Franchise Brands Continue to Expand Internationally

©iStock/Dilok Klaisataporn

COVID has forever changed businesses, especially franchises, yet international businesses have learned to adapt and continue to expand into new countries.

This month Franchising.com rounded up their international deals with reports on Dave and Buster’s, Hyatt, IHG, Jan-Pro, McDonald’s, Slim Chickens, The Habit Burger Grill, Twin Peaks, and Woof Gang Bakery… and how France is cracking down on influencers. 

Check out how franchise brands continue to expand internationally as 2023 begins.

Today in Global Small Business: Global Supply Chain Finance for Global Small Businesses

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

• To support global supply chains, we need to help global small businesses.
• Tips for expanding your online business globally.
• How to grow your employee benefits as you expand globally.
• Quote of the week:  “Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.” – W. Edwards Deming
• How you can launch an international management career in an affordable way.
• Interested in reinventing your globalization efforts?  Try diversifying.

Chicago Preps for St. Patrick's Day

An impromptu visit to the Office of the Mayor and I [Laurel Delaney] fell upon this joyous ceremony.  If you look closely, you can catch a glimpse of Chicago Mayor Lightfoot. 

Tips That a Global Team Can Teach You About Success

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Some of the best lessons in business, people and life come from unexpected places and can shift an executive’s position by suddenly granting the gift of deep and unexpected knowledge. 

Here are four tips that a global team can teach you about success.

Listen to wegg's How She Went Global® Podcast Episode #23

©2023 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Successful women entrepreneurs and business owners share stories about going global, and offer new ways to take on the world, stay inspired and have fun every month on the super successful How She Went Global® podcast.  Haven't listened to it yet?  Well you are in for a big treat – and a lesson or two from a female founder on what it takes to go global.

Listen to the latest episode #23 with Kat Borve on “BrassyBra: Lifting and Supporting Women Worldwide."

About Kat:  Katherina (Kat) Borve, founder and CEO, Brassy, Inc., producers of a unique 97% cotton blend waterproof breast tape that lifts, shapes, and supports so you can rock a low-cut dress with ease and comfort, talks about why she started her company, where her products are made, and how she dealt with global supply chain issues during COVID-19.

Tune in!

The How She Went Global podcast is produced by Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global® and sponsored by Bluedog Design and Associated Bank.

Will Automation Impact Jobs?

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PWC UK analyzed over 200,000 jobs in 29 countries to explore the economic benefits and potential challenges posed by automation.  They've identified three waves of automation that might unfold over the next 20 years.

Discover what those three waves are and whether automation will impact jobs in the future.

A Full Stack Global HR Platform

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Easing the HR burdens that come with running any business, let alone those with employees outside of the U.S., is critical in a time when budgets and well-being are top of mind. On-boarding is a crucial area for employers to consolidate technology, especially when hiring a mixed population of contractors and full-time hires. The Deel HR platform, considered a full stack global HR platform, streamlines this process by utilizing Google Suite.  

Learn how to simplify tech tools for global businesses.

Today in Global Small Business: Finding the Way in Your New Global Business

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

• Finding your way in your new global business.
• Why it's important to plant the seeds for entrepreneurs.
• Building a brighter policy future for American entrepreneurs.
• Quote of the week:  "As an entrepreneur, you have to be OK with failure. If you're not failing, you're likely not pushing yourself hard enough." – Alexa von Tobel, founder of LearnVest
• Expert advice and insights for older entrepreneurs on starting a small global business and running it successfully.
• Build your business. Live your dream.

I Scream, You Scream

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

From Wikipedia:  "Ice Cream" or "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream" is a popular song, first published in 1927, with words and music by Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert A. King.

After initial success as a late 1920s novelty song, the tune became a traditional jazz standard, while the lyrics refrain "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream" has remained a part of popular culture even without the rest of the song. 

Photo courtesy Laurel J. Delaney. Museum of Ice Cream Chicago.

The Best of Yo-Yo Ma

Smartphone Apps for Global Travelers

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Here are seven (7) promising smartphone apps designed to help global travelers break the language barrier.  

What do you use when you travel internationally to communicate with locals?  If we missed any, please share!

Facing the New Age of Constant Disruption in the Global Marketplace

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Normal is over according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Climate change, geopolitical conflict, aging populations, developing technologies and the like are not issues that can be addressed in isolation by any one constituency and must be undertaken through collaboration, which is, of course, the mission of the World Economic Forum. 

The WEF also suggests we move and act boldly while maintaining this bifocal vision.  Increase your company’s recession readiness and position for near-term opportunities.  Keep an eye on the longer-term forces shaping the future.

Learn more about how our world keeps getting more complex.

Globalization Has Entered a Period of In-Depth Adjustment

©iStock/Zhonghui Bao

According to the "2023 China and Globalization Report" recently released by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a Chinese non-governmental think tank based in Beijing, it has become a consensus that globalization has entered a period of in-depth adjustment.

The CCG released the report at the beginning of the new year, which summarizes and forecasts the trends and prospects of globalization in the coming year from ten perspectives, including China-US relations, the Ukraine crisis, the international financial system, the Belt and Road Initiative, international tourism, digital economy, and climate change.

Learn more about how China will continue to provide a strong driving force for the global economy in 2023, at least according to the think tank report.

Today in Global Small Business: Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

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

• "He Did His Own Eulogy": An Eyewitness Recalls Dr. King's Final Speech.
• Celebrate the life, legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Metro Detroit, Michigan.
• The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s name first appeared in the Chicago Tribune in early 1956, for his leadership of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.
• Quote of the week:  "We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools." – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Singing the black birthday song (Stevie Wonder).
• 13 must-see films to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Winter Wear Is Communal

©Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"I think winter wear is communal. You get some gloves [a mitten] and a scarf from a lost-and-found box, wash them, wear them for a while until you lose them. Then somebody else does the same thing." – Adrian Grenier

2023: New Global Businesses to Be Born and Built

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This is how global entrepreneurship will change in 2023.

• Unprecedented economic disruption in recent years can create the perfect conditions for new businesses to be born and built.
• Young entrepreneurs are bypassing the traditional labor market, while those already in work are looking to side hustles and beyond.
• In 2023, we’ll see a new form of entrepreneurship emerge – more diverse, more socially-minded, and not afraid to multi-hustle.

Read the entire article here.

CALL for Nominations on The Gail Adinamis wegg® Award for Exemplary Global Leadership®

©2023 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

Nominate yourself or another woman business owner who is deserving of this prestigious award.  Deadline is 1/31/23.  Learn more and submit your nomination. 

The Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence

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Scientist Gary Marcus for Scientific American claims something incredible is happening in artificial intelligence right now—but it’s not entirely good. Everybody is talking about systems like ChatGPT, which generates text that seems remarkably human. This makes it fun to play with, but there is a dark side, too. Because they are so good at imitating human styles, there is risk that such chatbots could be used to mass-produce misinformation.

He goes on to give a sense of how it works with a specific example using the AI platform ChatGPT.  Check it out.  Making AI stick to the truth remains a serious issue.

Brewing Beer, International Expansion, Innovation and Impact

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Oil and beer.  And so it goes.  That story stems from the innovative conversion of technology used in the oil and gas industry for brewing beer, and it’s one that has since traveled across the globe.

Rome-based Hydro Dynamics’ ShockWave Xtractor cavitation technology allows brewers to extract more of the oils in the hops used in brewing beer. The benefit of that technology is that it cuts down on the use of the hops, which is one of the most expensive parts of the brewing process.

How a local company has made an impact.

Today in Global Small Business: Creating Opportunities For Smaller Competitors to Enter the Market

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

• Big companies often grow complacent and fail to innovate, creating opportunities for smaller competitors to enter the market.
• Has globalization taken over?
• Globalization is not over – but you can read this anyway.
• Quote of the week:  "I think a winner has to be a master of preparation, they have to be a master of connection, extremely competitive and have really high standards for themselves and the people around them." – Maya Moore
• The Nokia Risk.
• Inside Saudi Arabia's coffee shop boom.

Silence is Beautiful

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.   All rights reserved.

"If you listen carefully, silence is beautiful." – Anonymous

Beijing's Global Media Offensive (New Book)

©iStock/Oleksandr Siedov

James M. Lindsay, Council on Foreign Relations, "My sense is that China has consciously decided over the last decade or so, to try to use media power to influence politics in other countries. Can you tell me a little bit about what China has been doing, and why it's pursuing these efforts?"

Joshua Kurlantzick, author of Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World:  "Well, I think within the last ten years to twelve years, China, under Xi Jinping decided that the global discourse, both about China and about all sorts of events that relate to China, because virtually every event relates to China, the discourse or the discourse power, as China refers to it, are being dominated by liberal democracies and their media outlets."

Read the entire interview and Mr. Kurlantzick's complete answer here.  

Will Walgreen's Dispensed Abortion Pill Cross Borders?

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Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to seek certification to dispense pills that can induce an abortion after the US Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday, 1/3/23, that it would allow the drugs to be distributed both by mail and at brick-and-mortar pharmacies.

“We are working through the registration, necessary training of our pharmacists, as well as evaluating our pharmacy network in terms of where we normally dispense products that have extra FDA requirements and will dispense these consistent with federal and state laws,” Walgreens said Wednesday in an emailed statement to Crain's Chicago Business.

The big questions are how much control will there be over the shadow (black) market on these pills and how will people who buy them be protected in terms of confidentiality?  Watch closely. 

Here's a look at WBA's global reach. 

Read the entire breaking news here.

A Tough Year Ahead for the U.K.

©iStock/Pavel Muravev

Economists agreed persistently high inflation, a shrinking workforce, declining trade relations with the EU, and a high exposure to the energy crisis sparked by the Ukraine war were the leading factors behind the U.K.’s comparatively grim prospects.

Economists surveyed predicted a return to normal by 2024 when inflation begins to dissipate, but the rest of this year will likely be a long slog for the U.K. economy.

The U.K. is expected to see the largest economic contraction among wealthy nations due to the Ukraine war and the energy crisis.

Laurel Delaney's Global Trade Trends Report 2023 (wegginar® 1/4/23)

©2023 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

A peek into 2023 and all photos from Ireland.  LIVE wegginar® presentation, "Laurel Delaney's Global Trade Trends Report 2023," Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 11AM CT.  Free of charge thanks to Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global's lead sponsors:  FedEx, Associated Bank, Global Care Clinical Trials and Bluedog Design.

To learn more and to register, visit here.

Today in Global Small Business: The World Ahead in 2023

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

• Laurel Delaney's Global Trade Trends Report 2023 on 1/4/23 (n/c).
• The world ahead in 2023:  global order continues to reshape.
• Quote of the week:  "An optimist stays up all night to see the New Year in.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." – William E. Vaughan, Journalist and Author
• Four inspirational leaders look ahead to 2023.
• What could tip us into a global recession in 2023?
• What is the forecast for global economic growth?