Embrace Your Foreignness to Yield Unforeseen Competitive Advantages

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Expanding into international markets presents numerous challenges for companies, particularly due to their “foreignness.”

Many global companies tend to overcome those challenges by minimizing their foreignness and assimilating into the local environments. However, maintaining and embracing foreignness can yield unforeseen advantages. 

Whether capitalizing on outsider status to tap into local labor markets, establishing potent associations to build credibility, or forging strategic partnerships to foster mutual international growth, your foreignness can indeed become your competitive edge. By embracing a nuanced approach that acknowledges and leverages foreignness, companies can not only navigate but thrive in unfamiliar territories.

The complete article by Lele Sang at Harvard Business Review can be found here.

Getting Global Expansion Right

©2024 Apress.  All rights reserved.

When is the right time to go global?  It's hard to determine.  

But what's easy is to expand too quickly or into the wrong markets. Nearly every company begins life in a single market, and determining when and how to expand internationally is a challenge every successful company must eventually address.

According to Forbes, the key to global success is simple in theory and complex in execution—to go global, you have to be local. 

Here are three keys to getting this right.  

Oh, one more thing.  If you haven't read this book (pictured – and a book I [Laurel Delaney] authored), do it now, because it provides international expansion strategies and tips that help individuals go from thinking about going global to creating, running and maintaining a successful global business.

Number of SMEs Worldwide

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There were estimated to be approximately 358 million  small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide in 2023. The number of SMEs dropped slightly in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but increased since.

Other statistics on the topic:

• Biggest companies in the world by market value.
• Largest companies in the world based on revenues.
• Top companies in the world by revenue 2023.
• Number of Amazon employees 2007-2023.

Access all here.

How to Build a Successful Global Business Around Sustainable Fashion Principles (wegginar® 9/18/24)

©2024 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Here's what you can expect to learn from the upcoming wegginar®, 9/18/24, with presenter Alina Lundin, CEO and Founder of Miharo, on "How to Build a Successful Global Business Around Sustainable Fashion Principles:"

• Understanding Sustainable Fashion Principles
• Building a Sustainable Supply Chain
• Navigating Challenges in Ethical Manufacturing
• Marketing and Selling Sustainable Products Globally
• Impact of Sustainable Practices on Brand Reputation and Growth

About Alina

Alina Lundin serves as the CEO and founder of Miharo, a sustainable premium swimwear brand established in 2022. Holding a Commercial Business Diploma, she brings a wealth of strategic business acumen to the company. Her expertise in business organization and project management, coupled with her start-up experience, has been vital to her ventures.

Nui Swim, Alina’s first adventure as an entrepreneur, was created from her ambition to encourage individuals to celebrate their unique identities, offering products that quickly found a market niche.

Now, Alina’s proven insights, passion for fashion, and dedicated leadership are instrumental to the growth and success of Miharo.

Date:           Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Time:          11 AM CT

Location:   Virtual – you must register to attend:  

                       https://bit.ly/3AdsyRB  

Cost:           Free of charge (thanks to wegg's sponsors as noted on the graphic).

Register:     https://bit.ly/3AdsyRB

Today in Global Small Business: Ad Campaigns That Are More Inclusive Have a Positive Impact

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• A new academic research carried out for the advertising industry suggests that “Go woke, go broke," the snappy catchphrase devised by rightwing groups as a warning to brands, has got it all wrong.  New evidence that ad campaigns that are more inclusive have a positive impact on profits, sales and brand worth.
• Bed Bath & Beyond is pursuing global sales in key international markets, starting with a licensing agreement for stores in Mexico.
• Quote of the week: “Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your own family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine. Do as you would be done by. If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out…” – David Ogilvy
• The NFL is going global and that's a good thing (to some).
• Last week the Private Label Manufacturers Association met in Amsterdam, this week the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors meets in Vancouver and next week CIES, The Food Business Forum, convenes in Paris.  Global retailing is happening.
• The digital public infrastructure (DPI) of India is increasingly finding traction in other countries – truly global – and its reach is only going to increase.  

Paintings That You Struggle With

©2024 Laurel J, Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"You learn more from paintings that you really struggle with." – Dale Grimshaw 

The Field Guide to Going Global

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This latest edition of the Field Guide to Going Global from Baker McKenzie helps you examine foreign law issues for taking business models, products and technology international. Their guidance should be helpful whether you are working for a start-up company or a large multinational enterprise that is broaching new frontiers.

The guide addresses these questions:  Are you considering expanding into new jurisdictions? Are you aware which foreign laws and legal issues matter most? Have you prepared a detailed statement of facts, plans and questions for counsel?

What the World Thought of the U.S. Harris-Trump Debate 9/10/24

©iStock/Anamarija Mrkic

The first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was closely watched not only in the U.S. but around the world.

From Beijing to Budapest, here's how the debate went down, according to BBC foreign correspondents.

Is the U.S. a Good Example of Democracy?

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The most common view – held by 72% of Americans – is that democracy in the U.S. used to be a good example, but has not been in recent years. Another 8% of Americans say U.S. democracy has never been a good example for other countries to follow.

Do you agree or disagree?  Read the analysis, which indicate that Americans are much more likely than people in other countries to say U.S. democracy used to be a good example. A median of 40% of adults across 34 other countries surveyed in 2024 take this view.

Why Language Barriers Are Still Holding Back Global Business Growth

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Going global is increasingly on a CEO’s and a CMO’s to-do list. In the UK alone, 87% of those businesses who trade internationally are planning on expanding their overseas operations this year, with a further 10% aiming to step outside the UK for the first time.

That’s a lot of cross-market communication campaigns. But, despite emerging technologies helping business bridge borders more easily than ever before, they’re still being held back by language barriers – to the tune of almost £50bn per year in the UK.

In this age of instantaneous tech, a lack of language skills is still putting global business success on mute. How can marketers avoid getting lost in translation?

Find out here.

Today in Global Small Business: Eight Essential International Business Skills

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Eight essential international business skills.
• Master international growth with these winning strategies.
• Quote of the week:  “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
• US tightens export controls on quantum kit and chips for China, Iran and Russia.
• Embargoed and sanctioned countries.
• Why exporting should be a part of your business strategy.

Book of Hope

©2024 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Summer was about freedom and youth and no school and possibilities and adventure and exploration. Summer was a book of hope." – Benjamin Alire Sáenz