are seeing the rise of open-source approaches to knowledge development as communities, not individuals, become responsible for innovations. Knowledge production itself is growing: worldwide patent applications, for example, rose from 1990 to 2004 at a rate of 20 percent annually. Companies will need to learn how to leverage this new knowledge universe—or risk drowning in a flood of too much information.

Further reading:
The 21st-century organization
Making a market in knowledge

Companies need to understand the implications of these trends alongside customer needs and competitive developments. Executives who align their company's strategy with these factors will be the best placed to succeed. Reflecting on these trends will be time well spent.

About the Authors
Ian Davis is worldwide managing director of McKinsey & Company and Elizabeth Stephenson is a consultant in McKinsey's San Francisco office. A shorter version of this article was published in the Financial Times on January 13, 2006.

The article can be found here but requires registration.

When the "Flat World" Shakes

In The American Prospect

Mark Levinson thinks that Barry Lynn has located globalization's Achilles Heel.

In his new book, "End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation," Lynn, former executive editor of Global Business, challenges the dominant globalization perspective on its own terms and makes a compelling case that the Achilles heel of the global economy is precisely its most successful organizations -- the ones that have been most relentless about reducing costs, mastering logistics, and outsourcing every conceivable operation.

Read more here.

Going Global on eBay

In ecommerce-guide.com

I'm not a big fan of using eBay to go global. It limits you in so many respects because you sell one item to one buyer. Although you can do this and claim to have "gone global," it's just not the real deal. The real deal is this: Selling full containerloads of products to hundreds of thousands of customers across the planet.

So let's see if I can get a couple of other experts to weigh in with their comments on this December, 2005 commentary. For example, it doesn't have to be so complicated to ship products across borders. UPS has a great, convenient service for small businesses expanding internationally, whether you're shipping one item or several cases. And they're not paying me to say that!

John Yunker, a web globalization expert over at Byte Level Research, might have something to add concerning translation.

Lastly, I wonder if the folks at PayPal (now owned by eBay) want to make a comment or two ... lucky for them, BidPay, which is mentioned in the article as even better than PayPal -- has since gone out of business!

Read the article here.

P.S. Going global is nowhere near as hard as the author makes it look! Trust me!

Expanding in China: Smaller Companies Step In

In IndustryWeek

Author John Teresko indicates that preparation, or due diligence if you will, is the key to developing a successful strategy in China but I don't think a small business has to invest U.S. $225,000 in travel and lodging expenses to make that happen. A lot of the preliminary planning (grunt work) and strategizing can take place from the homefront first before venturing off to China. I'll have a column soon in Entrepreneur magazine on selling in China but in the meantime, read Teresko's article here.

Is Offshoring Good?

In Fast Company

An interview with Ashok Soota, cofounder and managing director of MindTree Consulting in Bangalore, India and Marcus Courtney, President of WashTech/CWA, a Seattle-based union for high-tech workers. It starts out with Soota.

Soota: Globalization and technology enable every nation to sell globally and source globally. This is not without transitional pain. The pain is equal for a small retailer in India edged out by a global giant and an American whose programming job may go to Bangalore.

But no nation is as well-equipped to take advantage of the emergent phenomena as the United States, because it is a champion of free markets and has a large immigrant workforce with global connections. And Americans are by nature more adaptive, a strength that provides timeless resilience.

Read the interview here.

The Regional Slice of Your Global Strategy

In Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge

A regional understanding should be part of your overall global strategy, says Professor Pankaj Ghemawat. One key: Recognize that regions don’t stop at national borders. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review.

Entrepreneur Magazine Column "Global Village"

In Entrepreneur

Here's my latest global business column for Entrepreneur magazine: "American Outcast." You can find all columns in the lower right side panel of the blog.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year of the Dog. May you all live a long and happy life.
(Chinese Astrology - 2006, the Fire Dog)

Warm wishes,
Laurel

China Overtakes U.S. As IT Export Leader

In internetnews.com

For the first time, China has overtaken the United States as the world's leading exporter of information and communications technology (ICT) goods.

Read the article and find out more about the new study issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) here.

Going Global: Outsource the Outsourcing

In Inc.

By now, nearly everyone understands the logic of offshoring. Why keep noncore functions in-house when you can contract them out to lower-cost providers overseas? Less obvious is how to put that understanding into practice -- that is, how do you actually create a global organization able to operate across multiple time zones and tricky cultural and linguistic divides?

Find out here.

IT Without Borders

In MIS

As domestic opportunities are conquered and financial and labor markets internationalize, the search for growth has gone global. IT strategy is at the forefront.

Read the article here.

Outsourcing Santa?

Did anyone else experience this?  A wink and thanks over to the folks at Bluedog Design (www.bluedog-design.com) for tipping us off on this.

Abridged Borderbuster 1/5/06

CONTENTS

If you are not a subscriber to Borderbuster, here's a glimpse of what you missed this month:

1. Welcome From The Publisher
2. Feedback From Our Readers
3. China, China, China*
4. Business and Cultural Tips: Have Some Fun!*
5. Tracking Non-English Online Populations*
6. How I Went Global: Ongoing Series // Nicewords UK!
7. A Reader Asks: Q&A*
8. Everybody Loves a Freebie -- repeat: FREE OFFER*
9. The Hard Questions About Outsourcing
10. A Wake-up Call From Asia*
11. A Foreign Affair*
12. Blog World: Lost in Translation*
13. Laurel’s New e-Book: “GODZILLA Global Marketing!”
14. Take A Walk On The Wild Side (TAWOTWS)*
15. Wind Behind Your Sail*
16. Miscellany*
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

*Indicates exclusive to Borderbuster subscribers only.

Sample section:

10. A WAKE-UP CALL FROM ASIA
*Subscriber Exclusive*

If you think competitors in China, India and other emerging economies will settle for low-value-added, high-labor-content jobs forever -- or even the near future -- you'd better wake up. Are you directing your company into head-to-head competition with massive numbers of these new, lower-cost companies, whether high-tech, low-tech or anywhere in between? Have you determined how to integrate your company into a global supply chain that increasingly includes your low-cost colleagues? If not, you are at risk of becoming irrelevant.

To read the article, visit: IndustryWeek

###

To subscribe to Borderbuster, visit:
Sign Up For Borderbuster!

Going Global: The Hard Questions About Outsourcing

In Inc.

Should you do it yourself, or should you pay someone else to do it for you? That is the fundamental question of outsourcing. The question assumes that you have already determined that the work needs to be done; the only issue is who best to do it.

Find out here.

Happy New Year! May you bust every border on the planet!