2011 Year in Review

The New York Times provides:

2011 Year in Review slide show

If nothing else, it will make you smile.

Illustration credit here (slide No. 6).

Make An Effort to Improve Our World

Nicholas Kristof writes an interesting opinion piece for The New York Times:

How to Change the World

Worth a read.  Worth an effort to improve our world.

Welcome to the Great International Education Race

There is a well-thought out scramble for students, professors, prestige and prosperity that is changing the face of university education around the world.

For decades the United States attracted more than a quarter of all foreign students in college or graduate education. Recently that has begun to change. While the continuing boom in study overseas — an explosion largely unaffected by the economic downturn — means that the number of foreign students going to the United States has continued to grow, the U.S. share of the foreign student market has fallen to just 18.7 percent, according to the most recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Meanwhile countries like Australia, Russia and New Zealand have all seen their share of the market rise sharply.

Read all about the rapidly changing international education landscape here.

Photo credit here.

Meet the New Breed of South African Entrepreneurs

South Africa (pictured) has long been looked upon as an unstable business environment. Not for long. Meet the new breed of South African entrepreneurs who are optimistic that they can change perceptions and climb the industrial ladder.

Read all about it here.

This related resource may be of interest to you as well:

South Africa: Overview

Enter China With Eyes Wide Open

Insightful piece with James McGregor of APCO Worldwide. He's a journalist turned consultant, and has been following the China story for 20 years.

Take a look at his interview, "Q&A: Doing Business In China," conducted by Emily Rauhala at The New York Times.

Illustration: James McGregor and his book, "One Billion Customers: Lessons From the Front Lines of Doing Business in China."

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog