A Church That Moves You For Its Beauty

Just an ordinary day at Queen of All Saints Basilica, Chicago, Illinois.

Photos courtesy: ©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

5G: The Next Generation of Global Mobile Networks

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5G is the next generation of global mobile (wireless) networks.

Tech savvy business owners are looking into the benefits of 5G technology.  How is it going to transform the way they operate? What should they do to prepare?

There are clearly a number of changes coming for small businesses as they await the introduction of 5G technology. Since 5G hasn’t officially been released, it is difficult to know what impact it will have on global small businesses. This is especially true since there is no unequivocal definition of 5G yet.

Read more:  Business Intelligence:  Will 5G Boost Small Business Success

How Inspiration For Developing a Product Can Be Your Own Butt

Spanx founder and businesswoman Sara Blakely talks about the challenges she encountered entering the global marketplace.  And yes, the inspiration for the creation of her product came from how she felt about her own butt.

Spanx can now be found worldwide in more than 50 countries. In addition to keeping butts covered seamlessly from Savannah to Singapore, SPANX also shapes the world by focusing on their mission: To help women feel great about themselves and their potential.

You Are Never Going To Grow If You Stand Still and Stay Local

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As a small business, you can't do everything.  But you can make conscious choices that lead to growth for your company.  For example, you can choose to stay local with your business or you can choose to grow global.

In this example, Alan Lowry took over a business in administration and turned it in to a global distributor of street furniture in a matter of years. Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland-based Environmental Street Furniture designs, sources and manufactures a range of products from litter bins and traffic bollards to railings and bicycle sheds.

Alan says:

“We started from absolutely nothing, with no suppliers, no customers, no product base, so we have worked very hard to build that up from nothing to where we are today."

Read more:  Enterprising businesses going global to expand

Trends and Players Driving Cross-Border Payments

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Judging by the level of merger activity in the global payments space of late, the pendulum is swinging much more towards the buy than the build (source:  Cross-Border Commerce Drives Global Acquisition Agenda).

For more information, visit:  Cross-Border Payments Ecosystem Trends, Players

Read related article by James Gagliardi:  Cross-Border Merchants Win with Added Functionality, More Languages

Tip:  The most successful retailers are using increasingly simplified checkout functionality and allowing users to choose to experience sites in a variety of multiple languages.

Today in Global Small Business: How U.S. Exporters Get a Leg Up from TPP

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

• What TPP means for small businesses.
• Meet the winners of Schwab's social entrepreneur awards in 2015.
• Hear what an expert has to say about small business customs compliance and supply chain regulations.
• What to know before your website goes global.
• How one small business promoted Small Business Saturday [11/28/15].
• Singapore SMEs get help from Google to go global.
• How U.S. exporters get a leg up from TPP.

The Spirit of Latin America Lands With Latinicity in Chicago!

The spirit of Latin America lands in the heart of Chicago with Latinicity!  What is there not to love about food court Latinicity located at Block 37 (108 N. State)?  See for yourself.  

Photos courtesy:  ©Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Reboot Global Trade Talks

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Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group wants to reboot global trade talks.

“WTO 2.0,” he said in a speech at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila last week. “We should be using WTO to support small guys.” It’s the big buys that currently control the global trading system. They built it, as they alone had the resources to spread out around the globe."

He goes on to say that trade is a freedom, trade is human right and trade should not be used as a tool against other nations.

Mighty powerful words.  Besides Alibaba, who else benefits from small-business commerce?  Are we on the verge of a new trade agenda -- beyond Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?

Read more:  Why the future of global trade deals could be small business

Thank You For Your Readership

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TPP, TPP and More on TPP

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TPP stands for Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade agreement with 11 other countries -- and there's plenty out there on the Internet about it.  You can start with my article "Trade Agreements are Not Just about Lower Tariffs" and then move on to C. Fred Bergsten's "Op-ed:  The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Japan" (the Peterson Institute for International Economics) and take a look at a more controversial opinion piece featured recently in The New York Times "Pacific Trade and Worker Rights."

Coming soon:  Watch for an interview with Karen Kerrigan, President and CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, on the good, the great and the exceptional about TPP.

Here's How to Make More International Sales

Today in Global Small Business: Ironman Store Readies for Global Online Customers

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

• A forecast on the global outlook for 2016.
• Have a listen and a look at the world's first 24-hour small business channel.
• Individuals and companies worldwide celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week.
• Going global means translating your small business brand.
• Ironman [the store] opts for Borderfree shipping services to go global.
• How to create deeper, more meaningful experiences for your online customers.

Thank you Good to Great Author Jim Collins

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

I am honored and humbled that Good to Great author Jim Collins asked for my input about updating his book, Beyond Entrepreneurship:  Turning Your Business Into an Enduring Great Company.  Thank you ever so much and I am sure when you update the book, it will become another best seller!

Related post:  Thank you Best-Selling Author Jim Collins!

Walmart to Source $20 Billion Worth of Products from Women Entrepreneurs Globally

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Small fact:  Walmart has decided to source $20 billion worth of products from women entrepreneurs globally, every year.  That's according to Rajneesh Kumar, Vice President, Walmart India (P) Ltd.

Here's what female entrepreneurs [in Kerala, India] need to do to work with Walmart:

• Make products of good quality that meet global standards.
• Provide a minimum quantity of the products.
• Be able to understand customers (since the rationale is that women make most of the decisions at home and hence women entrepreneurs will be able to understand the customers better).

Wait.  There's more.  Read on:  Walmart is ready to source products from women entrepreneurs in Kerala

Introducing the No. 1 Nonprofit for Women Business Owners Who Want to Export

©2018 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global.  All rights reserved.

Women Entrepreneurs GROW Global (WEGG), a newly minted 501c(3) organization, has been launched and is committed to helping women-owned and women-led businesses increase their access to knowledge about exporting their products or services, grow their revenue, create jobs, and make an even more impactful contribution to their families and the economy.

Read the news:  New Education-based Nonprofit to Help Women Business Owners Export

Visit WEGG: http://womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org/2015/11/18/spread-the-good-word-wegg-is-set-to-help-women-business-owners-export/.

Full disclosure:  Laurel Delaney, the creator of the Global Small Business Blog, is President of WEGG.

How Companies Are Demonstrating Real Dynamism in the Global Marketplace

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Being global is for any size company.  All one needs to know is how to ship overseas, use the Internet, collect or make a payment and have a great idea.  In fact, micro-multinationals, have advantages over small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Never heard of the term micro-multinational?

Micro-multinationals enjoy advantages unavailable to SMEs operating in a single market. These include the ability to exploit global variations in knowledge, skills and labour costs. They can operate their businesses around the world and around the clock across multiple time-zones. While micro-multinationals have all the traditional benefits of being small and nimble, they have additional benefits of operating and marketing their products and services in multiple global markets.

According to Martin Davidian, Managing Director Sales UK North and Ireland, FedEx Express, micro-multinationals will change the face of global business in the years to come.

Learn more:  The rise of micro-multinationals

Another related article of a similar title:  The rise of the micro-multinational, and why it matters to the U.S. economy

Going Global is Not Just for Large Corporations

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There are infinite number of reasons why you should take your business global.  We talk about many of them at this blog.  In the article below, author Heinz Bulos, highlights two specific reasons why you should look overseas for business growth:

First, the opportunities obviously are much greater.  Second is foreign competition.

According to Bulos, there are different paths to entering an international market.  The article discusses six different business models to take your business global.

Read more:  Entrepreneurs go global

Today in Global Small Business: Start Small When Thinking Big

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

• Why it pays to start small when thinking BIG.
• How successful SMEs are reinventing global business.
• Why it's important to bridge the global digital divide and provide easy and affordable access via the Internet to millions across the world.
• The global village (Internet) is alive, well and growing -- see for yourself on the numbers.
• How the exponential growth of technologies will transform industries and pose new opportunities—and hurdles—for business and society (2011). 
• How surging service exports can augur a healthier UK trade future.

Fat Copycats

©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Imitation is not only more abundant than innovation, but actually a much more prevalent road to business growth and profits."  -- Theodore Levitt, 1966, a late marketing professor at the Harvard Business School

Exporting Should Be Job No. 1 At Your Company

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Let's appreciate and applaud those who export.  These people – all of them – add value to and enhance our lives. They push everything that comes into their hands out into the world for others to appreciate and enjoy too. They create jobs and make our world a better place to live. A big salute to exporters!

Read more:  Let's Appreciate and Applaud Those Who Export!

Global Payment Considerations in the Digital Marketplace

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Everybody is jumping into the global payment digital marketplace.  Why not?  It's lucrative due to the vast number of consumers who will use the system; but, there is no single silver bullet that will take care of the needs of everyone worldwide.

Take, for example, MasterCard's zero liability promise that claims it is going global.  Or, how about global payments giant First Data who goes it alone against banks?  And ACI Worldwide expands its global online payments.  Yet Apple Pay and Square have a long way to go on the global front with much catching up to do against PayPal.

The choices for an online payment system are endless.  How you decide which system to use depends on who your customers are, where they are located, what you are selling and the volume of your transactions.  It's a booming business.  Alibaba proves the return on investment can be huge on global payments with their recent "Singles Day" using Alipay.

How Much Can a Company Sell Online in 90 Minutes?

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China-based Alibaba Group Holding Limited announced that USD 5 billion (approximately RMB 31.8 billion) of gross merchandise volume (GMV) was settled through Alipay on Alibaba’s China and international retail marketplaces in the first 90 minutes of the November 11, 2015 Global Shopping Festival.

According to Alibaba Group, this year’s November 11 Global Shopping Festival features more than six million products from more than 30,000 brands sold by over 40,000 merchants.

Learn more:  Alibaba Defined | Alibaba Annual Report 2015

Note:  GMV is the total amount settled through Alipay on Alibaba’s China and international retail marketplaces. All November 11, 2015 GMV and other figures are subject to final auditing following conclusion of the event.

How to Connect with Customers All Over the World

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With technology and the Internet, international selling has gotten a whole heck of a lot easier.  But while you might have the absolute best product in the world, priced competitively, and easy to buy, there's still no guarantee customers will snatch it up online.  

It’s an exciting time to take a small business online in Australia and grasp the opportunity to go global. The lower Australian dollar, social reach and access to international marketplaces (such as the Tmall storefront for eligible businesses to sell into China) means you could connect with customers all over the world.

How do you inspire customers to buy your product?

Read more:  Insider tips to customer conversion

Today in Global Small Business: What Does China's Trade Drop Mean?

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

• Are small business owners optimistic about the holiday season?
• What does the American Express-commissioned Economy of Shopping Small Report reveal?
• Why SMEs should go global for more opportunities.
• Is Cuba a lucrative opportunity or just another tough market to crack?
• What does China's trade drop mean?
• Digital payments are growing.  Do you know of a quick way to pay back a friend, anywhere?

Steve Jobs, the Movie

Getting ready to see the move Steve Jobs at the Century 12 movie theater in Evanston, Illinois.

Photos courtesy:  ©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

What's the Most Crucial Lesson You've Learned About How a Company Builds a Global Competitive Advantage?

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Let's go back in time to more than two decades ago when David R. Whitwam was chairman and CEO of the Whirlpool Corporation. He had his challenges.

According to Whitwam, too many managers are still running their businesses with the same old regional fiefdoms and inadequate ways of satisfying customers. As a result, few would-be global companies have escaped the deadly war of attrition in which cost and quality are the only weapons and ever-declining margins the only prize.

In the following interview, Harvard Business Review associate editor Regina Fazio Maruca asks Whitwam:  What’s the most crucial lesson you’ve learned about how a company builds a global competitive advantage?

Here's Whitwam's response:

The only way to gain lasting competitive advantage is to leverage your capabilities around the world so that the company as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Being an international company—selling globally, having global brands or operations in different countries—isn’t enough.

Read more:  The Right Way to Go Global:  An Interview with Whirlpool CEO David Whitwam (March-April 1994 Issue)

How to Turn Passion Into Profits on a Global Small Business

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Taking your company from local to global is no easy feat.  You can either fail or flourish.  How do you make sure you flourish?  Hint: Global is a fast path to growth.

The following peer success stories shared by entrepreneurs around the world demonstrate how adaptivity, passion, and a global focus set small business leaders apart, and turned passions into profits.

Taking your company from local to global -- what Singapore entrepreneurs can learn

There Is No Silver Bullet Strategy to Winning in Foreign Markets

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Mitchell Osak, Managing Director, Strategic Advisory Services at Grant Thornton LLP, a Canadian advisory, tax and assurance firm, says "There is no silver bullet strategy to winning in foreign markets. Instead, success is about keeping an eye on the fundamentals: being bold, doing your homework, demonstrating agility and focusing on continuous improvement from a cost and product perspective."

He goes on to say that Canadian companies need to look to global markets to drive growth, or even survive, in today’s economic climate and provides an interesting 5C-strategy framework that involves country acumen, competitiveness, connections, capital and commitment.

Read more:  Canadian companies that want to go global need to think long term

Questions for Mitchell?  He can be reached at Mitchell.osak@ca.gt.com and on Twitter @MitchellOsak

Do You Have the Right People on the Export Bus?

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A lot of manufacturers are saying a skill shortage is what's holding them back from exporting.  Is that you too?  According to small businesses in the UK, they are missing out on global opportunities because they cannot recruit the right staff.

From a lack of business-ready digital skills to core manufacturing expertise, a shortage of relevant talent is hampering the chances of UK small businesses fulfilling their global potential.

Read more:  Manufacturers says skills shortages hold back exporting plans

Today in Global Small Business: How Google Will Get Back Into China

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

• How to identify risk in the international trade arena.
• Rebalancing the affects of global trade.
• What is the best story in the world today?  Find out here.
• Online sales expected to increase 6 to 8 percent this holiday season.
• Rare vote sparks Exim Bank revival hope.
• How Google will get back into China.

The Spirit of Halloween

"I love the spirit of Halloween and the energy that comes with it." -- Katharine McPhee

Photos courtesy:  ©2015 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

How to Be in Charge of Your Own Global Destiny

Shoptiques founder Olga Vidisheva talks about what drives her, why hang around people smarter than you, and how she's managed a fast-growing e-commerce business that has grown double digits every month in 2015.

Negotiating Across Borders

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Few subjects are as critical or as complex as negotiating across borders, especially in today’s interconnected global environment, business people who understand cultural differences and how to communicate effectively have a decided competitive edge. But do you know the basics on how to negotiate effectively whether you find yourself in Mexico, France or Portugal? In the following article, I discuss five fundamental steps to negotiating successfully on a global basis.

5 Fundamental Steps to Negotiating Successfully Globally

Global Small Business Forum 2015 Was a HUGE Success!

Thank you to sponsors Chicago Expert Importers (CEI), Endicia and TradeUp Fund for their generous sponsorship to the first Global Small Business Forum held in Chicago at Navy Pier on Friday, October 23, 2015 with the theme "Up Your Global Game." We also thank ATA Carnet | Boomerang Carnets for their Executive Sponsorship.  We had a terrific turnout with very engaged participants who asked a lot of great questions.  The speakers/panelists/moderators were was follows:

• Richard Paullin, Executive Director, International Trade Association of Greater Chicago; Chairman, IL District Export Council
• Kevin Drost, Director of International Strategy, Reverb.com
• Marianne O'Brien, Regional Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration
• Rajiv Khatau, Founder and Managing Director, LODAAT LLC
• Kati Suominen (pictured third photo from top), Founder and CEO, Nextrade Group, LLC — keynote speaker!
• Marc Schulman (pictured above), President, Eli’s Cheesecake Company — headliner -- read his post!
• Lisa Bitsky, President, Automated Design Crop.
• Zach Person (bottom photo-front to the right), Program Manager, IL International Trade Center for Entrepreneurship, College of DuPage
• Sophia Leaguedi, President, Ameroc Export Inc.
• Jim Snediker, Co-Founder and CEO, Stock Manufacturing Co.
• Roy Donoso, President, Sumac
• Timo Lukkarinen, CEO, Horizon Educational
• Sergei Kozyrenko, Co-Founding CTO, Parknav
• Rob Wray, CEO, mp3Car
• Morgan Coghill, International Sales Manager, Simmons Knife and Saw
• Doris Nagel, President, Blue Sky Consulting Services

Here's what attendees said about the conference:

• Terrific conference!  Congratulations – certainly the 1st Annual – it must be repeated.
• You did a great job with the Global Small Business Forum.
• Thank you again for a wonderful event.   I am sorry to have had to leave prior to the end but what I was there for was really well done and such good interaction.
• Without your vision and guidance it wouldn't have been possible.  From what I saw, the event seemed rich with valuable information.
• It was a real honor to be invited.  I know it takes a tremendous amount of effort, and you put on a successful event.  
• I really enjoyed the discussion. Hope we [as a panelist] get to do it again soon.
• You have surrounded yourself with such amazing people.

We are also grateful to our Major Partners and all the vendor companies that purchased tables and further supported our event.  Special hat tip to Small Business Trends for their "19 Tips for Taking Your Small Business Global."  Laura Fairman at Blue Canvas did an amazing job on the website, program and posters.  Thank you to everyone who made this event a tremendous success.  We look forward to next year's forum with the anticipated date of:  Friday, October 21, 2016.  More soon!

Photos courtesy:  GSBB Media LLC.  All rights reserved.

Success Starts with Having Faith

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According to breast cancer survivor and CEO of fast growing business Global Commerce, "What I’ve [Joaneane Smith] learned is that whether you’re battling cancer or building a business, much of the same elements are required. And to me, it all starts with having faith.”

Ms. Smith founded Global Commerce in 2000 and provides system and software engineering, cyber security and project management to government clients, including the U.S. departments of agriculture and defense. Global Commerce has 31 employees.

Read more:  Global Commerce nabs top spot in LSU 100 fast-growing Tiger businesses list

(Twitter handle for Global Commerce)