How to Develop a Culture of Exporting

Get a New Perspective While Learning: Look Beyond Borders

As part of Mahatma School's International School Award Program, a group of Swedish students were invited to take part in an interactive session with their Indian counterparts.

The session was designed to toss out perspectives on a variety of subjects, ranging from orphans and street children in India to the effects of tourism on environment.

Here's what resulted at the Global School in Lidingo, Sweden.

Illustration credit here.

My Kind of Hometown: Chicago

©Laurel Delaney, 2012, All Rights Reserved, "Hometown Chicago 2012"

Have a great weekend my worldly readers!  And thank you for your readership.

Photo credit:  ©Laurel Delaney

Ever Thought About Going Global?

In case you have been living in a cave, stretch, dust yourself off and come out into the light (the living).

Read:  Small Business Ideas for 2012:  Why Not Go Global?

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

The Good and Bad About Globalization

What's the impact globalization has on our world?

It is true that the impact of globalization is visible and affects largely the politics and the economy of the country but its effect on the mindset and the culture is noticeable gradually in the way people think and react. It's like the Iceberg theory wherein what we do and say are at the tip and what we think and believe is at the base. The base is not visible but manifestations at the top are conspicuous. It applies here as well where people do not change abruptly but may be after a decade the change starts showing and seems radical.

Learn more about the pros and cons of globalization here.

Economic Success Is Dependent Upon Global Collaboration

That's what former President Bill Clinton says.

Delivering the keynote address at the 101st National Retail Federation Big Show, former President Bill Clinton did not shy away from the challenges that businesses face in this economy. In his speech, entitled "Embracing Our Common Humanity," Clinton spoke about the inequality, instability and unsustainable way of life which makes up the world today.

Learn more here.

Researching Your Export Markets

Check out the first-part of a six-part course on global trade Wednesday at the Rabobank Regional Business Center.

The three-hour session, “Researching Your Export Markets,” starts at 8 a.m. in the center that serves as headquarters for Coachella Valley Economic Partnership and the iHUB, 3111 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California, 92262.

Learn more here.

Illustration credit:  RRBC Facebook

What To Do During An Internet Blackout

Creative America, the entertainment community united against content theft, will tell you what to do during an Internet blackout.  Learn more here and be sure to spread the word.

Illustration:  Creative America logo

Winter Has Cometh in Chicago

"Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do - or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so."  ~ Stanley Crawford

Photo credit:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "Snow on the Evergreen Tree Chicago"

Elements Involved in Running a Fit-For-Fast-Growth Global Business

Here's an interview I did with a major international bank.  The bank (name withheld for confidentiality purposes) was eager to help their small business clients expand internationally. This is Part 2 of the interview. (You can find Part 1 here).

Read the article here.

Export: How Ventrac Did It

Emerging Nations Proceed With Caution

Andrew Burns, head of macroeconomics at the World Bank, told journalists in London: “Developing countries should hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”

Predicting significantly slower global growth in 2012 than it expected last summer even if the eurozone muddles through its crisis, World Bank economists said that if financial markets deny funds to eurozone economies, global growth would be about 4 percentage points lower than even these figures with poorer economies far from immune.

Read the entire article: World Bank Warns Emerging Nations

How to Write An Effective Export Plan

Dr. Doug Barry, International Trade Specialist (Doug.Barry@trade.gov) discusses via a webinar how to best develop an export plan for your company.

A good plan can generate and sustain new business, and this webinar presents a framework for writing your export plan as well as including resources to help complete each section of it. A good export plan can also allow you to be proactive in seeking international buyers rather than passive.

Launch your export business here.

View the Presentation

Related articles:  How to Develop An Import/Export Business Plan

Illustration credit here.

Yoghurt Business Goes Global

You never know when your best idea comes to you.  In this case, Henry Gosling (director of Australia-based Co Yo) got his at 2:00 a.m.  He set his sights on taking an already successful yoghurt business global.

"It's local companies going all over the world. A small business can always make it if they put into it what they want to get out of it."

Read: Co Yo Is Going Global 

Worldly Work

"Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else." ~ James M. Barrier

Photo credit:  ©Laurel J. Delaney 2012, "Worker Up In the Air During a Chicago Blizzard, 1.12.12"

The Power of the Internet: Eric Whitacre's Global Virtual Choir

Related post:  Humanizing Our Connected World

Taking Your Business Global: A Digital Short

Hopefully this 39-second digital short will make you smile (shameless plug involved) and will also give you ideas on how to use technology, namely animation, to market your brand globally.

Taking Your Business Global (Go!Animate)

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Scoping Out Hot Business Opportunities in Emerging Markets

You can do good to do well.  In this case, corporate employees help and scope out opportunities in developing countries.

Read:  Doing Good to Do Well (The Wall Street Journal)

World Cleanup 2012

Garbage is a big deal and local efforts in the Estonian capital are expanding into a global initiative.

On January 13th volunteers from 83 countries will converge on the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to launch World Cleanup 2012, the biggest attempt so far at voluntary rubbish collection. This year’s target is to mobilize 300 million people to pick up 100 million tons of illegally dumped waste in six months, starting on March 24th.

Who is the spirit behind this garbage campaign? Find out here:

Collecting Global Garbage: Effluence of Affluence || The Economist

Are You Doubling Your Exports By 2015?

According to the “Perceptions of Global Trade” survey of more than 1,000 American SMEs, 24 per cent were currently engaged in global commerce.

Almost half of small businesses in the United States expect to double their exports by 2015, and 66 per cent say that up to 25 per cent of their annual revenue comes directly from exporting, according to a survey by UPS.

Read more here.

Related post: Key to Future Success For Small Businesses: Going Global

Find Peace in the New Year

©Laurel Delaney 2012, "Peace At the Winter Lakefront," Rogers Park, IL, U.S.A.

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself; nothing, but the triumph of principles." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo credit:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "Peace At the Winter Lakefront," Rogers Park, Illinois, U.S.A.

One of Many Best-Kept Secrets to Global Success

For a small business with a sizable budget, the Gold Key Service (GKS) — through the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Commercial Service — is one of the most efficient ways to meet with pre-screened potential cross-border customers.

Learn more:   The Gold Key Service: How to Find Customers the World Over

Corruption is a Universal Worldly Challenge

The Global Integrity blog seeks to play a role in promoting accountability and transparency reforms by developing tools that address the needs of the public, private, and civil sectors equally.

Global Integrity is a tax-exempt organization incorporated in the District of Columbia in the United States under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is supported by charitable foundations, governments, multilateral institutions, and the private sector.

Never heard of them? You have now.

In short, we are an innovation lab for the transparency and accountability community.

Learn more here.

Illustration credit here.

Off-the-Books Global Businesses

Wired Magazine interviews Robert Neuwirth, author of Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy on why black market entrepreneurs matter to the world economy.

Further, he (Neuwirth) says, these enterprises are critical sources of entrepreneurialism, innovation, and self-reliance. And the globe’s gray and black markets have grown during the international recession, adding jobs, increasing sales, and improving the lives of hundreds of millions. It’s time, Neuwirth says, for the developed world to wake up to what those who are working in the shadows of globalization have to offer. We asked him how these tiny enterprises got to be such big business.

Read the entire interview here.

Photo credit:  Stealth of Nations Blog

Aging Population in BRIC

According to a December 7th report by Goldman analysts, as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) slow down, global growth probably will peak at about 4.3 percent this decade and fall to 3.9 percent in the 2020s.

The number of people older than 65 in Brazil, Russia, India and China will rise 46 percent to 295 million by 2020 and to 412 million by 2030, according to United Nations projections. The pool of 15 to 24-year-olds, the mainstay for factories will fall by 61 million by 2030 or about the population of Italy.

Read the entire article here.

Note:  Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O’Neill, who coined the BRICs acronym a decade ago, said other emerging economies may now be better investments -- especially Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt and Mexico.

What about MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey)?

Global Entrepreneurship: Make Yourself Valuable in 2012

As Scott Adams puts it:

If you’re having a hard time imagining what an education in entrepreneurship should include, allow me to prime the pump with some lessons I’ve learned along the way.

He offers seven ways to get a real education.  First one:

Combine Skills. The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable. It’s unlikely that any average student can develop a world-class skill in one particular area.

What a great way to start off the new year! 

Scott Adams is the creator of "Dilbert."  Read the entire article:  How to Get a Real Education 

Illustration credit:  "Dilbert" by Scott Adams

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Happy 2012 From The Global Small Business Blog

©Laurel Delaney 2012, "31st Street, Chicago Lakefront 1.1.12"

Wishing you a new year filled

with hope, promise and going global!