How Students Can Prepare for the Global Marketplace

Studying abroad is all the rage these days because young people want to take on the world.  But where are the students studying?

And students are studying in less traditional destinations. Although the UK, Italy, Spain and France still top the list, China continues to attract with nearly 14,000 students studying there in 2009/10 compared to fewer than 3,000 in 1999/00. Fifteen of the top 25 destinations were outside of Western Europe and 19 were countries where English is not a primary language. There was a 44 % increase in U.S. students going to India, and Israel, Brazil, New Zealand and Egypt showed large percentage gains.  

Stacie Nevadomski Berdan has studying abroad for students covered in:

The Right Study Abroad Program Can Prepare Students for the Global Marketplace

Illustration credit:  Stacie's e-book

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Where Can You Find Growth? You Must Go Global!

Good commentary by local columnist John Shoemaker for Wicked Local Wrentham about how to find growth for your business:  take it global!

It was the rallying cry for so many in small and medium size businesses: "We must go global!"

And it emphasizes how global commerce, the desire for individual freedom and the Internet are churning out more and more global entrepreneurs!

Read the entire opinion piece: When Business Goes Global

Visualize the Market and Go After It: Global

Video is in English and it's excellent.  Strategies for growth:  exporting opportunities.  Be sure to catch the takeaway sheet at the end.

Amazon: Time to Go Global?

Kindle

Kindle Fire

Is Amazon testing the waters with its electronic gadgets to determine at some point whether to stay local or do a global roll out?

For Amazon, which has always been overwhelmingly focused on the U.S. and anglophone markets, the entry-level Kindle’s modest international support is actually a huge improvement. Even a year ago, when the third-generation Kindle launched, it was an English-only device.

Even in non-digital retail, Amazon’s global reach has been limited; the company is only now launching a Chinese-language bookstore, in tandem with a local bookseller. Building an international reputation takes time, partnerships and a lot of hard work.

Read the entire article:

From Kindle to Fire:  Why Amazon Needs to Go Global (Wired.com)

Related article:

Who Has the Global Edge on Wireless Reading Devices?

Using Distance As a Global Opportunity

“From day one the idea was to go global.  We’re in such a small market for games, you really don’t have a domestic market so you’re forced to go across the pond. This is a blessing in many ways and has served us fairly well.” ~ Matias Myllyrinne, CEO of Remedy Entertainment.

Find out how an Espoo, Finland-based company, Remedy Entertainment, goes after the biggest gaming market in the world:  the United States.

Game Theory:  Go Global or go home

Illustration credit:  Remedy Entertainment 

Go Global: I Wish I'd Done It Sooner

That's what Fifth Ring co-founder Ian Ord said about the impact that being a globally operating business has had over the last decade. This was ahead of speaking at the forthcoming Go Global International Expansion Conference, which is being hosted by MiNetwork in Manchester in June.

Ord also said:

“We decided to go global in 2003 and took our first step into the Middle East in 2004. We started to plan our expansion into North America in 2006 and opened the office there in 2008. Given the success that particular office has achieved, I genuinely wish we had done it sooner but there were both resource and commercial constraints on our business. Expansion into Asia Pacific in 2011 was the next logical step in our international expansion and we were able to apply what we had learned from the move into the Middle East and North America.”

Read the entire article here.

Illustration credit:  fifthring

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Globalize Where the Return is Everywhere

Globalization is here to stay.  It's not a matter of surviving during current challenging economic times; it's a case of thriving.  This article (heavy emphasis on translation issues) answers the central question:  Is this the right time to expand internationally?

See if it is for you.

Bottom line:  Get out of your local rut and go global!

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

How to Leverage Your Existing Customers To Go Global

For small businesses doing a great job for big-name clients close to home can leverage those relationships to expand abroad.   This is a savvy way to grow global for a small business.  That is what economist Jayson Myers, head of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, one of the country’s biggest industry groups, said in an interview.

“Often the best sales strategy is not going directly into new markets, but it’s leveraging up your existing customers. We are seeing this in a lot of manufacturing sectors, in a lot of technology companies. We [Canadians] have very, very good products, but often these products have to be packaged or integrated into a bigger service for customers.”

Read the entire article here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Toolkit Kiosk Helps SMEs Go Global

SMEs got a boost recently when the Small and Medium Enterprise Corp Malaysia (SME Corp) unveiled the first of its kind SME Toolkit kiosk in the country aimed at helping SMEs go global.

The kiosk, which is located at SME Corp's office in Menara Matrade, also helps them leverage on the toolkit to enhance their business by reducing their operational cost. SMEs can gain access to the relevant information in the toolkit via the Internet and need not go to the kiosk personally to access it.

The SME Toolkit is an online program that enables entrepreneurs and small businesses to learn how to implement sustainable business management practices needed for growth in areas such as finance, accounting, international business, marketing, human resources or legal, at no cost.

Learn more here.

Illustration credit here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Is Your Customer Base Across the Street or Worldwide?

With the Internet and the advent of social media and networking platforms, there is absolutely no good reason why you should be stuck selling customers merely locally, regionally or nationally -- and not internationally.

Get unstuck and go global!

Read:  Social media marketing allowing businesses to go global

You will learn how a decade-old '30-minute photo shop' storefront in Irvine, California has taken its enterprise global.

Example:

"When I started the customer base, it was about 3 to 5 miles. Today, it's worldwide. People find us online through searches, through search engines, through Twitter searches as well as Facebook."

Illustration credit:  ScanMyPhotos (as referenced above).

Grow Global: 10 Tips From Leading Women Entrepreneurs to Help You Make the World Your Business

Re-visiting an article I wrote back in early 2009 that is still relevant to today's times:

Growing Global: 10 Tips From Leading Women Entrepreneurs to Help You Make the World Your Business

The launch (November 2008) of Women Entrepreneurs GROW Global (WEGG) was based on the work I did for on the article. Realized a need and went after it to satisfy.

Enjoy and have a great weekend. Back with you on Monday.

Posted by: Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

The U.S. Has Entered a New Era of Global Competitiveness

According to the McKinsey Global Institute report, "Growth and Competitiveness in the United States: The role of its multinational companies:"

• The global context in which U.S. MNCs compete and invest is shifting. The United States retains many strengths that make it one of the most attractive markets for multinational companies’ participation and investments. But numerous fast-growing emerging markets and some advanced economies are making huge strides in increasing their attractiveness. The United States has entered a new era of global competition for multinational activity.

This fact is merely one of numerous economic impacts U.S. multinationals are facing in the new world marketplace.

To learn more:

Read the executive summary (PDF - 1.93 MB)
Read the report (PDF - 3.18 MB)

In addition, if you've got the time, here are two interesting commentaries related to the report that are worth a read:

-> The Global Jobs Competition Heats Up

-> Time to Go Global with Great Economic Freedom

By the way, Happy Birthday No. 234 America!

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Love of Languages

Very inspiring little story. I'll let you be in awe. It can start at such an early age.

Language-loving teen wants to go global

SEZs Will Help Chinese Companies Go Global

According to Martyn Davies, Beijing is rolling out SEZs -- special economic zones -- in targeted African economies. There are six such zones currently operating in Africa, with more to come. It is hoped that these hubs for Chinese capital investment may prompt broader market reforms and stimulate growth in their recipient economies in the same way they did in China more than two decades ago.

The SEZs are expected to assist Chinese companies to expand into new markets on the African continent. But in addition to the economic rationale, there also exists a political motivation. These zones will create jobs and export earnings for local citizens.

Read more here.

Note: Michael E. Porter, was big on zones or critical masses for global competitive success.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog