Easter Spells Out Beauty

Photo courtesy:  ©2013 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.  "Rockefeller Memorial Chapel (University of Chicago)"

"Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life."~ S.D. Gordon

New Powers of the Developing World. It's Called the South.

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A new report, "The 2013 Human Development Report," examines the profound shift in global dynamics driven by the fast-rising new powers of the developing world and its long-term implications for human development.

But the "Rise of the South" analyzed in the Report is a much larger phenomenon: Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia and many other developing nations are also becoming leading actors on the world stage.

Find out how the report identifies more than 40 countries in the developing world that have done better than had been expected in human development terms in recent decades.

Read:  The 2013 Human Development Report - "The Rise of the South:  Human Progress in a Diverse World"

Easy access - Download parts of the 2013 report (Media)

Amazon: Zero Sales to $21 Billion in 18 Years

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I was conducting a little research on Amazon for a book I am working on about exporting (due out February 2014 by Apress) and discovered Amazon opened on the Web in 1995 as the world's largest bookstore. Today they are "the Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.”

Amazon went from zero to more than $21 billion in sales in eighteen years. It goes without saying that anybody can win on the Internet.  You just need a brilliant idea and execution skills!

Check out Amazon.com's international sites here.

A Website and the Use of Social Media Is Central to Going Global

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As a runner up in the Internet and ICT Award at the Tyneside and Northumberland North East Business Awards, the the UK-based All-in-One Company in just over four years has customers from more than 150 countries across the globe who purchase their onesies.

“In many ways we are a strange mix. Many people get to know us through social media and the website, of course, is absolutely central to what we do," says Director Kate Dawson.

Read the entire article:  Local firm is rewarded for going global

The Walgreens of Europe: Alliance Boots

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Walgreens has a new partnership with pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen and European drugstore Alliance Boots.  Alliance Boots is considered the Walgreens of Europe.

Walgreens may have had dreams of going global but through this new partnership it looks as if those dreams will become a reality sooner rather than later.

The real story is the AmerisourceBergen and Alliance Boots partnership. The partnership will help reduce some of Walgreen's operational costs, as AmerisourceBergen will begin distributing a number of generic pharmaceuticals that Walgreen traditionally self-distributed. AmerisourceBergen's superior supply chain will allow for greater efficiencies and daily deliveries.

Read the entire article:  Walgreen Dreams of Going Global

Legitimate Inquiry. Fake Company?

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Many of us receive what looks like legitimate business inquiries from all over the world on a daily basis but how do you determine if they are each on the up-and-up?

This will help.  Read:  How to Determine If a Foreign Company is Legit

Peaceful and Happy: Everyone Profits

Photo courtesy:  ©2013 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it.  This is the most basic kind of peace work." ~ Nhat Hanh

Have a peaceful and relaxing weekend!

Want to Take Your Business Global Fast? Add Stars to Your Advisory Board!

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Producer Basis Science Inc. is coming out with a health-information device that doubles as a wristwatch.  They refer to the device as a wrist-based health tracker and recently added health guru Deepak Chopra and innovation evangelist Esther Dyson as advisers.

Users wear the water-resistant Basis 'smartwatch' while it monitors things like activity, heart rate, sleep patterns and perspiration.

The San Francisco company started shipping the 'smartwatch' priced at $199 in December 2012 and is currently sold out with a waiting list that is a mile long.  What I don't know is if that waiting list is local or global.  It can't hurt that Basis Science has Chopra and Dyson on board.  When you add stars as advisers, it's a fast way to get global traction. 

As a small business owner, it would be hard to do this on the cheap.  Perhaps setting aside a small percentage of equity to advisers and employees might work provided it is based on what needs to be done (execution).

Learn more about Basis Science, Inc. here.

Two related questions for today:  Will 2013 by the year of the 'smartwatch?' And will Apple and Samsung play in the space?

Best Way to Stimulate an Economy? Export!

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According to Rob Lawley, head of international trade at UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) West Midlands, exporting makes people think more about their products and company.  In addition, he says, "Businesses that trade internationally have a better survival rate. They can become more profitable and are more likely to grow."

And I just love this line in the article:

EXPORTING could be the shot in the arm businesses need to survive as the economy flatlines.

Read the entire article here.

Growth in Emerging Economies is Part of the Solution to America's Economic Woes

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In the Peterson Institute's newest book, Rising Tide: Is Growth in Emerging Economies Good for the United States?, Lawrence Edwards and Robert Lawrence conclude that rapid growth in emerging economies is part of the solution to America's economic problems rather than their source.

Read the news release here.  Excepts from the book for preview purposes only are available here.

Sample preview here:  Introduction [pdf]

How to Fund Future Global Business Growth For Your Business

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Have a hot international sale yet find yourself scratching your head as to how you are going to finance the deal?  Look no further.

This is my first contribution for Mastercard Business Network.  I hope you find it useful.

Read the entire article:  5 Ways to Fund Future Global Business Growth For Your Small Business

Invest In Your People and a Country Will Grow

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In the 2013 Human Development Report, the United Nations predicts that over the next two decades, economic and political power will shift away from Europe and North America.

The report projects that by 2020 the combined gross domestic products of Brazil, China and India will exceed the entire output of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and the U.S. put together.

Power Shift Under Way As Middle Class Expands in Developing World

Top of the Morning To You!

©Laurel Delaney 2013.  All rights reserved.  "St. Patricks' Day 2013"

I don't know about you but I am preparing for tomorrow (3/17/13), my favorite day of the year:  St. Patrick's Day!  Have a happy one.  Remember, everyone is Irish on St. Patty's Day.  All it takes is a smile and wear'n of the green. Enjoy.

To Become a Winner, Find Clever Ways to Outperform Larger Competitors

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In a new book, The New Emerging Market Multinationals:  Four Strategies for Disrupting Markets and Building Brands, the authors say:

Just how do you win against larger competitors who have more resources than you? A new wave of smaller companies from emerging market countries have discovered that you can not only win, but have the advantage over larger companies. It's just a matter of deploying your resources — however limited they are — very strategically.

Read the entire article: What Small Business Can Learn from Emerging Markets

How to Go Global Without Breaking the Bank

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Entrepreneur-advisor-investor Dave Feinleib, contributor to Forbes, gives his take -- seven rules -- for expanding globally without going broke.

Going global has the potential to increase revenue. It also has the potential to become an immense distraction.  Yet customers from around the world will find your company online. That means you’ll be a global company before you know it.

Read the entire article here.

Smart People Export

This "Smart People Export" video is hysterical.  I don't know how the participants kept such serious, straight faces throughout it.  One participant comments:  "That makes absolutely Zippy sense to me."  Watch it when you have three minutes.  It's worth a chuckle.

The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV

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Michael Curtin examines the prospect of a global Chinese audience that will include more viewers than in the United States and Europe combined.

In his analysis he:

... delineates the globalizing pressures and opportunities that since the 1980s have dramatically transformed the terrain of Chinese film and television, including the end of the cold war, the rise of the World Trade Organization, the escalation of democracy movements, and the emergence of an East Asian youth culture.

Read: Playing to the World's Biggest Audience:  The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV

Does Free Trade Only Create Rich People, Poor Communities?

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Treaty is:

a trade deal expanding on so called "next generation" trade and investment deals that NAFTA countries have pursued in the wake of the stalemate at the World Trade Organization.

Some refer to the TPP as the next generation of handcuffs.  Others, according to "Facing the Threat" below, think free trade creates rich people not rich communities.

What are your thoughts?

Related articles:

The Tyee - Facing the Threat of the Trans-Pacific Treaty

Facing the Threat of the Trans-Pacific Treaty - IPS 

Free or Protected Trade?

Chicago Is Work

©Laurel Delaney 2013.  All rights reserved.  "Vehicle in Chicago"

“I'm impressed with the people from Chicago. Hollywood is hype, New York is talk, Chicago is work." ~ Michael Douglas

Have a heartfelt weekend everyone!  Thanks for your readership.  Back with you on Monday.

Reduce Dependence on Domestic Demand By International Franchising

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Reduce dependence on domestic demand and grow new, future revenue and profit centers worldwide by international franchising.

Extending a brand globally through franchising requires minimal investment and offers a huge upside potential on scaling capabilities.  Further, you don't have to be big to franchise.  You just have to have a successful model.

Below I examine what is international franchising, its benefits, examples of companies that have successfully franchised internationally, how to get started in franchising and where to look for additional help.

Read the entire article: International Franchising: A Global Strategic Initiative

What's the Priciest City in the World?

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How do you define luxury on a global basis?  You can take a look at the top cities in the world for luxury living - Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris and Sydney (as shown), for example - and then see what the Knight Frank report has to say.

The Knight Frank survey ranks global cities based on a number of variables: economic activity, political power, quality of life, education and influence.

Learn more here.

Free Speech In Our World?

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The Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) withdrew its invitation to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to deliver a live video keynote address. The organizers of the event, however, are determined to arrange another platform less publicized for him to address students at the prestigious American business school.

WIEF is an annual student-organized event hosted by the Wharton School, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania.

The reason for the withdrawal of Modi at the main event?

"We find it astonishing that any academic and student body at the University of Pennsylvania can endorse ideas about economic development that are based on the systematic oppression of minority populations, whether in India or elsewhere," and pledged to protest Modi's appearance.

Whatever happened to free speech in our world?

Read the entire article:  "Dumped, Modi may get another Wharton platform to go global"

Shaking Up the World: Harlem Shake

Once again, another global phenomena - viewed more than 47,354,298 times worldwide on YouTube.  Learn more about the "Harlem Shake" here.

Global Immersion

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Globalization is causing new and complex challenges for business leaders.  One being  - how do you lead in this new era of a borderless world?

A global leader is someone with the ability to seize different kinds of opportunities and understand the global forces creating them, says Nitin Nohria, the dean of Harvard Business School, who highlights efficiency, local responsiveness and innovation as the keys to value creation.

Learn more:  IESE Insight Bridging the Global Leadership Gap

To develop managers to work in an international context, it is important to make sure that the learning process involves an immersion in such environments, says IESE's Pedro Nueno.

Chicago Turned Monochrome

©Laurel Delaney 2013.  All rights reserved.  "Chicago Turned Monochrome"

“Winter came and the city [Chicago] turned monochrome -- black trees against gray sky above white earth. Night now fell in midafternoon, especially when the snowstorms rolled in, boundless prairie storms that set the sky close to the ground, the city lights reflected against the clouds." ~ Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Open For Trade: U.S. and E.U.

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The United States and European Union aim to start negotiating the Transatlantic Free Trade Pact this year. The two top economies hope the pact will revive their respective economies.

The goal of the agreement is to cut tariffs, lower trade barriers and ease commerce–thereby setting higher standards for the world to follow. 

The alliance should help create jobs, spur economic growth and strengthen the transatlantic economic ties.

Read the entire article:  The Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement:  Open Trade Between the United States and the European Union