Overtake America? Seriously?

Is the United States losing status as a global superpower?

A new Pew Global Attitudes survey finds that while the U.S. is better regarded around the world now than it was in the Bush years, in 15 of 22 nations surveyed most say that China either will replace or already has replaced America as the world's "leading superpower." This view is especially widespread in Western Europe, where at least six in 10 respondents in Britain, France, Germany and Spain see China eventually overtaking the U.S.

Read the entire commentary here:

Andrew Kohut (president of the Pew Research Center) and published by The Wall Street Journal: The World Says China Will Overtake America

Related resource:

Pew Global Attitudes Project
China Seen Overtaking U.S. As Global Superpower

What do you think?

Illustration credit:  Pew Research Center

Victoria's Secrets: Taking It Slowly in the International Marketplace

Limited Brands, owner of lingerie Victoria's Secret (pictured) and personal-care retailer Bath & Body Works, is traveling slowly through the international marketplace.  According to The Wall Street Journal article, "Victoria's Secret Gets Out Overseas," VS doesn't have any locations overseas.  Why?

Find out more here.

Does a cautious approach to going global work for your business too?

Photo credit:  Victoria's Secret

Happy 4th of July America: We Are Still The Country of the Future

Happy Independence Day United States of America!

According to Walter Russell Mead, no country is better positioned to take advantage of the opportunities or manage the dangers than the United States.

... the United States of America is better placed to surf this transformation than any other country. Change is our home field. It is who we are and what we do. Brazil may be the country of the future, but America is its hometown.

Read:  The Future Still Belongs To America

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Can We Outproduce, Outcompete and Outsell Anybody, Anywhere in the World?

I'd like to think we can and according to President Ronald Reagan in his own State of the Union speech on February 4, 1986, he affirmed we could.

But here's the thing.  Judy Shelton (video clip of her -- interesting ... she thinks the free market works) writes a provocative commentary for The Wall Street Journal:  "The Wrong Way to Double Exports."  She doesn't think we are competing.  She thinks we are cheating.

Find out why here.

Ms. Shelton (pictured) is author of “Money Meltdown” (Free Press, 1994), is a senior fellow at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and co-director of the Sound Money Project.

Photo credit here.

Web Start-Ups Go Global

According to a recent article in the WSJ, "Web Start-Ups Search History," a newer generation of start-ups such as Yelp Inc. and Groupon Inc. are going global. They are studying their predecessors and adapting successful ideas -- such as using acquisitions or partnerships to enter markets where a strong competitor exists -- with the intent of improving their chance of success in the global marketplace.

Read the entire article here.

World Currency: The U.S. Dollar

David Wessel, economics editor for The Wall Street Journal, writes: "Weaker Dollar Is No Elixir for Economy."

Quick snippet:

The logic, drawn from textbooks, is that a decline in the dollar will make U.S. exports cheaper for foreign customers, so they will buy more, and will make Asian exports more expensive, so the world will buy less. It's no magic elixir.

Illustration credit here.

Can China Move Into the Exclusive Club of High Per Capita Income Countries?

The 1992 Nobel economics laureate Gary Becker -- professor of economics at the University of Chicago and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution -- writes a magnificent opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, "China's Next Leap Forward."

Quick insightful snippet here:

Global markets allow poor countries to grow rapidly for a while, but it is far more difficult to grow beyond middle-income levels. Much has been made of the fact that a month ago China's aggregate GDP surpassed that of Japan. But all that means is China's per capita income is about 10% of Japan's, since China's population is about 10 times that of Japan. Despite its great economic advances, China still has a long way to go to become a rich country.

Don't overlook it. Blog is equally fascinating.

Cartoon credit here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

How to Push Your Business to Get Growth From Developing Markets

In a recent Wall Street Journal Article, "Philips's CEO Urges Local Strategies for Emerging Markets," reporter Paul Glader interviews Philips Electronics NV Chief Executive Gerard Kleisteriee.

Kleisteriee shines a magnificent light on his firm's global strategy. The company aims to boost emerging-market sales from 30% to 50% by 2015 by focusing on China.

An interesting snapshot:

WSJ: What do companies have to do differently now in emerging markets?

Mr. Kleisterlee: It does not suffice to serve only the metropolitan areas. In India and in China you need to have good rural distribution.

Increasingly we, and also our competitors, develop products in these emerging markets for the emerging markets. So it is not a European or a U.S. concept that gets sold in China or India but things that we have designed, engineered and manufactured locally for the local market.

Read the entire interview here.

By the way, I did not know Philips has an online store.

If You Were to Bet on Growth, Where Will It Come From?

According to Abbott Laboratories Chief Executive Miles D. White:

... he has assembled a business in fast-growing countries that the company will count on for a big part of its growth.

"Where do you think the growth in the world is going to come from?" Mr. White asked during an interview at his suburban Chicago office, a few miles from Lake Michigan. "Would you bet on the U.S.? Would you bet on Western Europe? It's going to come from emerging markets."

The article goes on further to say:

Now, the fast-growing emerging-market economies are much more attractive. Expanding middle classes in such countries as Brazil, South Korea and Turkey are not only spending more on health care, but their rising affluence has contributed to increasing rates of diabetes, heart disease and other conditions that once had been limited to developed markets. Some governments, notably China's, are beginning to provide insurance to pay for health care.

Read the entire article here.

Graphic illustration source here.

Do Not Fear the Globalization of Higher Education

The new global brain race is intensely competitive.

Read all about it here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog