With 196 countries across the globe and over 7 billion people in the world, differences in culture can be seen almost anywhere. In an increasingly interconnected world, people with different cultures can be found in a country nearby or even in your hometown. As a business person, student, or global citizen what does this mean for you? It simply means that understanding different cultures is becoming incredibly important in our daily lives and for business success on a global and even local level. Understanding cultural differences provides a unique competitive advantage and allows teamwork to thrive in almost any situation regardless of where you might be in the world or who you are working with. This is critical for proper communication and is especially crucial for international business.
globalEDGE Blog - By Tag: Global
Many small businesses are achieving success by selling to customers within their domestic borders. While this is a solid strategy, opportunities exist around the world that will allow further business growth. These opportunities lie within expanding business into new markets abroad. Going global may seem difficult at first but for many small businesses it provides a proven growth strategy. Doug Barry of the United States Commercial Service states that profit margins for international sales tend to be higher and he also offers several tips for entering international markets. We will now take a look at these suggestions and see how easy international business can really be!
The global economy has certainly taken a hit recently. The global downturn has not been easy for countries or companies to deal with, but still there are inspiring success stories that encourage us to keep pushing on. In hard times, focusing on these successes can be a great way to spur growth. This week in our blog series we will share some of these encouraging stories.
Japan's strong yen has increased companies' desire to grow internationally to the point where the nation is now ranked the third biggest cross border acquirer - a significant jump from being placed 10th last year. Japanese companies have taken advantage of the fact that many of their international competitors have been weakened by the European financial crisis and moved into the market with successful M&A transactions. Data shows that the value of mergers and acquisitions abroad by Japanese firms has more than doubled since last year.
The Director of the International Business Center at Michigan State University – Tomas Hult – just published the new version of the Total Global Strategy (TGS) book with George Yip. TGS has been the market leader both in multinational corporations’ board rooms and in executive MBA programs for years. From General Motors using the TGS framework to restructure their Asia operations to Michigan State University using it in its world-leading executive training programs in supply chain management to being rated as a top 30 business book previously, Total Global Strategy is the authority on practical and sophisticated global strategy development and implementation. TGS can be bought on Amazon and at all major booksellers.
Forbes recently came out with an article outlining a list of the top Global High Performers. This list targets companies around the globe that are doing well in regards to profit growth, the return to stockholders, return on capital, and sales growth. These main categories help show an interesting shift to companies not many instantly think of and others that are continuing to blow us away.
Forbes recently came out with a list of the 25 largest companies in the world. These are all large, multinational corporations that have an extreme impact on the global economy. Each and every one of these companies can affect many different economies and markets. Below is a brief summary of each of the top 10 companies:
Today, many people buy produce at a local grocery store but newly designed agriculture programs are looking to change this typical consumer trend. Members of community-supported agriculture programs, known as C.S.A’s, have their fruits and vegetables delivered directly to their homes or neighborhoods. This direct grower-to-consumer relationship has had success on a local scale and now the program will test itself by entering the global marketplace.
Comparing major financial cities across international borders is a challenging task for any organization to accomplish. Using people, business environment, market access, infrastructure and general competitiveness as categories of competitiveness to be evaluated, the Global Financial Centres Index ranked the top 75 favorable cities for doing business. London, New York and Hong Kong ranked as the top three cities and were considered essentially equal by researchers. Taken as a whole, the list reveals many current and future trends in the global business world.
As the demand for energy is expected to grow by double digits in the upcoming decades, the search for the right energy source to fulfill this demand has begun. The serious problems at the Japanese nuclear power plant have raised major concerns about the safety of nuclear energy and new exploration for oil has yet to resume in the Gulf of Mexico after last year’s massive oil spill. Coal has had similar bad luck as coal plants have been used more cautiously due to their contribution to global warming. With these three energy sources ruled out, natural gas is looking like a top candidate to fulfill future energy demands.
If you wanted to start a business anywhere in the world where would you pick? According to a Wall Street Journal article, the best place would be Denmark. The article talks about a collection of surveys that show a glimpse of entrepreneurship around the world and the factors that might help your next business make it in the global marketplace.
Doing business abroad is a challenging skill for professionals to master. Each culture has a unique code of ethics that is often contrary to those across the globe. In order to successfully conduct business internationally, it would be ideal for businesspeople to take time consulting with coworkers about past experiences, brushing up on basic language skills, and even participating in detailed training courses.
In reality, there is often not enough time in the day to make all of the ideal preparations prior to a business trip. For business travelers lacking the optimal planning time, there are several applications available for mobile devices that can help them to avoid the most damaging cultural blunders without losing too much of their valuable work week.