Kindness Is Always Welcome

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.   All rights reserved.

"Kindness is always fashionable, and always welcome." – Amelia Barr

According to the World Economic Update July, 2021, Expect Lopsided Recoveries

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According to the World Economic Update, the global economy is projected to grow 6.0 percent in 2021 and 4.9 percent in 2022.

The 2021 global forecast is unchanged from the April 2021 World Economic Outlook (WEO), but with offsetting revisions. Prospects for emerging market and developing economies have been marked down for 2021, especially for Emerging Asia. By contrast, the forecast for advanced economies is revised up. These revisions reflect pandemic developments and changes in policy support. 

• Access full update
• Blog post by Gita Gopinath

Owning a Small Business in South Africa

©iStock/Arnold Petersen

A report from the World Bank shows that South Africa's labour market is small and stagnant, because job creation in the private sector is weak, especially among small and medium firms.

This sector [SME] would typically be a country’s main engine of job creation, but in South Africa, most job generation came from larger companies, the World Bank noted.

Where are small businesses making a contribution in South Africa?  Find out here.

Which Company Has More Than 400 Global Consumer-Based Websites and a Large Portfolio of Digital Products?

©iStock/MagicColors

Recognize these household brands:  Kleenex, Scott, and Huggies? You guessed it.  It's the Kimberly-Clark Corporation that has more than 400 global consumer-based websites and a large portfolio of digital products.  Even though a quarter of the world’s population touches its products every day, changing consumer preferences, stiff competition, and increased production costs stifled demand a few year ago.  

With so many brands and 175 countries to localize for, there’s a lot that goes into building a cohesive digital experience yet going digital has helped Kimberly-Clark pull back ahead. 

From managing pricing, manufacturing, distribution, merchandising, shelving, sales, to people operations, every step of the process has a digital component to make sure their products get from their mills to neighborhood stores.

Learn more, especially how Kimberly-Clark uses the best kept secret Figma to solve design problems and move team members in the same direction.

Travel Recommendations by Destination During the Global Pandemic

©iStock/Chalabala

Before you take off for an international trip, check the Risk Assessment Level for COVID-19.

•  Level 4: COVID-19 Very High
•  Level 3: COVID-19 High
•  Level 2: COVID-19 Moderate
•  Level 1: COVID-19 Low
•  Level Unknown: COVID-19 Unknown

And here's the latest on guidance for fully vaccinated people.  If you are not vaccinated, find a place to get vaccinated.

Today in Global Small Business: Exporting Opens Up Whole New Revenue Streams

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

• North Carolina exports billions of dollars in goods and services to the world each year. For small business, it can open up whole new revenue streams to keep them afloat in down economic times.
• Open banking is creating new possibilities for businesses that want to reach a global market.
• Small and medium-sized businesses in Latin America can find it difficult to get the funds they need to export their goods to the United States. It’s a gap Marco Financial is looking to bridge through its tech-enabled risk assessment platform that can provide better insight on who should receive loans.
• Quote of the week:  “Business expands in proportion to one's courage to go global" – Laurel J. Delaney
• How to MacGyver Your First Export by Laurel J. Delaney.
• The State Star Award is given to someone who exhibits exemplary performance, makes a significant contribution to his or her SBDC program and shows a strong commitment to helping small businesses grow; it goes to Kevin Kim at Illinois SBDC/ITC.

Rain Kissed the Flower

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Rain kissed the flower, and the petals embraced the rain drops." – Arvinth Manoharan

10 Ways to Spot a Toxic Mentor Anywhere in the World

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With the global pandemic, many people have been reaching out to total strangers online to help provide a lifeline to building a better business or becoming a more effective leader.  Good mentorships are built on trust and respect. Without these vital elements, mentoring can become toxic.

Here are 10 signs that your mentor may be toxic.

1. Self-focused 
2. Lack of encouragement 
3. Unreliable 
4. Low listening skills
5. Failure to admit weakness 
6. Zero boundaries 
7. Shares too much 
8. Berates you
9. Lacks a sense of humor
10. Bad advice 

Read the entire article, here.

What Does Brand Purpose Mean to You?

©iStock/Onur Hazar Altindag

What is “brand purpose”?  Should all brands have one?  How can you figure out what your brand’s purpose should be?  Should it be local or global or both?  How has your brand evolved during the pandemic?

Let's find out.

Think Your Business Is Ready to Go Global?

©iStock/violetkalpa

Exporting might seem like reaching for Mars (maybe not to Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos) with customers thousands of miles away or speaking another language. 

In reality, those customers are closer than you think, and luckily, you have your own Mission Control Dashboard to provide guidance as you move along your export journey.

Read on to learn about government resources that will help you be ready to go global.

Acknowledge Cybersecurity Needs Fixing

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What you need to know about cybersecurity:  Expect a future where a computer doesn't just connect you, but can also be a weapon.

Not a week seems to go by anymore without news of another U.S. agency or business falling victim to a cyberattack.  

For perspective on the problem, a panel of experts was rounded up to answer 10 questions. Check out their answers.

Today in Global Small Business: China's Growth Is Starting to Level Off

©iStock/Julien Viry

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

• After a year of leading the global economy out of the pandemic slump, China’s growth is now starting to level off, as the world tries to assess whether the country’s recovery will continue or peter out.
• Diversity is America’s greatest economic development asset.
• African start-ups attract international investors – but need local ones too.
• Quote of the week:  “When we started the e-commerce, nobody believed that China would have e-commerce because people believed in 'guang-shi,' face-to-face, and all kinds of network in traditional ways. There's no trust system in China." – Jack Ma
• Creating a successful online business from scratch.
• Galaxy Basmati Rice can proudly boast of itself as one of the few companies that can produce basmati rice conforming to the highest international standards.

There Are No Wrong Turnings

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"There are no wrong turnings.  Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk." ― Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana

The Next Big Global Thing In Alternative Meat and Dairy

©iStock/etienne voss

Chicago-based Nature’s Fynd has raised $158 million in funding from investors including Bezos, Gates, and Al Gore. The company’s meatless breakfast patties and dairy-free cream cheese are scheduled to hit grocers’ shelves later this year, with other meatless products including burgers, chicken-less nuggets and yogurt in development.  The product is made using fungus as the primary ingredient to create alt-meat foods.

The climate-conscious food consumer:  Beyond fungus, Nature’s Fynd also is representative of the food sustainability movement, whose mission is to reduce the carbon footprint of global food systems, which generate 34% of greenhouse emissions linked to climate change.

The trick is learning to do more with less.  Read on ...

The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act: Protecting Human Rights and Ensuring a Sustainable Production

©iStock/Harvepino

The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, coming into force on January 1, 2023, is intended to protect human rights and to ensure a sustainable production.Under the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, companies are obliged to identify and assess human rights and environmental risks and to establish an adequate and effective risk management system.

Scope of Application:  The new law is applicable to companies having their head office, principal place of business, administrative headquarters or registered office in Germany and employing more than 3,000 employees. In addition, foreign companies with a branch office and a corresponding number of employees in Germany are also subject to the new law. From 2024 onwards, this threshold shall be reduced to 1,000 employees. 

Read on to learn more:  The New German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (with a view across the border).

Shipping Delays and High Freight Rates Hurt All Businesses, Especially Global Small Businesses

©iStock/MattGush

An average of 30 container ships a day have been stuck outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach just waiting to deliver their goods. The backlog is part of a global supply-chain mess spurred by the pandemic that means consumers could see delivery delays for weeks.

The net result?  Everybody loses, especially global small businesses. 

Grow BIG By Going Global: 6 Trends by 6 Experts That Will Reshape 2021

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

As we move through 2021, the picture is becoming very hopeful and global business is not going away.  Through my work as President of Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® and Chicago Chapter Chair for the Women Presidents' Organization, I’ve discovered that women business owners, now more than ever, are ready to grow big by going global.  It’s a fast ticket to find new customers.  

I asked six experts (as shown in the photo) to weigh in on six key trends – digital, strategy, wellness, supply chain, security risks, and remote work – that business owners should understand as they navigate through uncharted global territory.  

Here’s what they said.  

Today in Global Small Business: Global Loneliness Crisis?

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

• We are in the midst of a global loneliness crisis that struck long before “social distancing” entered our vernacular and our smiles were occluded by masks.
• The cryptocurrency exchange has processed trillions of dollars in trades this year as it transfers digital and conventional money around the world through a constellation of affiliates. And yet it has no headquarters.  Read on.
• A wide range of countries have agreed on a major overhaul of how to tax the world’s largest companies when doing business across borders.
• Quote of the week:  “Times may have changed, but there are some things that are always with us - loneliness is one of them." – Laurie Graham
• More than 200,000 [unverified] transport SMEs have joined the platform Vahak so far and roughly about 75-80%  per cent of them are small-scale companies.
• Amazon small business days:  Over 84,000 SME sellers received orders, 68% sellers from non-metros.

A Smile is Happiness

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose." – Tom Wilson

How to Solve High Level Global Issues With Scenario Planning

©iStock/Drepicter

Scenario planning offers a powerful approach to testing strategies, making complex decisions, enhancing risk management, generating innovative initiatives, building optionality, improving organizational learning, and understanding uncertainty at different organization levels. 

Scenario planning is not exclusively an enterprise organizational tool. It can be just as effective with high-level global issues like climate change and disease, or even smaller business units and functional issues within an organization. It is a strategic tool for problems, big and small.

The level of scenario planning depends on the level of risk and uncertainty involved and the organizational level under consideration.  

Read on to learn more about how to solve high level global issues – big and small – with scenario planning.

When Will We See Relief on Overseas Shipping Challenges?

©iStock/Tryaging

Tim Scharwath, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding says that shippers should expect higher freight rates, long-term – and also not expect much easing in the market until Chinese New Year 2022 and ‘normality’ in 2023. 

Ouch.  Read on to deal with reality  – that it may get worse before it gets better.

Janelle Beauty Leads in the Multicultural Beauty Category (wegginar®)

©Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Join the Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global's wegginar® today, 7/7/21 at 11AM CT LIVE, starring Anika Janelle Pettiford, founder of Janelle Beauty, who will talk about Becoming a Global Market Leader in the Multicultural Beauty Category.

Insights you will walk away with and apply to your own business:

• Create a business that meets a local need.
• Understand how to extrapolate your business model to a national audience.
• Find the commonalities your customers share with customers around the world.
• Plan ahead for international operational and logistical workflows.

Event is free of charge thanks to wegg's generous sponsors:  Associated Bank, Union Pacific, APCO Worldwide, FedEx, GlobalCare Clinical Trials, Passport Shipping, Multilingual Connections and EXIM Bank.  

To learn more and to register, visit here.

What Machine Requires 40 Shipping Containers, 20 Trucks and 3 Boeing 747s to Ship Across Borders?

©iStock/tcareob72

The most complicated $150 million chip-making machine humans have ever built is widely acknowledged as necessary for making the most advanced chips, an ability with geopolitical implications.

The machine is made by Dutch company ASML Holding, based in Veldhoven, in the southern Netherlands. Its system uses a different kind of light to define ultrasmall circuitry on chips, packing more performance into the small slices of silicon. ASML became an independent company and by far the biggest supplier of chip-manufacturing equipment that involves a process called lithography.

Since ASML introduced its commercial EUV model in 2017, customers have bought about 100 of them. Buyers include Samsung and TSMC, the biggest service producing chips designed by other companies. TSMC uses the tool to make the processors designed by Apple for its latest iPhones. Intel and IBM have said EUV is crucial to their plans.

Read on to learn more.

Today in Global Small Business: 100 Great Things About America 2021

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

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

• 100 great things about America 2021.
• Great nations thrive.  America is one of them.
• Greatest nation on the face of the earth (video).
• Quote of the week:  “Freedom lies in being bold.” – Robert Frost
• America, land of the free and home of the great melting pot. 
• The Fourth of July is celebrated as America’s Independence Day in observance of July 4, 1776, when representatives from the 13 colonies that became the United States approved the historic Declaration of Independence, a grand announcement of the colonies’ self-declared independence from England.

America Has Great Dreams

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

“I believe in America because we have great dreams, and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true.” – Wendell L. Wilkie

China and America Dominate Like Never Before

©iStock/Alberto Masnovo

The new geopolitics of global business.  

Creative destruction often makes predictions look silly, but even by these standards the post-pandemic business world is dramatically different from what you might have expected two decades ago. 

Read more about how China and America dominate like never before (might require a sign-up to read).

Make It Easy for Your Global Customers to Buy Online

©iStock/ipopba

Think about all the areas that an e-commerce channel needs to collaborate with, including billing, production, engineering, customer service, sales, design, and marketing. Make sure that you are providing the relevant information to each area.

And here are more ways to step up your e-commerce strategy.