Resolutions To Do Business Globally in 2008

iStock/Thinkstock

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that these resolutions I wrote about for Small Business Trends inspires you to take your business global in 2008!

Back with you in the new year. Enjoy.

World Greetings

iStock/Thinkstock

One of the real joys of the holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you to all our readers and wish you the very best for the new year.

Our toast to you is this: Here's to taking your business global in 2008!

Global Small Business is BIG Business

iStock/Thinkstock

Very powerful video.

A hat tip to the Women Presidents' Organization for turning us on to this clip.

A stat not mentioned in the video clip is that global small businesses play a HUGE role in global trade. They typically generate 29 percent of the U.S. export sales in a given year, and in 2005, they accounted for nearly $300 billion of the $906 billion generated by all U.S. exporters.

Here's our mantra for next year ... Get it straight in '08: Go Global!

Gambling Market Is Part Global

iStock/Thinkstock

The United States has reached a deal with the European Union, Japan and Canada to keep its Internet gambling market closed to foreign companies, but is continuing talks with India, Antigua and Barbuda, Macau and Costa Rica, U.S. trade officials said on Monday.

Read more here.

Web Design and Marketing Solutions

iStock/Thinkstock

At GlobeTrade, we make going global easy. In his new book, "Web Design and Marketing Solutions For Websites," Kevin Potts makes web design and marketing solutions simple. I wish we would have had this book on hand when we redesigned GlobeTrade!

Note: Globalization is covered briefly on Page 22.

Interesting Column By Thomas Friedman

iStock/Thinkstock

A fascinating post by one of my favorite minds: Thomas Friedman. It's a little off course to our work here but once in a while you just to have go with it -- provided it's that good. And it is.

Demand for U.S. Products Abroad Outpaces Supply

iStock/Thinkstock

Despite demand for American-made products abroad, small-business owners’ reluctance to export often means that their products do not find their way into global markets, trade experts told GlobalAtlanta.

Find out what the danger is in not going global here.

Keeping You at the Forefront of Global Small Business

iStock/Thinkstock

What's really holding you back from going global in 2008? Probably a lot of things but most of all I suspect it's knowledge.

But if knowledge is power, why not harness it by reading these very insightful reports that shed light on international issues affecting businesses around the world?

I read them once, twice and even gave a talk about the amazing results in Atlanta on November 13th.

So don't let the length of the reports intimidate you. It's worth it to explore. Dig deep. After all, 95 percent of the world population resides outside the United States. Are you tapping into it to grow your business?

Read more here. Spread the word.

How To Dress Globally

iStock/Thinkstock

Yellow in China is a don't and so is leather in India. Want to know more? Read Where Yellow's a Faux Pas and White is Death.

12 Days of Christmas in a Web 2.0 World

iStock/Thinkstock

On the first day of Christmas,
my cool colleague sent to me
A tip to expand my business globally

On the second day of Christmas,
my cool colleague sent to me
Two social networks,
And a tip to expand my business globally!

On the third day of Christmas,
my cool colleague sent to me
Three Del.icio.us bookmarks,
Two social networks,
And a tip to expand my business globally!

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my cool colleague sent to me
Four YouTube videos,
Three Del.icio.us bookmarks,
Two social networks,
And a tip to expand my business globally!

On the fifth day of Christmas,
my cool colleague sent to me
Five Second Lives, ...

Read more here.

Networking Is Going Global

iStock/Thinkstock

Whether you live in Kansas or Kuala Lumpur, networking is going global and many Chamber organizations in the United States are encouraging it. Why?

Sharing ideas on a regular basis helps support economic development, job creation and the marketing efforts of area cities.

But for many chamber organizations in Greater Kansas City, networking is going global.

The potential for tapping into huge overseas markets, including India and China, is becoming increasingly important for chamber members, particularly ones with expertise in the biosciences and information technology.

Read more.

Small Businesses Going Global

iStock/Thinkstock

Question: Why does the U.S. Small Business Administration, an independent domestic agency of the federal government, have an international trade mission?

Answer: Because doing business internationally is where future growth lies for many small businesses!

Read more here and be sure to get yourself a complimentary online copy of Breaking Into the Trade Game: A Small Business Guide to Exporting.

Separately, but related, be sure to check out our new Globe Tour (right side panel) on our blog!

Hoping to Grow Global in 2008?

iStock/Thinkstock

Better start planning now.

Best Countries for Global Business

iStock/Thinkstock

The World Economic Forum (WEF) each year handicaps the economic-development race. The Global Competitiveness Report tallies 113 factors that contribute to an economy's competitiveness -- a buzzword that roughly boils down to how well a country is positioned to squeeze efficiency out of its businesses and attract companies and investment from abroad.

Components of the resulting Global Competitiveness Index range from the quality of a nation's roads to the independence of its judiciary to the incidence of tuberculosis to how easy it is to hire an engineer. Parts of the index are culled from official data; many others are drawn from a survey of 11,000 international business executives. This year TIME partners with the WEF to bring you in-depth data on 37 key countries at time.com/globalbusiness.

Note, this is different from what we reported October 10, 2007 on the World Bank's Doing Business 2008.

The ABCs of Foreign Trade Zones

iStock/Thinkstock

Manufacturers familiar with foreign-trade zones know the obvious benefits, namely no duties on goods exported from the foreign-trade zone (FTZ) and the deferral of duties until goods are moved outside the FTZ. But, according to Greg Jones, corporate secretary and senior consultant with Foreign-Trade Zone Corp., there are other key points to consider.

Read more here.

Doing Business in China

iStock/Thinkstock

An easy and fun place to start on how to do business in China.

Doing Business in China for Dummies

Global Ideas Come In All Shapes and Sizes

iStock/Thinkstock

I had the great privilege and honor to participate in the world famous UPS Out-of-the-Box Small Business Contest and conference in Atlanta earlier this week. What an exciting time!

Congratulations to all the award winners! View their inspiring growth stories here.

And we will be posting highlights of the event over the next couple of weeks. Watch for YouTube videos, UPS Business Monitor Reports and more.

Grow or Die

iStock/Thinkstock

Interesting. The New York Times here talks about if you Google the expression "Grow or die" you get more than 11 million hits. Then they go on to suggest ideas to keep your company thriving.

How about if you Google "Go global or die?" See what comes up. I think they missed a HUGE opportunity in their story.

What do you think?

The New Year of the Tiger

iStock/Thinkstock

With a population of 1.3 billion whose per capita income is expected to double over the next 10 years, and a consumer market that is expected to grow to $14 trillion by the year 2025, it's no wonder foreign companies are investing billions to reach today's Chinese consumer. Research reveals a growing demographic of generally younger, affluent, urban Chinese consumers who are willing to consider foreign brands.

Think you can translate your brand for the savvy Chinese shopper?

Find out more here.

What's Ahead in Our Brave New Cyberworld

iStock/Thinkstock

Here's a post I did for the Small Business Trends blog which focuses on social media tools, globalization and what's ahead in our brave new cyberworld.

... My interest has always been to track trends before they affect us. I like to be way out in front, and that’s why I follow closely anything that has to do with global small business trends.

Let me know what you think. Direct link here.

We Make Going Global Easy

Welcome to the new GlobeTrade ... a leading management consulting and marketing solutions company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses go global. Our mission is simple: to make going global easy by giving you the tools, resources, and knowledge you need.

We hope you like our new look.

Benefits to Globalization

iStock/Thinkstock

In his weblog for May 7, 2007, Dani Rodrik takes us to task for exaggerating the benefits of globalization in raising US household income and GDP. Professor Rodrik long ago established his reputation as a globalization skeptic; today he is the favorite Harvard economist among the backlash crowd. Eight years ago, Francisco Rodriguez and Rodrik (1999) notched their academic guns against Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner (1995), expressing a skeptical view of the benefits of liberal trade policy to developing countries. As targets of Rodrik's latest outburst of skepticism, we share good company.

To debunk globalization proponents, Rodrik uses ...

read more here.

P.S. Dani has a great sense of humor. The picture of him on his blog states, "This is what the WSJ thinks I look like." When you visit his blog, you'll see the real Dani.

Podcast: Solutions For Your Small Business

iStock/Thinkstock

Listen (or read all about) a new -- thanks to UPS -- customs clearance and international returns solutions for small businesses.

Here's a clip from the beginning of it:

Gardner: Let’s start with Laurel. Help us understand some of the issues facing small businesses, those seeking to expand their addressable markets and how they can start doing more business overseas.

Delaney: Actually, there are two forces at work right now for small businesses. One has to do with the issue of globalization. I think we all know the buzz that’s going on about going global that has been driven largely by Thomas Friedman with his book, "The World is Flat." He’s caused mainstream America and all small businesses to step up to the plate and consider the world as your market. The second force is technology, and technology is making it easier now to go global.

Visit here if you want to listen to the podcast or read the transcript. Go here if you want to simplify international trade.

Separately but related, we are about to unveil our redesign on GlobeTrade.com. Watch for it shortly! We hope you like it.

Five Practical Strategies for Building a Chinese Workforce

iStock/Thinkstock

Wanted: Talented people in China.

There is a severe shortage of senior managers in China.

Read more here.

Why Global Brands Work

iStock/Thinkstock

Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing KnowHow, for Harvard Business Online. Join in on the debate on whether Ford will make a comeback on their global brand. The post is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge here.

(Global) Marketing Moves to a Digitally Focused Business System

iStock/Thinkstock

Marketers and their agencies must change as the convergence of media and technology, combined with the fragmentation and personalization of media, changes the connection between marketers and end users.

As the media environment becomes increasingly complex and rooted in the digital space, the existing marketing agenda and capabilities need to be re-tooled and marketing organizations, agencies and media companies are having to change at an unprecedented pace. A new cross industry study details how marketers and their agencies must change as the convergence of media and technology, combined with the fragmentation and personalization of media, changes the connection between marketers and end users.

Download the 15-page study produced by ANA (Association of National Advertisers), IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies), and management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton here.

And we first wrote about this new media revolution here with a story about Mel.

Then McKinsey & Company conducted serious analysis of the phenomena here.

It's about using social networking and social media to build a global presence or what the more traditional folks call global marketing.

Detroit at the 2007 Regional Chamber Small Business Conference Report

iStock/Thinkstock

The 2007 Detroit Regional Chamber Small Business Conference was a huge success. What impressed me the most was the number of small business owners in attendance and how driven, enthusiastic and passionate they are about using Web 2.0 media to build a global presence. More information on the Detroit conference, including many of the speaker's PowerPoint slides, can be viewed here.

After my talk, I had folks from UPS, Google and Crain's Detroit Business come up to me to discuss additional opportunities. Eager to keep moving in this new global media direction. Everyone should.

Are You Missing Out On Global Trade?

iStock/Thinkstock

Most of America's small- and mid-sized businesses have failed to explore the significant growth opportunities offered by an increasingly global economy. Indeed, a new survey conducted for UPS shows 67 percent of the nation's small-to-mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still chaining themselves to the U.S. economy.

Is that you? If it is, I encourage you to read this press release and get ready to dive into the UPS Business Monitor United States 2007 Report when it is released November 1st. I will post more about it then.

World Bank's Doing Business 2008

iStock/Thinkstock

The World Bank's annual "Doing Business 2008" has just been released. It provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 178 countries. The team works closely with thousands of professionals around the world.

Highlights from Doing Business 2008: As countries reform their business regulation, more businesses are starting up. Eastern Europe has witnessed a boom in new business entry that rivals the rapid growth in East Asia in the past. Large emerging markets such as India, China, Egypt, Turkey, and Indonesia, are reforming fast and investors are taking notice. This year Egypt is the top reforming country worldwide, while Singapore is #1 on the ease of doing business for the second consecutive year.

Download report here.

P.S. Separately, just returned moments ago from the 2007 Detroit Regional Chamber Small Business Conference (where at the VIP breakfast, I sat next to Joe Dumars, famed Detroit Pistons player, businessman and current president of the Detroit Pistons' Basketball Operations (I did not even know this!) and will report on all of it soon! Amazing conference.

Greetings from Asha in India

iStock/Thinkstock

Dear Laurel,

We at Kashmir Handicrafts (websites www.Kashand.com and www.Kashand.org) wish to thank you for your nice and informative Blog which we regularly visit and read. We are India based manufacturers and exporters of handicrafts and intricate Pietra dura tabletops, medallions and Taj Mahal replicas are our specialty. The issues confronting exporters are, in many cases, identical whether one is based in the US or in India. Many things on your Blog are noteworthy and make us learn a lot.

All of us thank you for your initiative and look forward to your continued writings. If at any time you or your friends require any items that we make, we would be glad to offer you our best attention and prices.

Thanks and regards,
Asha

Who Moved My Client Base?

Hemera/Thinkstock

I wrote this story, "Who Moved My Client Base?" special for Small Business Trends.

It's about a business owner named Mel who is faced with a slowing small business. He uses social media to turn things around and grow his business by tapping into a global client base.

Hope you like it and if you do, please comment and then pass the story along to someone you know who might benefit.

Cultural Collaboration At Its Best

iStock/Thinkstock

Recently, 40-plus IBMers from 11 different nationalities got together. Official assignment: To identify the key attributes that make IBM global delivery special. Unwritten agenda: To meet each other and create a “cultural connect.”

Guess where it all took place? Second Life.

Read more about it here.

Innovators Using Technology To Make The World a Better Place

iStock/Thinkstock

Read all about the tech award laureates here.

2007 Laureates

Intel Environment Award Laureates

* Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron (EZVI) Team FL, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
* Fundacion Terram Chile, Santiago, Chile
* Joe David Jones, Skyonic Corporation TX, Austin, Texas USA
* Marc Andre Ledoux, Consortium SudEco Industrie Montreal, Canada
* Solar Sailor Chatswood, Australia

Accenture Economic Development Award Laureates

* Anil Chitrakar, Babu Raja Shrestha, and Prachet Kumar Shrestha, Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness Kathmandu, Nepal
* Association la Voute Nubienne Ganges, France
* blueEnergy San Francisco, California, United States
* Kamal Quadir, CellBazaar Dhaka, Bangladesh
* Kiva.org San Francisco, California, United States

Microsoft Education Award Laureates

* Canal Futura Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
* Elluminate, Inc., Fire and Ice / Elluminate Live! Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, United States
* Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, OER Commons Half Moon Bay, California, United States
* Robert Shelton, Terry Hodgson, and Stephanie Smith, Math Description Engine Software Development Toolkit and MathTrax application (MDE-SDK MathTrax) Texas, United States
* TakingITGlobal Ontario, Toronto, Canada

Katherine M. Swanson Equality Award Laureates

* Counterpart International Washington, DC, USA
* Devendra Raj Mehta, Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti Jaipur, India
* Grameen Shakti, Empowerment Through Renewable Energy Technologies Dhaka, Bangladesh
* Innocence Project New York, U.S
* Tropical Forest Trust, Indigenous Peoples Voices Programme Craissier, Switzerland

Health Award Laureates

* Diagnostics Development Unit, University of Cambridge & Diagnostics for the Real World Ltd. Cambridge, U.K.
* Donald O'Neal, HELPS International Farmersville, TX U.S.
* P&G's Children's Safe Drinking Water Program Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
* PATH, Vaccine Vial Monitor Seattle, WA U.S.
* Vaxin Inc., Rapid-Response Bird Flu Vaccine Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.

Why the Dollar Is a 98-lb. Weakling

iStock/Thinkstock

Spend some time in the hotels, restaurants and even newsstands of Western Europe these days, and as an American you understand pretty quickly that you're poorer than you once were. To be precise, you're 40% poorer--to go by the dollar-euro exchange rate--than you were six years ago.

Read more here.

Importing Food to U.S. Retail Outlets

Image Source/Thinkstock

Q: We are interested in importing food to U.S. retail outlets. We have been trying to find specific sources to tell us what requirements are needed in order to do so. Can you point us in the right direction? ~ M.Y., Memphis, Tenn.

Read the answer offered by Kelly Spors of The Wall Street Journal here.

Make Your Global Supply Chain Lean and Mean

iStock/Thinkstock

Put it on autopilot.

What Do Twitter, Second Life and Webinars All Have In Common?

iStock/Thinkstock

Find out at this upcoming event! If you are in Chicago, feel free to sign up for this gig I am doing on October 2nd in Oakbrook, Illinois on how to leverage technology to innovate and go global!

I will be covering ways to use Web 2.0 (new media beyond YouTube, MySpace and Facebook) to grow your global presence.

More info and to register (if there is still room) here. Hope to see you there!

Photo credit: Veryweb.it via Mathew Ingram.

Global Economy Is No Longer U.S.-Centric

iStock/Thinkstock

Is the U.S. housing blowout going to hurt the rest of the world? Certainly, a major slowdown in the planet's biggest economy would cause some countries pain.

But much of the globe will likely shrug off the worst effects of any American slump. "The global economy is no longer U.S.-centric," says Ed Yardeni, an economist who heads Yardeni Research in New York. "We may find that the global economic boom continues, notwithstanding the slowdown in the U.S."

The old theory is that when America sneezes the rest of the world gets sick (hence, the photo of an American girl sneezing) but it may not apply these days.

More here.

Helping the Global Economy Stay in Shape

iStock/Thinkstock

It's about focusing on what's critical and allowing stakeholders to monitor progress. Complex stuff but worth a read.

The Queen of Good and Global Is Gone

iStock/Thinkstock

Long before going green was an international pastime, when the only corporate responsibility was to the bottom line, a small store opened in Brighton, England, selling homemade moisturizers and hair-care products packaged in plastic urine-sample jars. The cosmetics were all-natural, the containers were reusable and the ethos — creating products that were as good for the earth as they were for your skin — was still considered radical, the kind of thing only hippies cared about. But when Anita Roddick opened The Body Shop in 1976 ...

Anita Roddick died September 10th at age 64. She was an inspiration to us all and will be missed.

U.S. Exports Grew At Fastest Pace in Three Years

iStock/Thinkstock

The value of U.S. exports of goods and services to the rest of the world increased 2.7% in July, the fastest seasonally adjusted growth in more than three years, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

What are you waiting for? Have you gone global yet?

Read more here and refer to our former post here.

While You Globetrot, Stay Connected

Fuse/Thinkstock

Travel Web site TravelPost.com offers Wi-Fi information for about 219 U.S. and 80 international airports, including what kind of service is offered and how much it costs. Look under the "Travel Resources" section of the home page or visit here.

Ways To Find Hidden Markets

iStock/Thinkstock

Here are thirteen (13) ways to find hidden markets.

Some U.S. Exports Are Facilitated by Fraudulent Credit Card Transactions

iStock/Thinkstock

I am working on a project and just stumbled upon this information. Good advice and it doesn't just apply to Singapore. It could be any place on the planet.

Bottom line: If you receive a credit card order from anywhere in the world, check its legitimacy before you ship.

Abridged Borderbuster: 9/5/07

iStock/Thinkstock

CONTENTS

If you are not a subscriber to Borderbuster, here's a glimpse of what you missed this month:

1. Welcome From The Publisher
2. Update to our Readers
3. U.S. Companies Seek Greener Pastures In … *
4. Business and Cultural Tips: Have Some Fun!*
5. The Wealth of Nations*
6. How I Went Global: Ongoing Series // Bo Burlingham*
7. A Reader Asks: Q&A
8. Everybody Loves a Freebie -- repeat: FREE OFFER*
9. Sun Hits the BRICs*
10. The Big Problem With Big Fish*
11. Fast Talk: UPS’s Setup Man*
12. Blog World: Background Checks Go Global*
13. Laurel’s e-Book: “GODZILLA Global Marketing!”
14. Take A Walk On The Wild Side (TAWOTWS)
15. Wind Behind Your Sail*
16. Miscellany*

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

*Indicates exclusive to Borderbuster subscribers only.

Sample section:

9. SUN HITS THE BRICS
*Subscriber Exclusive*

If you have any doubt about the growing importance of BRIC -- the common acronym for the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China -- consider this: Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz admitted today that it was Brazil that forced Sun to open source Java.

You never know where your next big idea comes from.

Read more here at InternetNews.com.

###

To subscribe to Borderbuster, visit:
Sign Up For Borderbuster!

Are You Growing a Green Global Business?

iStock/Thinkstock

Whatever you are building, I hope you are making a conscious choice to implement green initiatives. Even your international travel should include an environmentally friendly outreach effort.

Think it's hard? Don't fool yourself. It's not. Read more here.

Borderbuster

iStock/Thinkstock

If you are a subscriber to our monthly e-zine Borderbuster, you already know about the following tips based on an article that was written in the 8/6/07 edition, "No. 6: Outsourcing: Small Businesses, Big Gains," by guest author Manoj Vohra, who heads up the research services practice of Businessworld Intelligence -- the research and research-led corporate initiatives arm of Businessworld, India's most widely read and circulated business weekly.

If you are interested in reading the full article, we encourage you to subscribe to Borderbuster and we will be happy to send it to you. That's one of the many perks to being a subscriber: receiving cutting edge info on global small business before anyone else on the planet.

In the meantime, here are four (out of a bunch) best-kept outsourcing programming secrets for small businesses that are mentioned in Manoj's article:

1. Elance
2. RentACoder
3. ScriptLance
4. GetAFreelancer

Interestingly enough, when I gave a presentation on how to use Web 2.0 to go global a couple of weeks ago in North Carolina at the 2nd Annual Small Business Conference in North Carolina, one of the attendees, a native of India running a business in North America, later sent me the following email:

I really enjoyed your presentation today. Though, I am actively working on web 2.0 technology, I learned about a few additional good sites from your presentation. In fact, ScriptLance (Laurel here ... I had known about ScriptLance prior to Manoj's submission) is going to be a very good site for me to expand my business. I wanted to thank you for sharing the information. If you are in town, I would love to meet with you.

Looks like we are on to something. Better check it out. Don't forget about the rest of the article -- sign up is here.

A.T. Kearney's Index of the 50 Most Attractive Offshoring Locations, 2007

iStock/Thinkstock

Let's talk about the obvious results first. India emerges on top by a wide margin with China and Malaysia (yes, you read that right) holding second and third place positions but take a look at some of the other locations that made the grade or reinforced their positions. United States came in 21st and Ireland came in last. The index is measured against financial attractiveness, people and skills availability and business environment. Before you move on to the report, here's a little more:

Findings in the 2007 A.T. Kearney Global Services Location IndexTM reveal that the relative cost advantage of the leading offshore destinations has declined almost universally. Nearly every country in the Index, even those that fell in the rankings, improved their absolute scores, thus confirming that competition among low-cost countries is intensifying. Increasingly, simply maintaining current performance levels is no longer sufficient for countries that want to attract (and retain) the fast-growing remote services business. In addition, this year’s findings suggest that while the wage advantage of offshore locations will continue for 20 or more years, this advantage will diminish as demand for skilled workers increases in offshore locations around the globe.

Now in its fourth year, the Global Services Location Index, or GSLI, analyzes and ranks the top 50 locations worldwide that provide the most common remote functions, including IT services and support, contact centers and back-office support.

Download the 20-page complimentary report, "Offshoring For Long-Term Advantage," here.

China Business Success Stories

iStock/Thinkstock

A colleague of mine at Global Sources, a company that connects global buyers with global suppliers, alerted me to this China resource many months ago and I am just now getting a chance to review and share: China Business Success Stories. Not bad. And if you want to share your story, just email info@chinasuccessstories.com

Beauty, Prestige and Worry Lines

TongRo Images/Thinkstock

The WSJ featured a story with the above title on Monday, August 20th, and it was on Estee Lauder CEO facing trying times at the family company. The article is only available to online subscribers so I'm going to type out the parts (excerpts) that I thought were extremely relevant to our interests here on going global. See if you capture, as I did, the little glimmers of great advice. Here goes.

WSJ: What retail alternatives are particularly attractive for your brands right now?

Mr. Lauder: We look for consumers who spend at the higher end of the product range.

There's a generic frustration that I have when I talk to the financial community. The vast majority of analysts we talk to are American, the vast majority of them don't travel much outside of the U.S., and if they do, I imagine that most of that travel isn't to figure out how our brands and other brands are sold and market in Europe or Asia. They seem singularly obsessed with North America and the success of the Clinique and Estee Lauder brands there. They miss the extraordinary growth and expansion that we're seeing from our brands outside of this market. More than half of our sales and a significant portion of our total growth will come from outside of North America.

WSJ: How do you translate your brands in foreign markets?

There are many things we have to do to make our message for each brand more relevant locally. For example, the Asian consumer is very heavily oriented to the skin-treatment business -- she trusts brands that are really solid in those areas. And she doesn't like fragrance. It's a very small portion of the total business. In Europe, in the parfumerie channel, it's predominantly a fragrance-driven business, more than 50% of the business, and the remainder is skin care and color. In the U.S., it's a little more balanced between fragrance, treatment and makeup. So our message in each of these markets has to be different and relevant.

WSJ: What about emerging markets?

Mr. Lauder: We see emerging markets as a tremendous opportunity. Beauty is one of the first entry points for that emerging middle-class consumer in these markets, and she's buying. The Estee Lauder brand in China is exploding right now because it represents aspirational luxury but at a price that's much more affordable than Louis Vuitton. We see the same thing going on in Russia. India is a little behind because there's a certain lack of established retail there. Also doing well for us is the Middle East, Latin America, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa.

5 Tips from William Lauder on Seeking New Territory for your Business

1. While expanding globally, adapt to local tastes.
2. Make sure new markets still serve your core consumer and brand identity.
3. Stay open to new and emerging channels.
4. Sometimes the biggest retailers don't represent the biggest opportunities.
5. Don't think like a U.S. business with international operations, take the mindset of a truly global company.

Your Last Chance in 2007 to Be The World's Best Small Business!

iStock/Thinkstock

Just a few days left (10 to be exact) to enter the UPS Best "Out-of-the-Box" Small Business Contest. What's in it for you? How about U.S. $25,000!

The international contest will honor the most innovative small businesses and is designed for companies with annual 2006 revenues of at least $250,000 but not more than $10 million. Eligible businesses in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, the Philippines and Singapore are asked to submit a 500-word essay explaining why they’re original and how they’ve been successful.

For more information and to enter the contest, visit here. Or, go back to our original post on May 8th.

Hope to see you there!