Small Businesses Going Global

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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?

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Better start planning now.

Best Countries for Global Business

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.