The Global Small Business Recovery Story

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Shopify President Harley Finkelstein says that entrepreneurship is now part of the global recovery story.

"Small business is going to lead the charge in bringing our cities and communities back to where we were pre-pandemic,” Finkelstein added.

Read the full interview about how global small business will lead the pandemic recovery in cities the world over.

Digital Trade Is the Future

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You can say a lot but sometimes it is best to get to the point: digital trade is the future.

Today in Global Small Business: Should You Care About the Global Minimum Tax?

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

• With International MSMEs Day, China vows more support for small businesses.
• Changes in global tax structure – the Global Minimum Tax – will affect even global small businesses. Here's how to prepare.
• In the midst of a global pandemic, no matter how hard-working, creative, patient or resilient the local small business owner may be, the odds of achieving success are slim.  Yet they manage to survive and thrive.  Here's how.
• Quote of the week:  "I call Alibaba '1,001 mistakes.' We expanded too fast, and then in the dot-com bubble, we had to have layoffs. By 2002, we had only enough cash to survive for 18 months. We had a lot of free members using our site, and we didn't know how we'd make money. So we developed a product for China exporters to meet U.S. buyers online. This model saved us." – Jack Ma, co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group
• The resale market is booming.  Here's how global small businesses can benefit.
• Trade experts take stock on USMC's first anniversary.

Being Myself

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"The greatest thing about where my life is right now is it's very relaxed and chill.  I'm just hanging out, being myself and doing my work." – Lucas Grabeel

There's a Market for Exporting Mushrooms

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Recently disclosed by the National President of the Mushroom Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Michael Awunor, Nigeria is targeting to earn $4.53 billion annually from exporting mushrooms to the international market.

Read the original briefing here.

Is Globalization Unfashionable?

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The real problem with globalization is that it demands solutions.  Zachary D. Carter for The Atlantic goes on to say, "Few ideas today are more unfashionable than globalization."

It may be too much to ask for a treaty on trade and finance to repair the U.S. relationship with China, provide functional mechanisms to combat climate change, and turn back the rising tide of economic inequality around the world. But we will not solve any of those problems if we do not try. And we cannot solve them on our own.

Read the entire article here.

China's COVID Vaccines Are Going Global

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has authorized the first of China’s COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, and another could be listed in the coming days, opening the door to wide distribution in lower-income nations through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative.  But published trial data remain scarce.

Scientists say the listing will boost global confidence in these vaccines.

Read more how China's COVID vaccines are going global.

How Kellogg Co. Weathered the Global Pandemic

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Online sales for Kellogg Co. consists mostly of online sales on other retailer websites, such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com—and represent about 9% of its global revenue, almost twice the percentage of a year earlier, says Julie Bowerman, Kellogg’s chief global digital consumer and customer experience officer. 

The rate of ecommerce sales growth for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturer is about two to three times what it was before the pandemic, she says, without providing exact figures. 

Kellogg’s ecommerce strategy consists of what it calls three pillars. 

1. In the U.S. via big retailers that represent the bulk of its sales. Those retailers include Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1 in the 2020 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000) and Walmart Inc. (No. 3).
2. Digitizing its business-to-business operations, allowing retailers to order wholesale stock online. 
3. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, primarily in non-U.S. markets.

Read more how Kellogg embraced ecommerce to weather the global pandemic.

Today in Global Small Business: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future of Global Trade

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

• Artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of global trade.
• Everyone in the world could have access to clean, affordable energy within the next nine years if countries modestly increase investments, according to new UN reports released.
• Looking for a job as a Global Marketing Coordinator in high fashion?  Stella McCartney is looking for one.  Apply now.
• Quote of the week:  "AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours." – Oren Etzioni
• How to prepare your website for localization.
• Surge in shipping costs globally could cause price hikes from toys to coffee.

We Are All More Free

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free." – Former USA President Barack Obama

Juneteenth: A Brighter Morning Is To Come

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President Biden says, "Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and a promise of a brighter morning to come. This is a day of profound — in my view — profound weight and profound power."

Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day and historically known as Jubilee Day and Emancipation Day) is a federal holiday in the United States celebrating the emancipation of African American slaves.  Originating in Galveston, Texas, in 1866, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 throughout the United States. It became a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. – Source here

Happy Juneteenth to all Americans. 

Debra Dudley on Transforming Ordinary Grilling into Magnificent Meals Worldwide (How She Went Global™ podcast)

©2021 Debra Dudley, President, Oscarware.  All rights reserved.

Debra Dudley (pictured), President and owner of Oscarware, Inc., a family-owned certified woman business, discusses how she makes the world her business, utilizes governmental organizations to boost her global growth, gets paid and ships, and rides on the coattails of big global companies to fuel additional global growth for her business.

About Oscarware: Oscarware was founded in 1989 by Debra Dudley and her late husband Reg Dudley. Sensing the anything-can-be-grilled trend, they invented a new product they called “grill topper” making it possible to cook a variety of meals on an outdoor grill.  

Listen to Debra's global growth journey and subscribe to How She Went Global™ podcast here.

How to Spend Forever Baking a Scrumptious Chocolate Cake

How to Achieve An Enduring Global Enterprise

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Whether you run a one-person shop or an organization with 300 employees, open and honest conversations with yourself and your team about your goals will help you create a global marketing strategy, build collective commitment, and achieve an enduring global enterprise.

Here are some things to think about as you get started (by Laurel J. Delaney).

Today in Global Small Business: The Global Economy Shows Strong But Uneven Growth

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

• Hello Alice is growing.
• The global economy is showing strong but uneven growth as COVID-19 still weighs.
• Outcome of the G7 Finance Ministers – a statement from OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann.
• Quote of the week:  “Healthy competition is good for the global economy. Criminal conduct is not. Rampant theft is not. Cheating is not." – Christopher A. Wray
• Important update by United States Department of Commerce about the aluminum licensing requirement effective June 28, 2021.
• Global Guru:  Shaking things up, making things happen (by Laurel J. Delaney).

Potential

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"Potential is like a summer crop. If it don't rain, it don't grow." – Charles Oakley

Transforming Global Business Forever

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According to a McKinsey Global Survey of executives, their companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years – transforming global business forever.

For Better or Worse, Working From Home in USA Is Here to Stay

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The shift in attitudes toward working from home due to the global pandemic is likely to stick, according to Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom.

Surveys of more than 30,000 Americans conducted by Bloom and his colleagues show that most full-time workers expect to continue working remotely at least two or three days a week.

Bloom goes on to say that the new normal will be hybrid arrangements in which about 20% of workdays will be carried out from home — a decrease from the pandemic peak but a fourfold increase in the work from home (WFH) rate before last spring.

Read the entire article, "The Pandemic Blew Up the American Office."

Small Businesses Play An Outsized Role in the Global Economy

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Small businesses play an outsized role in the global economy. In fact, they represent 90% of all businesses and employ roughly 70% of all workers globally. 

Governments can and must play a part in helping global small businesses stay competitive in an increasingly global economy.

Read about four ways governments can help small businesses flourish in a post-COVID-world.

Courage to Go Global

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Business expands in proportion to one's courage to go global." – Laurel J. Delaney, founder, GlobeTrade.com and President, Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®

Today in Global Small Business: How Does the International Entrepreneur Parole Program Work?

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

• These women-led businesses are building a greener world.
• G-7 nations back global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%.
• How can governments keep multinational companies from avoiding taxes by shifting their profits to low-tax countries?
• Quote of the week:  “Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as the talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.” – Senator Robert F. Kennedy
  
• Why the U.S. is losing immigrant entrepreneurs to other nations.
• Dear Sophie addresses the International Entrepreneur Parole Program.

Gifts From the Universe

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives."  – Gary Zukav

Let's Welcome Highly Skilled Businesses and Workers Into the US Post-Global Pandemic

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As the US looks to post-pandemic recovery, experts are highlighting the importance of international graduates returning to work in the US.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should facilitate international entrepreneurs who want to work in the US by updating immigration rules, suggests a new report from the Brookings Institution. In this report, a range of attorneys and social scientists experienced in immigration and entrepreneurship are urging the DHS to follow up on a 2014 memo to welcome more “highly skilled businesses and workers” in a post-pandemic US.

Read on to learn more.

Growing Your Business Globally: 3 Fearless Female Founders Share the Keys to Success

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

You are welcome to join the SCORE webinar today, 6/3, at 1PM EDT (free of charge).  Laurel Delaney, President of Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® will be presenting (her lead slide pictured above) along with Jill Bishop, founder and CEO, Multilingual Connections and Cherry Miyake, founder of China Manufacturing Inc.

Here's what you will learn:

• Why going global ignites growth for a business
• How to go global with renewed gusto and emerge stronger
• Why engaging multilingual audiences is necessary to expand your global reach
• How translation can help create trust and ensure brand nuance internationally
• Why China is a market of opportunity
• Where the growth industries and demands are in China
• What can you do to get started in China?

To learn more and to attend, visit:  Growing Your Business Globally – Three Fearless Female Founders Share the Keys to Success

Deloitte's 2021 Global Marketing Trends

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From people and businesses to governments, everyone needs to find new ways to navigate this new world.  How do you uncover and discuss the implications of global marketing trends at a time when the world has seemingly turned on its axis and still continues to change in unpredictable ways?

Read "Deloitte's 2021 Global Marketing Trends," to discover how some of the leading companies in the world are harnessing customer passion, and learn the seven trends that can help executives break through this wall of uncertainty and take action. 

Exporting Can Boost Small Business Recovery

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By working to enter, or re-enter, the global marketplace, many small businesses are sitting on the precipice of success. 

Nearly 96 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States and trade represents nearly two-thirds of the world’s $80 trillion economy. With exporting as a component of a business’ growth strategy, a company can expand faster, create jobs, and pay higher wages — all while contributing to the local economy.

In this particular example, Michigan firms are considering pivoting and enhancing their customer base and revenues via exporting.