China Pulse e-Newsletter

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China Pulse is Commercial Service China’s official e-newsletter, highlighting latest business news, exciting export opportunities, and inside strategies to help you maximize your success in the China market.

Current issue and to submit an article for possible publication: China Pulse June 2007

Go Global Without Waiting to Grow Up

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Fellow blogger Anita Campbell (not pictured) who writes all about Small Business Trends has an interesting post on micro-multinational businesses going global right from the start. I refer to it as born global. Check it out here. What's your take on it?

Please Choose Your Country

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Think this company wants to do business with the world?

Citizens of the World

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Citizens of the World Charter Schools create a national network of high-achieving, community-based public schools that reflect the abundant socioeconomic, racial and cultural diversity of their surroundings.
Citizens of the World Charter Schools

Second Life: Make An Impact on the World

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65-year-old Leonard Liu is a rare breed of entrepreneur.

The former IBM executive was born and raised in China and Taiwan, and educated at Princeton University. He's a cross-cultural businessman with decades of experience in the USA and Asia. And at an age when many CEOs retire to the golf links, Liu has launched a promising outsourcing start-up called Augmentum.

Liu, who came out of a brief retirement to start Augmentum in 2003, says: "Would you rather sit on the beach and watch the sun set, or build something that will have a lasting impact on the world?"

Read more about Leonard and the impact he is making on the world here.

Take Your Business Local?

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Interesting. Some companies just want to stay a certain size and become exceptional at what they do versus extend themselves too far -- say go global -- and not compete or sustain very well locally or globally for that matter. Here are two compelling snapshots taken from the article:

Although the latest US Census Bureau statistics for small businesses in Erie County don’t specify whether they are locally owned, the data shows that 94 percent of the more than 27,000 businesses in the Buffalo Niagara region have fewer than 50 employees and a little less than half of those businesses have between one and four workers.

And another:

Supporting small-scale local business does not necessarily mean shunning larger or non-local ones, he adds. The BALLE philosophy, for instance, acknowledges that it’s often very difficult to know how (and where) to shop locally, and certain goods, like tropical produce or auto parts, must be imported. Instead, BALLE supports a balance between large and small, global and local, but in a way that puts the local owners on a more even playing field. It goes back to the multiplier, says Shuman. “The more times a dollar circulates within a defined geographic area and the faster it circulates without leaving that area, the more income, wealth, and jobs it generates.”

See what you think -- article is here -- and I welcome your comments.

Also, of relevance, the co-founder of BALLE is Michael Shuman who wrote:
The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition. I wonder if he would have co-founded this organization had he not written the book? I'm all for supporting local, independent businesses, especially ones who are global. The bottom line: This is all about competing effectively locally and globally.

Take Your Business Global

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Everybody is focusing on going global these days. Looks like we are on to something!

Read CNN's article here.

And most of the guidelines mentioned for expanding your business internationally have been featured in Entrepreneur magazine's Global Village column. We've covered the World Bank's website (see Easy Street, June, 2007), Export Assistance Center and U.S. Department of Commerce (Study Abroad, May, 2006) and the World Citizen's Guide (American Outcast, February, 2006) -- so we're on it!

SPECIAL Report from BusinessWeek on Going Global

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And all with a focus on small business -- what fun!

Getting Started Overseas

Online, a Global Strategy Starts at Home

UPS: From Local Startup to Global Titan
Twenty Countries to Consider

Avoiding Faux Pas When Exporting

Global Trade Toolkit

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Thinking of exporting or expanding into new markets? It's a great time to get started! Ninety-six percent of the world's consumers live outside of the United States and free trade agreements are opening new markets for U.S. businesses everyday.

Here's a GREAT way to get started in the trade export process.

And listen in on this interview about strategies small businesses can implement to go global.

Cultural Wisdom At Your Fingertips

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Tools for global managers. Tools for global team members. Tools for business travelers. Tools for international assignees. Did I leave anything out?

Get acquainted here.

Agility is Global

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Interesting post by Michael Hugos in Best Practices for CIO ...

My colleagues and I are leaving today to do a 30-Day Blitz in India. The blitz we launched in May with a global electronics and software company was a real success and they’ve decided to follow it up with a sequence of three more blitzes, one at their development center in Hyderabad and two more in the States.

I’ve got butterflies in my stomach. My mind is racing with questions and concerns about how things will work out. The last time I was in India I was seven years old; my father was there on business and my family and I spent a month in New Delhi. India made a strong impression on me then and ever since it has always been an iconic place, evoking images of history and mystery. Now my work is bringing me back.

Find out why Michael has butterflies in his stomach and what's in store for him in India, here.

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, Chicago (7/5/07) ... magnificent cloud formation hovering over downtown Chicago.

Center for Global Development

Keeping an eye on practical ideas for global prosperity.

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, Chicago, July 4, 2007.

7 Myths About Outsourcing

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In recent years, there's been a seemingly endless boom in offshore outsourcing. But companies that think handing off an operation to an overseas provider is easy can get a rude awakening by reading Seven Myths About Outsourcing.

View video on what it takes to outsource effectively.

Global Volunteer Groups

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 Three of the most established volunteer groups:

Cross Cultural Solutions
works in 12 nations (800-380-4777)

Global Volunteers
has programs in the United States
and 18 other countries (800-487-1074)

Habitat for Humanity
sends teams around the world
through its Global Village Program (800-422-4828)

Perhaps you will come to believe in possibilities around the world.

Doing Business Across Time Zones

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Low-cost technologies help an entrepreneur run businesses on two continents - and still get some sleep.

When I tell friends that I run businesses in both the United Arab Emirates and California, they assume that I never sleep. But technology makes it easy to bridge the time zones.

I run two public relations agencies - an eight-year-old firm called NettResults based in Dubai and an offshoot with different clients, headquartered in Irvine, Calif. I also own a consulting business in Irvine that specializes in change management.

Interesting ... on NettResults, the only inkling of globalization shows up in the pictures, not the words. The entire site is in English.

Read the article here.

Breaking Into the Market in China as a Startup

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From the Wall Street Journal online:

Question: I have an idea that I would like to try and sell in China. I am a small business -- one man, one computer, one office. Do you think there is a chance for a one-man operation to succeed in the China market?

-- R.B., Fairport, N.Y.

Answer: China's 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization and its economic boom of recent years have made it somewhat easier for small U.S. enterprises to break into the market. But there are still many stumbling blocks that pose big, costly risks for businesses -- especially for a one-person operation with little or no experience dealing in China.

Read the balance of the answer here.

And don't forget that UPS did a good survey on what American products Chinese consumers desire the most. You can download it here.

This might help too.

Is the Promised Land Offshore?

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As supply chain managers now operate in a global business ecology, including low-cost regions in today’s operations is a given. Determining which regions to access for a particular purpose and managing risks inherent to global sourcing, however, remain significant challenges.

Sourcing is no longer about trying to get it cheaper, whatever “it” is. Companies continue to leverage savings in various functions and processes in low-cost regions in the world, where they can be conducted at lower cost, either by third parties or by their own efforts. And they are doing so aggressively.

Read more here.

Ace the System

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Latest Entrepreneur magazine column can be found here.

America Is Not All About Mega-Corporations

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Guess who else is important? Small businesses.

4. America is not all about mega-corporations. What do you see as the role of small business in the American economy and in the global economy?

Until 1980, I don't think people really understood the role of small business in an economy. A study was done at that time that showed that if you really wanted economic growth as measured by jobs, new products and services, small businesses are the key. Around 70% of the new jobs and new products come from small businesses. So in the future if one wants to grow the economy on a sustained basis, it is going to be through entrepreneurial ventures. Five years ago, Germany looked at their education system and its contribution to economic growth. Most of the schools in Germany were government sponsored except for one private school which had a course in entrepreneurship. Up until then, Germany had thought that it is the Mercedes, Siemens, and Deutsche Bank that were the drivers of its economy. But they had a rude awakening, it was the role of the small business, typically the DM25 million to DM50 million business that had contributed to growth – be it growth in jobs, new products or overall economic development. Therefore, they instituted professorships in over 25 universities to teach entrepreneurship. I am sure that this is true of anywhere in the world, be it Europe or Japan or Africa.

How about that? And now universities are teaching global entrepreneurship instead of entrepreneurship. Read the entire interview with Dr. Robert Hisrich from Thunderbird School of Global Management here.

Go global

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If your new small business is going to survive, you must sell your products or services around the world. The global marketplace is upon us, so every entrepreneur -- not just Canadian -- should be embracing opportunities to export.

Doing business in foreign countries is not as scary as it sounds. It's really just an extension (a branch) of your local market. To start thinking globally, follow these tips ...