Sweet Home Chicago For the Holidays

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

The historic Chicago Water Tower with a pretty holiday tree in front - one of the few buildings in downtown Chicago that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1781.

All Printers On Earth Apply Here

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FESPA, the only independent global awards in the print industry recognizing the best print in the world and the people behind them, has overhauled its awards program, opening the event to every single printer in the world and toning down emphasis on technology.

“We wanted to open the event to every printer in the world so they can show off their talents and skills,” he [Duncan MacOwan, head of events] said. “We also wanted to make it annual to give greater exposure to winners, short-listed and highly commended entries and give added momentum and relevance.”

The ten application categories are as follows (make yours fit!):

1. Instore
2. Outdoor
3. Interior
4. Functional decoration
5. Garment
6. Integrated
7. Sustainable
8. Special effect
9. Fine art
10. Vehicle decoration

The independent judging panel includes end-users such as ad agencies, print buyers, printers and other experts.  The judges come from NikeID, McCann Erickson Istanbul and Philips BG Consumer Luminaires, to name just a few of the representative companies.

Are you a printer?  Then apply today -- visit http://www.fespa.com/awards -- to get the worldwide attention you deserve.  You have until February 28, 2014 to submit your application.  Good luck!

Original source:  Fespa awards go global and "technology agnostic"

Thank You for Your Readership; It Means the World to Me!

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Examining Product Names in Multiple Languages

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Making sure a company or product name does not offend anyone, sound strange or translate into something other than its original intent in countries all over the world is no easy feat.  For Choice Translating, based in Charlotte, its their profitable niche examining product names in multiple tongues.

"It's expensive to create a brand identity," says Vernon Menard, who co-owns [For Choice Translating] with his wife, Michelle. "We're cheap insurance." 

Read the entire article:  Found in translation:  Avoiding multilingual gaffes

Related article(s):

• How not to sell abroad
• Adventures in Mistranslations From Around the World
• Funny Mistranslations From Around the World

Look Abroad for Growth

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According to "Expanding Internationally:  How to Improve Your Odds Abroad" published by the Daily Business Buzz:

• China's economy grew by over 10 per cent annually from 2000 to 2010
• India expanded by seven per cent yearly
• Brazil has grown by nearly four per cent per year
• The economies of Canada, the U.S. and the European Union each grew by less than two per cent annually

“The emerging markets are where you have constant GDP growth. Going to those countries should be no longer a question of why, but rather a question of how,” says Frank Pho, vice president, Global Expansion, at the Business Development Bank of Canada

Looking abroad for growth offers increased revenues, additional profitability and much needed diversification for small businesses.

Read the entire article:  Expanding Internationally:  How to Improve Your Odds Abroad 

The Game Goes Global, Baseball That Is

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Major league baseball is about to take baseball around the world. 

“I’m really looking forward to growing the sport around the world, to teaching some kids to play the game that has given me and my family so much,” LaTroy Hawkins* said.

Read the entire article:  Major League Baseball going global with offseason outreach efforts

* Hawkins is 40 years old and a veteran of 19 major league seasons.

Prepping for Holidays at Roosevelt Collection in Chicago

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

I had the opportunity to preview the movie Black Nativity with Jennifer Hudson Thursday night (11/21) at the ICON Theater at Roosevelt Collection in Chicago.  Beautiful area!  I encourage you to give it a visit if you haven't already.

• The Shops at Roosevelt Collection
• Urban Life, Collected:  Roosevelt Collection Blog

With All the Challenges and Barriers, Why Go Global?

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With all its challenges and barriers, why go global?  Here's one reason:

The U.S. represents only about 3 percent of the consumers in the world, albeit the wealthiest. 

To tap into the other 97 percent of the consumers in the world, you must go global.  Before you start, do your homework and proceed with caution.

Read the entire article:  Avoid the Growing Pains of Going Global With Your Business

A Checklist To Expediting Clearance of Goods On Imports

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Whether you use your own transportation company (i.e., UPS or FedEx) or your supplier’s preferred shipping carrier, you will want to minimize errors on your importation, which can cause shipping delays. I’ve prepared the following 10-point checklist to use as a guide for expediting the clearance of your goods. It gets down to “the devil being in the details,” so pay attention to what needs to be done and do it accurately.

Read:  A 10-Point Checklist to Expedite Clearance of Goods On Imports

International Trade and the Law

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When you expand your business internationally, there are a host of issues you need to address on the legal front.

Knowing the ground rules and preparing properly for doing business in another culture, with its own rules, politics and traditions, can make for profitable business. Taking your small business international is a complicated process, however, that is governed not only by U.S. laws, but also by the laws of other countries.

Read the entire article:  Taking Your Small Business International

Global Business Intelligence Tools

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To conduct global market research, track your competitors worldwide, acquire new sales leads and evaluate opportunities, including finding new sources of supply on a brand new product idea, you might visit these fab four:

1. PIERS
2. Datamyne
3. Import Genius
4. Zepol

 Have we given you a leg up for the future on developing a global competitive edge?

Crafting a Global Ecommerce Strategy

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In developing a global ecommerce strategy, the human side of your enterprise must be taken into consideration.  Do you have the right people on board?  Do you have enough people on board to execute on a strategy?  Yet before you can make these decisions, you must know what you want from your business - a real catch-22.

The article below will provide solutions to the challenges at hand and help guide you in the process.

Read the entire article:  How to Craft an Ecommerce Strategy and Recruit the Right Team to Implement It

Note:  I devote an entire chapter to ecommerce in my new book, "Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably."

Horses in the Sky

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

A building in Chicago between Lake and Randolph Streets (about 1100 West).  Like all great discoveries, you must be on the hunt as I was.

Developing a Global Brand for a Small Business

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We’ve all heard the saying, "first impressions matter," and it rings true for small businesses looking to expand into the global marketplace. Creating a global branding campaign for your small business doesn’t have to be a costly endeavor. But it’s something that’s vitally important to the global success of your business.

To develop a brand as global as Mickey Mouse, what do you do?

Read:  Global Branding For Small Businesses

Ready, Set, Social Global

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Social media and networking has the ability to take a business global provided you leverage it in a very strategic way.  I write about this extensively in Chapter 6 in my new book, "Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably," (http://www.ExportingGuide.com) to be published by Apress December 18, 2013.

Meanwhile, take a look at some other strategies for launching an international social media campaign here.

Globally, Why Would Anyone Follow You?

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Why would anyone follow you?  That is the question Cari E. Guittard, Principal, Global Engagement Partners and Professor of Global Management, Hult International Business School asked her students during a class she taught on women's leadership at the Hult International Business School in Dubai.

Before we get to how that question was handled (don't want to let the cat out of the bag here), she defines global leadership.

Take a look:  Our World Demands a More Effective Global Leader

And by the way, Why would anyone follow you?  Let me know and we'll post your answers here. Meanwhile, need some help?  Explore the Global Mindset Inventory tool.  And read:  Leading With a Global Mindset.

6 Tips for Networking Globally

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English is not the only language spoken in our world.  When you network globally, consider these six tips for building your fan and follower base worldwide via social media.

Read the entire article:  Using Social Media Internationally:  How Not To Get Lost in Translation

Note:  I devote an entire chapter on this topic called Creating a Social Media and Social Networking Presence (chapter 6) in my new book, "Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably" to be published December 18, 2013 by Apress.

Shifting From Local Leaders to World Leaders

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YMCA of Greater Kansas City Young Achievers hit the road in Europe as they joined youth from 62 nations for an 11-day global conference. And in the process, they became leaders of the world, bringing understanding and solutions back home to Kansas City.

In Prague, the YMCA Young Achievers transformed themselves from local leaders to world leaders, tackling some of the toughest global problems and challenges. Workshops, networking and strategic planning on homelessness, poverty, education and many more global issues got these teens from the middle of America personally engaged with youth from around the world, giving them new a point of view to see the world in a much different way.

Read the entire article:  Young Leaders Go Global

Love this quote from one of the young leaders:

“Once you take someone on a global mission, it really just expands their mind and unleashes things within them that they really don’t know and it allows them to go further in life,” said Webster.

Hot Chocolate to Warm the Heart

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

My favorite race in Chicago:  the Hot Chocolate 15/5K, considered America's sweetest race.  I finished the 5K but didn't break any records!  See you there next year.  Have a great weekend.

Why Culture Matters in Global Business

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Ever have a communication problem with someone you are working with overseas?  Who hasn't.  You know how it goes.  You say one thing.  The party you are communicating with agrees and several days later, things are done exactly counter to what you discussed!  Is it because they ignored you?  Didn't like your strategy?  Wanted to do things on their own terms?  Not likely because why would they choose to do business with you?  It all boils down to cultural differences.

Mark Hehl from The Desara Group has some points to offer on the importance of culture when conducting business overseas.

Intro:

Conducting business on a global basis requires a good understanding of different cultures.  What works in your country might not work well in another and might even be interpreted as an insult. One of the many roles of an effective project manager is to raise the awareness of cultural issues within your project team and your organization to ensure success.

Read the entire article:  The Importance of Culture when Conducting Business Overseas

Related articles:  Communicating Across Cultures and How to Deal With Cultural Differences

Note:  I discuss Communicating with Cultural Intelligence at great length in Chapter 24 of my new book, "Exporting:  The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably" due out December 18, 2013 by Apress.

Turning Global Virality Into a Science

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Thanks to social media, a message can go global in an instant.  Meet the new global mover and shaker on the block:  BuzzFeed.  According to Slate, "BuzzFeed had 85 million visitors, three times more than just a year ago; by next year, it expects to become one of the most popular sites in the world."

What does that mean for everyone?

Judging by the spectacular results, BuzzFeed has turned “virality” into a science: Thanks to advanced analytics and tools of Big Data, they know exactly what needs to be said—and how—to get the story shared by most people. Its approach is best described as Taylorism of the viral: Just like Frederick Taylor knew how to design the factory floor to maximize efficiency, BuzzFeed knows how to design its articles to produce most clicks and shares. The content of the article is secondary to its viral performance.

Whether you agree or disagree, the article is worth a read.

Read the entire article:  Duolingo, BuzzFeed partnership:  The translation project is terrible for foreign news

The 24-Hour Global News Room

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The 24-hour global newsroom is what Jill Abramson, executive editor of the New York Times is seeking with her rebranding efforts at the New York Times.  It's similar to my goal here with The Global Small Business Blog but with a bias towards helping entrepreneurs and small businesses go global. 

Read:  Going Global - POLITICO.com

Should You Invest in Global Market Research?

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Euromonitor International, experts in strategy research for consumer markets, has put together a 16-page report (2013), "Investing in Global Market Research:  A Strategic Guide for Small to Medium Sized-Enterprises."

The guide covers assessing the value of market research and common uses for market research among SMEs and start-ups.  Page 7 shows a nice infographic on keys to success in small business.  My favorite part is Page 10, which says:  "More than ever before, companies of all sizes are exporting.  In fact, the biggest business in the world is international trading."  There are some good case studies featured as well.  Worth a read.

Immediate download of the PDF file here.

Small is Becoming the New Big

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As Hemant Taneja for the Harvard Business Review's blog says, "A series of breakthrough technologies and new business models are destroying the old rule that bigger is better." Clearly the Internet (i.e., eBay and Amazon) and less expensive approaches to manufacturing (Foxconn, for example) are game-changing moments in our world.

The global business environment is decomposing into smaller yet more profitable markets, so businesses can no longer rely on scaling up to compete, but must instead embrace a new economies of unscale.

What is unscaling?  Well you will have to read the provocative blog post below to find out. But let's just say that small is becoming the new big, which is great news for global small businesses.

Read the entire article along with all its comments:  Economies of Unscale:  Why Business Has Never Been Easier for the Little Guy

Hope You Had a Happy Halloween!

©2013 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Have a Spooktacular weekend!  Enjoy.

Global Nomad: BagPod

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A passion for fashion becomes a true global business.  How does it start?  Marianne Sparrenius-Waters, founder of Sweden-based RedDog Design shares her story:

"I suppose I was a bit of a global nomad, having traveled the world with my husband and our three children for 25 years before setting up my company in 2005. I've always loved fashion. I'm not an expert but love to be organised so I founded RedDog Design at home to create fashionable, yet simple functional handbags and accessories."

Marianne came up with the idea for a clutch-size organizer called a Bagpod because she was always losing things.  Now her business of leather and canvas clutches, along with phone covers and handbags has evolved to sell in more than 160 shops worldwide from Switzerland to Australia.

Read the entire article here.