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Take this special report on America's economy entitled, "Export or Die," published by The Economist (3/31/10). It drives home the point that with demand dwindling or in some instances totally disappearing on a local level, American firms are looking abroad to grow their business.
A quick snippet from the report:
More American companies will have to look abroad. They are the least likely to export out of 15 big economies, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade group. Matthew Slaughter of Dartmouth College notes that only 4% of all American firms and 15% of American manufacturers do any exporting at all. And 80% of America’s total trade is conducted by just 1% of firms that export or import. This does not mean there is something wrong with American firms.Let me take you back in time (2004), when I wrote a manifesto for ChangeThis.com -- that has been read more than 16,000 times by folks interested in international trade -- called "Global Guru: Shaking Things Up. Making Things Happen." One of my key quotes within it was:
"In the future, there will be two kinds of enterprises: those that go global and those that die." ~ Laurel Delaney
And then we went on to be interviewed May, 2006 for a feature in Business Strategies Magazine called, "Go Global or Die: Propelling Your Business into the Global Marketplace." This was an exciting moment because that particular edition had a smiling Thomas Friedman on the front cover (the most happening guy on the planet at the time due to his book "The World is Flat"). We were honored to be in such good company!
Once again I pose this question to everyone: Think we're on to something when it comes to taking a business global?
Anyway, let's get back to what we started with, The Economist's fresh, new piece: "Export or Die." Have a look.
It seems that going global is no longer an option but a necessity in our new world of business. Think we're wrong?
We feel so impassioned about this that we are launching a new online gift accessory store which will educate and empower small businesses to expand internationally. Watch for more news shortly but if you want to take a peek (work in progress): The Global Small Business Depot.
Chart credits: ISI Group and Economist Intelligence Unit
Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog
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7 comments:
Not only is it a must for businesses to go global, it is also much easier. Emerging markets are quickly improving their "ease of doing business" and investing heavily in attracting international investment. The resources available to international entrepreneurs make "going global" much more achievable than just a few years ago.
Excellent post Laural. Thanks!
World markets are an opportunity to improve profits by increasing sales, market share, and growth.The global market is a valuable resource waiting to be utilized why not use it.
I'm enjoying reading your blog. Thanks for the insight!
I am so gratified to see that there is a blog dealing with the importance of global skills as it relates to small business. Of course, I'm not alone in feeling that there is no turning back -- a purely domestic economy will never exist again. I was recently asked by the University of San Diego to develop an executive certificate program called "Cross-Cultural Core Competence and Multinational Business Strategy." http://www.sandiego.edu/crosscultural. At first, I was skeptical. I reasoned that any company at the stage of globalization would be large enough to have this kind of training in-house. WRONG !! It ends up that the most soaring statistics of companies who most utilize this kind of training are actually SMEs (Small-Medium Business Enterprise). The registrations in this area exceed those of any large companies. I would be thrilled to see any of you in my course and just as happy to discuss any global challenges you may have in the initial stages of going "global" or exploring the benefits of other national economies. In the meantime, happy to have found your blog and hope to participate more regularly. I'm using my gmail account here, but my site is http://www.universalconsensus.com, if anyone is interested in looking at it. Also, my work email is denise@universalconsensus.com.
Thank you all for weighing in with your comments. It appears you are with me in the crusade to bust borders with a business.
I hope to hear more from you in the future!
Regards,
Laurel
I work in this industry. I first started advising SME's to consider new markets especially emerging economies back in 2008 when the UK economy was heading for a fall. People couldn't understand why I kept insisting they at least explore the potentials. I now actively help SME's to expand into these markets. By creating strategic alliances in the in the GCC And the assistance of local partners now have a successful business. Whilst i have concentrated heavily on the GCC especially Qatar; I am now looking to create alliances with key players in Malasia, LatAm, Singapore so that my clients have the best possible start a s chance of survival and hopefully a lucrative return. It's scary how little people know or understand about the state of Global Economy.
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