Ruby Bridges

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Four Misconceptions About Exporting

Yes, exporting is a little more challenging than conducting local business but it doesn't mean you shy away from it altogether.  Quite the contrary.  You just need to learn the ropes!  That's why you're here.

Here are four misconceptions about exporting.  See if you fall into these traps (or what I call excuses for not exporting).

Four Common Misconceptions About Exporting

Be sure to check out because there is a whole lot more featured than just misconceptions!

Illustration credit:  SUSTA (Southern United States Trade Association)

SUSTA is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), its member states and private companies. FAS administers and executes many foreign market development activities.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Does the Breakdown of Talks Signal That A Debt Deal May Be Near?

This is just a hunch, but a deal on the debt ceiling may be approaching precisely because the Republicans have broken off talks with the White House. Ever the optimist, I want to view this as last-minute posturing; the parties are testing one another's resolve. A game theorist might describe it as a game of chicken in which neither "driver" - Boehner or Obama - has yet swerved, so that their cars remain on a collision course. One, probably both, are still likely to swerve before it's too late. As California Republican Dan Lungren, a nine-term representative in Congress observes (here), "I've been here long enough to see us go to the brink many times, and normally we find some way to avoid going over the top."

Each party has an incentive to hold-out for marginal last minute concessions by the other, even if the bulk of the deal is already agreed (which may or may not be the case). With last minute concessions in hand, members of each party could return to their constituents claiming some sort of political victory (or, at least, non-defeat).

On the other hand, I could be completely wrong, and we could be locked in a state of abnormal politics in which ideological purity trumps incremental change.

Winners in This Year's Tour de France

Official Winners

Cadel Evans - yellow jersey (GC)

Mark Cavendish - green jersey (Points)

Sammy Sanchez - polka dot jersey (King of the Mountains)

Pierre Rolland - white jersey (Best young rider)

Garmin-Cervelo - team classification

Unofficial Winners

Thomas Voeckler for tenaciousness

Johnny Hoogerland for unbelievable toughness

The country of Norway for four stage wins from two riders in the race

George Hincapie for tying the record for most TdFs ridden (16) and for being on the GC winning team for the ninth time

Jeremy Roy, Mikael Delage and the FDJ team for attacking virtually every single day

Race doctors for heroic work in patching up 90% of the peloton during the first two weeks

American-based cycling teams (BMC, Garmin-Cervelo, and HTC-Highroad) for dominating the race

Anti-drug agencies (apparently) (see here)

Australia for its first ever GC winner in the TdF

The UK for its first ever winner in the TdF's points classification 

All of us who got to watch one of the most interesting and competitive TdFs in many years 

Any other nominations?

CASEnergy Coalition Reaching Out To Minorities: Interesting

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By Norris McDonald

AAEA's Criticism Finally Convinces the CASEnergy Coalition To Reach Out To Minorities

Imagine my surprise when I was reading through The Washington Informer newspaper and ran up on an ad from the CASEnergy Coalition.  It was a very pleasant ad promoting nuclear power and featured a picture of Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, who is chair of the CASEnergy Coalition Business, Labor & Minority Steering Committee and V.P., Corporate Public Affairs, Progress Energy Service Company.  To put it mildly, I was shocked because AAEA decided to withdraw from this coalition in 2006 right after it was created due to the hostility shown to us.  It was the first and only time we have withdrawn from a coalition.

We are delighted that this coalition has decided to reach out to the minority community.  However, this community should BE AWARE of the treatment afforded AAEA when the prospect of a 'Nuclear Renaissance' was budding, and we were basically kicked off of the renaissance bus.  Does this newfound interest have anything to do with the changed landscape since AAEA first publicly complained about the CASEnergy Coalition hostility towards us in 2007? Hmmm.  Let me see: Black president, black EPA administrator and black Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner (Bill Magwood). Add to that the power of the internet (our blog complaint is and has been first page when you Google CASEnergy Coalition) and maybe it makes sense now for them to start reaching out to minorities.  Fate does seem to have a sense of humor.

FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI CHANGED THE PLAYING FIELD AND ANTIS ARE ORGANIZING

AAEA was the first environmental group to support nuclear power.  I was the first environmentalist in the United States to support nuclear power.  We did not just support the technology in theory, we went out and actively spoke before groups and testified before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), among numerous other activities.  You would never know this if you only relied on the CASEnergy Coalition because they completely ignore our contributions to the movement to support nuclear power.  In fact, CASE co-chair Patrick Moore has gone out of his way to exclude AAEA and Norris McDonald from mention in any venue, publication or public appearance.  AAEA had to call out another environmentalist (Stewart Brand) for doing the same thing.  It appears that as soon as mainstream environmentalists began to come out in support for nuclear power, they proceeded to exclude AAEA from mention.  This burns because AAEA has a long history of 'calling out' the environmental movement for its segregationist and elitist history.

Now CASEnergy Coalition can do whatever it wants to do.  No problem there.  However AAEA was created in part to increase participation in the energy sector and in the environmental movement.  And we are concerned that now that the nuclear industry is struggling, they are all of a sudden reaching out to the minority community.  A nuclear power plant license costs $100 million and a nuclear plant is projected to cost $10 billion.  The CASEnergy Coalition was seeded with $8 million and Hill and Knowlton as their PR firm.  Billions of dollars are at stake and we do not want minorities to be engaged with peanuts.  AAEA has been calling for ownership stakes in nuclear power plants. 

We were called 'crazy' by just about every other environmentalist and others in 2001 for our support for nuclear power.  We were even kicked out of one environmentalist gathering due to this support. How ironic that at the same time we were being vilified by environmentalists for supporting nuclear power, we were being excluded from the feast and credit by the nuclear industry.  Sigh.  No blue jobs created via our nuclear power support. Let us hope blue jobs are created at other minority entities.

So we praise the outreach by the CASEnergy Coalition.  Yet, we note that Blacks do not own any energy resources and infrastructure in the United States.  The environmental movement is as segregated as ever.  And the United States has a history of excluding appropriate credit for Black achievement.  AAEA's achievements being ignored by CASEnergy Coalition is just one more example of this awful history.  So we hope that they engage the minority community on a substantive level, but those participants should also BE AWARE. {Note: Substantive does not mean plane tickets, hotel rooms, meetings, dinner party contracts and photo ops}

Evans Blows Away the Schlecks

Cadel Evans is one of the world's best time-trialists. The Schleck brothers - not so much. It wasn't that they Schlecks rode badly - both finished in the top 20 to at least preserve the lower two steps on the podium in Paris tomorrow. But Evans rode like a man possessed. He started fast and stayed fast for the entire course, and came in second on the stage behind Tony Martin.

Evans will be Australia's first-ever GC winner, and he heartily deserves his yellow jersey. Often accused of riding too defensively in the past, this year he rode with finely controlled aggression and with the support of the strongest team he's ever had.  

Ultimately, the GC contest of  Tour de France tests all riding skills. The winner has to be able to climb well, descend well enough, TT with the best, and be careful and lucky enough to avoid the early-stage crashes. This year, the difference between Evans and the Schlecks really boiled down to the TT and, to a lesser extent, the descents. Unlike Contador and several of the other contenders, the three podium finalists avoided all the crashes. Some of that is luck, of course, but it's also an indication of good team management, placement in the peloton, and team work.

Two other contests were settled in today's TT. Yesterday's winner on the Alpe d'Huez, Pierre Rolland, confirmed for the white jersey (for best young rider), and Garmin-Cervelo wrapped up the team contest. At the end of yesterday's stage, Sammy Sanchez secured the polka-dot jersey for the best climber. All that remains for tomorrow's final is to see who wins the points contest for the green jersey. Mark Cavendish currently holds a fairly slim 15 point advantage over Jose Joaquin Rojas. Those two, and their teams, will duke it out on the Champs Elysee. HTC-High Road's well-tuned lead out train must give Cavendish the advantage, though Rojas will undoubtably be right on his wheel, hoping for any kind of miscue. If Cavendish wins, he will be the first citizen of the UK to win the green jersey.

Tips to Make a Website Global

With an effective international website, you can sell to the world.  Here's how.

Mind Your Language

Related article:  10 Ways To Transform Your Web Site Into a Dynamic Two-Way Communication Tool

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog