London 2012 Olympics

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Track it here:  schedule, results, medals and tickets.

London 2012 Olympics

Going Global: Know Before You Leap

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Our friend and esteemed colleague, Rieva Lesonsky, writes a thoughtful article, "Taking Your Startup Global."  We are delighted to be included.

Our heartfelt thanks to Rieva for her continued support to our work. She is the founder and CEO of GrowBiz Media and widely recognized as a small-business expert and author of the the best-selling book Start Your Own Business.

Hello Mr. or Ms. Global Economy

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According to the commentary, "Global economy's cure is worse than the disease," it suggests to take two aspirin and call Bernanke in the morning.

Dear Doctor: Thank you for referring Mr. Global Economy to me.  

The patient’s history includes a seizure in 2007/ 2008 — financial losses, banking problems, a major recession. Liberal injections of taxpayer cash avoided catastrophic multiple organ failure, assisting a modest recovery. 

Read the commentary here.  Author info (Satyajit Das) here.

No. 1 in Global Small Business: Please Vote

Please vote ... and thanks to your readership and support, last year we made the list:

Seven Ways to Achieve Success in the Global Marketplace

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Tony Loup, Regional Business Development Manager for Binghamton, New York-based Insulating Coatings Corporation, shares seven ways to achieve success in the global marketplace.

Read:  Pointers for Going Global

Global Leadership

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A slide show on the concepts of leadership by Sajid Kanner.

Find a Place of Relaxation

©2012 Laurel Delaney, "Cape San Blas, Florida"

"Everything you do can be done better from a place of relaxation." ~ Stephen C. Paul

Meet the New Global Tax Collector: World Bank

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Jim Yong Kim, the new head and 12th President of the World Bank, proposed that the Bank advise troubled developed nations like Greece and advise rich countries.

“While Jim Yong Kim emphasized that his top priority would be to protect developing nations at a “pivotal moment” for a world economy that is losing steam rapidly, he said the bank could also deploy its technical know-how to help richer nations with structural problems. “We only go into countries when asked, but I feel the kind of expertise we have could be relevant in many, many countries in the world, including high-income countries,” the Korean-born American told reporters on his first day on the job. “My staff feel they have the relevant experience that could add value …”

Read the entire article here.


Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

U.K. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Insights: Brought To You By the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012

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This is the third installment in our interview series and in preparation for the 5th edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012 in Lyon, France (October 24-27), which I will attend.

The theme for this year's Forum is:  "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems:  Cultivating Communities to Drive Wealth Creation and Social Justice."

Below is the interview with Peter Harrington, UK, is currently the CEO of SimVenture (Venture Simulations Ltd), a company that specialize in Innovative Business Simulation Technology. Peter has been official member of the World Entrepreneurship Forum since 2011.

From your experience and knowledge, what do you think Entrepreneurial Ecosystem is?

Peter: For me, a successful Entrepreneurial Ecosystem is a space run by people with very entrepreneurial minds. Ecosystems are self-supporting, energetic environments that attract, nurture, move on and reward different stakeholders. Rules are few and failure is encouraged; yet through mutual trust, shared thinking and doing, budding entrepreneurs develop the right attitude of mind and acquire key skills to take them into their future world. Budding entrepreneurs are also able to learn and enjoy work through a process of discovery, responsibility and some adventure - rather than ...

Read the entire interview here.

Watch for more information and interviews regarding the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012!

Benefits of More Competition in Global Business?

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As the article "Globalization Comes At the Cost of Humanity, Environment" states:

People all over the world are constantly assured of the benefits of more competition in business. But billions live in poverty, while the environment deteriorates. Is a humane economic order at all feasible?

 Read the entire compelling article here.

U.S.A. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Insights: Brought to You By the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012

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This is the second installment in our interview series and in preparation for the 5th edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012 in Lyon, France (October 24-27), which I will attend.

The theme for this year's Forum is:  "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems:  Cultivating Communities to Drive Wealth Creation and Social Justice."

Below is the interview with Professor Patricia Greene, who is a pioneer member of the Forum and a Professor of Entrepreneurship of Babson College, USA, where she holds the Paul T. Babson Chair in Entrepreneurship.

YH Robillard:  Professor Greene, being based in the USA which is traditionally perceived as THE place for entrepreneurs, you are familiar with successful entrepreneurial ecosystems creating outstanding global companies. Which ones, according to you, are the most interesting cases to study?

P. Greene:  If I had to select a few ecosystems all over the US, I would mention the following four: Silicon Valley, Boston, Kansas City and New York City. Each of them is at the heart of a vibrant entrepreneurial community comprising high-growth companies - but not only. Just as in the case of a rainforest being made of different trees, bushes and leaves, a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem is not made of high-growth companies oriented ...

Read the entire interview here.

Watch for more interviews to come from Peter Harrington, SimVenture (U.K.) plus more!

Embrace Rootedness and Then Branch Beyond

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Professor Pankaj Ghemawat concentrates on strategic management at ESE Business School in Barcelona.  He says the skills leaders need has been confused by misconceptions about globalization, and the fact that too many of the experts pronouncing on the topics are simply adapting their traditional leadership ideas to global leadership.

This persistent rootedness of companies and their employees should be embraced rather than fought. Nurture your own roots and branch beyond them to connect with counterparts elsewhere who are also deeply rooted in their culture.

This is worthy of exploring further.  Go here to read the entire article.

Related posts. And one other refresher on "leadership" here.

Crane in the Clouds

©2012 Laurel Delaney, "Crane in the Clouds"

"Buildings, too, are children of Earth and Sun." ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Globalization Reduces Racism

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President Shimon Peres -- the ninth and current President of the State of Israel -- calls for increased development in underdeveloped countries. In addition:

Peres credited globalization with reducing racism. The time has come, Peres said, for global companies to group together, and do what governments can’t do, such as for instance investing in underdeveloped countries which will become their future markets.

Read the entire article here.

Sri Lanka Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Insights: Brought to You By the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012

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In preparation for the 5th edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2012 in Lyon, France (October 24-27), which I will attend, we have some wonderful interviews lined up to share with you here.

The theme for this year's Forum is:  "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems:  Cultivating Communities to Drive Wealth Creation and Social Justice."

Below is the first interview with Asanga Abeyagoonasekera -- one of the 2012 Young Global Leaders from Sri Lanka.  He is currently the Executive Director of Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies a government think tank that helps to “generate board policy indicators for the guidance of the Government of Sri Lanka."

1. What do you think the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in your region is made of?

South Asia is one of the fastest growing regions, yet home to the largest concentration of poor in the world. Among the enterprises operating in South Asia, the bulk is comprised with the Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) which account ...

Read the entire interview here.

Watch for more interviews to come from Patricia Green, Babson College (U.S.A.) and Peter Harrington, SimVenture (U.K.)!

Export Galore, That is, U.S. Metropolitan Areas

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How U.S. metropolitan areas are driving national growth. That's according to the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.

Snippet of findings:

• U.S. exports grew rapidly in the first year of the nation's economic recovery (as shown).
• Large metro areas powered the nation's export growth.
• The Great Recession accelerated the shift of U.S. exports toward developing countries.
• Manufacturing drove the export resurgence in 2010.
• High-value-added service exports witnessed uninterrupted growth through the recession and recovery.

Learn more here.  Jump to download the full report.

Related post

Political Opening of the Chinese System

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Google Chairman Eric Schmidt says, "Technology and information penetration in China will eventually force the Great Firewall of China to crumble and even lead to the political opening of the Chinese system."

Read the entire article:  The Great Firewall of China Will Fall

Iran's Nuclear Ambitions

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Geo-strategist and President of Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer suggests that a “nuclear-armed Iran” is inevitable because ...

in an emerging “G-Zero World” where no single bloc of countries can dominate international affairs, the emerging powers can frustrate the West’s efforts to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. 

Find out two underlying assumptions to his argument:

Has the Developing World Abandoned Iran?

Related to Ian Bremmer, who appears to have coined the expression "G-Zero World:"  Countries With Promising Advantages

Chicago 'L' System Map Sign Broken Into

©2012 Laurel Delaney, "Chicago 'L' Rail System Map Sign Broken Into"

Chicago 'L' - the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago. 

Photo courtesy: ©2012 Laurel Delaney

Hotbed for U.S.A. Manufacturing? Tennessee!

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According to Adrienne Selko for Industry Week, Tennessee is a hotbed for manufacturing due to aggressive incentives and a focus on workforce training, leadership and innovation that help position the state for continued manufacturing growth.

They are cashing in on the trend of non-U.S.-based companies to produce locally for the huge U.S. consumer market.

The auto sector remains dominant. In fact, Tennessee sits at the No. 8 spot in auto production, and the industry accounts for 34% of manufacturing jobs with 105,000 employees. Adding up OEMs, suppliers and ancillary manufacturers, there are 864 auto-related companies in Tennessee. 

Sounds ripe for exports as well.  Read the entire article here.

Producing Something New and Useful In Our Diverse World

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Find out why it is important to work with people from other cultures in order to collaborate creatively.

Cultural misunderstandings and different ways of operating (government control over filmmaking, for instance) can lead to unforeseen setbacks and delays, threatening the success of creative business ventures. 

 Read Michael Blanding's entire article:  Collaborating Across Cultures - HBS Working Knowledge

My Fellow Americans: Happy Independence Day 2012!

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney, 2012 "Wrigley Building, Chicago"

Tap Into New Markets and Find New Customers

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The only way to accomplish two great expansion efforts at once -- tapping into new markets and finding new customers -- is to naturally take your business global.  And we are thrilled to be quoted in this important article below, especially noting the plug about the #1 blog in the world for entrepreneurs and small businesses interested in going global:  The Global Small Business Blog.

Read: Take Your Business International

Making Informed Decisions About the Food We Eat From Around the World

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that country-of-origin labels will remain the same while the U.S. government continues to review the ruling.

The ruling, public advocates fear, could lead to trade sanctions against the United States or a watering down of the labels designed to tell consumers where their meat comes from.

U.S. statement:

The United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk put a happy face on the WTO ruling, “which affirmed the United States’ right to adopt labeling requirements that provide information to American consumers about the meat they buy.”

Read the entire article here.

Magic On This Planet

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "Kayakers in Rogers Park"

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." ~ Loren Eiseley 

Betting on a Bright Spot For Growth: The United States of America

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That's according to Clorox CEO Don Knauss.  In the WSJ article, "To Clorox CEO, U.S. Is Bright Spot for Growth," Knauss indicates he is staying out of China and developing markets in Latin America and the Middle East.  He's also betting on a bright spot for growth:  United States.

WSJ: Why is Clorox targeting growth in Latin America and the Middle East, instead of countries like China or Brazil?

Mr. Knauss: We think it is much less risky. The competitive intensity [in the BRIC countries] has ratcheted up many times what it was five to 10 years ago. When competitive intensity goes up, margins go down.We looked at our current countries in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, where sales of bleach and other cleaners are growing 5% to 7% ...

Learn more here.

Globalization and Globaloney

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Pankaj Ghemawat is the author of Global 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It, and he takes the stage to ask an important question: Just how global are we really?

Watch and listen here.

Related posts, five (5) over six years.

Cultivating Global Leaders

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In our vastly interconnected world, we need to become effective global leaders to stay competitive.  Do you have what it takes to lead across cultures?  If not, McKinsey's got your back.  There's just one catch.  To read the full article, you must register:

Developing Global Leaders

If that's not enough, try these on for size:

Developing Global Leaders Is America's Competitive Advantage

What It Means to be a Global Leader in the 21st Century

Love E-Commerce

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How do I love e-commerce?  Let me count the ways but in this instance, here are six reasons for loving your e-commerce site after it’s set up.

Here's the first one:

1. Customers can buy anytime and anywhere. After you are fast asleep and thinking that no more business can be generated, guess again. At their convenience, consumers can browse your site, discover new things and buy them. You wake up the next day, go to work and learn that ten percent of your total revenues were generated over night via e-commerce!

Read the entire article:  6 Reasons to Love E-Commerce

The Wrap Dress Lady Is Global

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Diane von Furstenberg is selling the wrap dress to women worldwide.  Her approach to China's rising middle class is different - more personalized.

Read the entire article:

A Designer Brings 'Best Friends' to China

Bird Lifeguarding

©Laurel Delaney 2012, "Bird Lifeguarding"

"I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes." ~ Charles Lindbergh

Redefining the Way Business Is Done: Global Mobile Commerce

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Power up people.  The best global sales opportunity is yet to come.  Are you prepared for global m-commerce?

The article below examines what’s driving the explosive growth of global mobile commerce, how it is going to redefine the way business is done all over the world and how to leverage it to sell more stuff.

Read:  How to Make the Most of Global Mobile Commerce

International Business Travel: Don't Overpack

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Before you head out for your first overseas business trip, here are some essentials for a one-week business trip, including wardrobe, accessories and documents.

Needed items will naturally vary according to the type of trip you are making and the activities to which you've committed yourself.

International Business Travel: Packing Smart For An International Business Trip

Why Export?

Top Ten Countries for The Global Small Business Blog Readership

Here's where majority of our readers come from - Top 10 Countries:

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. India
4. Canada
5. Germany
6. Australia
7. Indonesia
8. Malaysia
9. Spain
10. Brazil

Many thanks for your readership - to all!

Redefining Global

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Dean Edward A. Snyder is redefining what it means to be global at Yale.  In addition:

The school is also introducing a leadership development program—to be run by a retired West Point brigadier general—which Mr. Snyder says will focus on giving and receiving feedback and keeping a leader's ego in check.

Learn more here.

Lost in Sizing Translation

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European imports like Moschino, Zara, Mango and H&M are wildly popular. I know. I buy those brands quite often.

But try translating the sizes to American. For example, when I try on an H&M jacket in my regular size, it feels two sizes too small.

What's a person to do when they shop online?

Read: Shopping Locally, But Sizing Globally

Errors That Smart People Make

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From the Christian Science Monitor:

Blaming globalization

The world has had economic downturns before, but what makes this one different goes beyond mere numbers on a balance sheet. Its roots are found in the growing doubts that people are having about our increasingly globalized world ...

Good Reads: Globalization and the Glass Half Full

Can America Lead the Global Economy?

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 By Edward Conard (author of "Unintended Consequences"):

What I learned at Bain Capital working with Mitt Romney: outsourcing is good and America's future isn't manufacturing, it's ideas. 

Read the full article: How America Can Lead the Global Economy

What Does a Huge Leap in Translations to English Mean?

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Are we buying into a culture when we learn a language?  Interesting question.  Tim Parks has some thoughts about that plus more here:

Inevitably, as the number of people speaking English increases, so do the sales of novels in English. But not enormously. The surprise is that increased knowledge of English has also brought a much more marked increase in sales of literature written in English but read in translation in the local language. When you learn a language you don’t just pick up a means of communication, you buy into a culture, you get interested. 

Read the entire piece:  Most Favored Nations

Small Business Exports Have Increased Under Obama's Watch

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Small business exports have increased under the current U.S. administration's watch, but other areas for business owners, such as, obtaining loans, cutting red tape and lowering healthcare costs have shown no improvement.

Read Scott Shane's commentary for Businessweek here.

Are BRICs Slowing Down?

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Are BRICs – the world’s big, fast-growing developing economies — slowing down?

The article below states:

Growth in Brazil, Russia, India, and China is expected to slow considerably in 2012, dampening an already weak global economy.

Read the entire article: Is the Show Over for the BRIC Economies?

May This Purple Bear Keep You Humble

Photo courtesy:  ©2012 Laurel J. Delaney, "Purple Bear"

Bears keep me humble. They help me to keep the world in perspective and to understand where I fit on the spectrum of life. We need to preserve the wilderness and its monarchs for ourselves, and for the dreams of children. We should fight for these things as if our life depended on it, because it does. ~ Wayne Lynch – from "Bears: Monarchs of the Northern Wilderness," 1993

Are Global Businesses Anti-Social in a Social Media Age?

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I don't believe most of this ... what about you?

New worldwide research by Satmetrix, the Net Promoter software company, has found that the majority of organizations of all sizes across B2C and B2B are blind to the opportunities and threats of social media.

Study:  Global Businesses Are Anti-Social in a Social Media Age (CRM Magazine)

Post by:  The Global Small Business Blog

The Perils of Globalization

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Is the Swedish furniture giant Ikea selling sex? Oh please. Here's the headline:

IKEA red-faced over product that sounds like sex.

Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant hires translator to vet merchandise as product names run afoul of Thailand’s conservative mores. Their story is just the latest example of the perils of names in a globalized economy.

Read the entire article here.

One more tidbit:

The company, which launched its fifth-largest superstore in Bangkok last year, realized that terms like Jättebra, for a plant pot, can echo a crude Thai term for sex.

Is Tipping Obligatory in America?

Below is an article by Max Fisher for The Atlantic which covers in part, as he says, the surprising frankness in discussing the warts of American history and society.

The United States is the second greatest tourist draw in the world, with 60-million-plus visitors in 2010 alone (France, number one, attracted almost 80 million). Flipping through a few of the many English-language tourist guides provides a fascinating, if non-scientific and narrow, window into how people from the outside world perceive America, Americans, and the surprises and pitfalls of spending time here. 

The comments are telling and really crack me up.

Read the entire article:  Welcome America, Please Be On Time:  What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

Got a New Tech Idea?

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No matter where you are located in the world, LaunchHouse, based in Ohio, is looking for a few good tech entrepreneurs.

From the applications received, they will select 30 companies to attend the Techie Unconference on July 18, 2012.  The Unconference will be held at the Shaker LaunchHouse facility, and will be an opportunity to pitch to mentors, venture capitalists and the LaunchHouse team.

LaunchHouse will then select 10 teams from the 30 who attend the Unconference. These teams will participate in the twelve-week LaunchHouse Accelerator program and will receive U.S. $25,000.

Teams must be:

• Comprised of 2-3 co-founders
• Able to devote 100% to starting a business
• Ready to relocate to Cleveland during the program

Move fast.  Application deadline is July 1, 2012.
LaunchHouse home base here.  Apply here.  Good luck!

Acceptance and Respectability of Global Marketing

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel J. Delaney

Revisiting the work of one of my favorite thought leaders who was an academic at Harvard Business School for some 30 years and started teaching marketing there at a time when, legend has it, he had never previously read a book on the subject.

That's my theory about everything, you must jump right in to master something. Similar to taking your business global!

Learn more about Theodore Levitt (they need to spell his name right) here.  And just a tad more on what folks say about him:

Levitt is sometimes credited with coining the term “globalization” in a 1983 article, “The Globalization of Markets."  Although the term had undoubtedly been in use before—The New York Times said it was used in other senses “at least as early as 1944”—it was Levitt who first popularized (marketed?) it as referring to the spread of corporations around the globe.

Related articles:

Managing Brands in Global Markets: One Size Doesn't Fit All

Global Managers:  Is There Such a Thing Anymore? 

Note:  They've corrected the misspelling of Levitt's name from Leavitt to Levitt (6/4/12 at 11:24 a.m. CDT)

Tricky Informal American Words

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How to master the finer points of American slang.

Getting comfortable with slang is essential for building relationships and communicating at work. For a manager, relying on formal English can create distance. "Without [knowing] idioms, they look at you and say, 'Oh my God, who is this woman?' " says Vladimira Gueren, 51, a former chief financial officer in Palm Coast, Fla., who moved from the Czech Republic almost four years ago.

Read the entire article here.

Tips to Obtaining a Global Trademark

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What is one of the most valuable assets of a business? Yes, people are important but so are trademarks.

Think Coca-Cola, PayPal and iPad, and you immediately think of a company, product, brand, experience, reputation, solution and public goodwill.

The article below discusses what a trademark is, how to select a trademark, how to establish rights to a trademark and where to turn for additional help.

Global Trademarks: A Start Up Guide to Global Trademarks