globalEDGE Blog - Page 139

Expanding a company abroad can provide a number of advantages for a company. The sales life of products and services can be extended by finding new markets to sell them in, thereby reducing dependence on domestic markets. Additionally, there is an increased ability to even out sales by tapping into new markets that may have different fluctuations if your business is troubled by seasonal changes or fluctuating demand cycles in the native country. Still, many countries assume that these benefits will be guaranteed immediately following the entrance of their business, and overlook a number of important factors that could have benefited the business. Some common mistakes made when taking a company global are listed below. 

The once mighty emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China are currently experiencing the negative consequences that come with the title "Emerging Markets". Brazil and Russia are experiencing terrible recessions, China is attempting to control a stagnant market, and India is struggling with economic reforms. To give an indication of the severity of the situation, Goldman Sachs, whose former chief economist coined the title given to the BRIC countries, has recently pulled its BRIC fund after years of continued losses. 

Over the duration of its rather short history, Bitcoin has gained popularity and economic clout but also its fair share of skeptics. The peer-to-peer lending system utilizes data mining, based on the idea that there is a finite number of bitcoins, and flaunts its decentralized network. Basically, there is a certain point in time when all existing bitcoins will be extracted and there is no single entity, like a central bank, that has the ability to generate more. This important distinction has led to its designation as a commodity by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the United States. Regardless of its status, the digital currency has been rallying for about two months now, thanks in part to acceptance by financial institutions like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. With a current buy price of about  $400, the money system has a record $1 billion invested in it.

A new segment has just been added to the resource tab of the country pages within the global insight section of globalEDGE. For all countries with available information, the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA) Offices resource has just been added and now provides user with contact and address information for almost 200 ITA centers worldwide. For example, the United States resource tab has information for every ITA office located within the U.S. The ITA provides companies with advice on exporting, international sales, logistics, finance, and trade dispute resolutions. This has the potential to become a very useful resource for globalEDGE users of any kind. From a company trying to contact an ITA office for advice or help to a student doing research, having access to the ITA offices around the world opens many doors and allows globalEDGE to bring even more global business knowledge to its users.

Back in the 18th century, Europe was considered one of the most powerful technology innovation centers in the word. However, over the past decade, its technology industry growth has been lagging far behind that of the U.S., Israel, or even emerging markets such as China and India. This blog will discuss some reasons that contribute to the poor growth in the technology industry in Europe, as well as present some strategies being put in place by governments and European local businesses to re-boot the European technology industry.

Expanding a business overseas is a great way to gain access to new customers and can lead to tremendous growth for a company. However, it is important to weigh the potential risks and rewards to determine the viability of expanding a business internationally. In order to be successful in foreign markets, businesses must develop a market strategy, operating model, and product that are specific to the market or markets that are being targeted. The following paragraphs identify four tips that business owners can use to determine if expansion overseas is a good strategy, and if so, which markets to target.

Just this week, Nissan Motor Co. announced its quarterly earnings, which revealed that its profits had experienced a 37 percent surge during the first half of the fiscal year. Because of this revenue spike, Nissan's net income through March is now projected to reach $4.44 billion, an unprecedented level in the company's history. Nissan is now experiencing its fastest sales growth in over ten years, citing rising demand in the United States and Western Europe as a significant part of its success. This is an important record for the popular manufacturing company, but it may not last too much longer. 

China has a problem. In fact, China has multiple problems, but perhaps the most concerning issue is its greying populace. Throughout the world, advances in technology and knowledge in the general population of birth control, have left advanced countries facing demographic crises. China is no different, and while not considered an advanced country, it faces similar issues that are plaguing its population.

The globalEDGE team is excited to announce that we have successfully added new trade blocs, as well as redesigned the layout for many of the sections related to trade blocs. If you look at the Global Insights by Trade Bloc page, you will notice that there are 10 new trade blocs: ANCOM, APTA, the Arab League, CEFTA, EAC, EAEU, ECCAS, EFTA, OECS, and SAARC. By clicking on each individual bloc, you will also notice that we have redesigned the Introduction, History, Membership, Related Agreements, and Statistics pages. Users will now be able to gain an in-depth perspective of how much aggregated trade occurs because of these blocs, as well as how much each member country contributes to the bloc as a whole. Make sure to check out this new section today!

A month ago, I wrote about how the Volkswagen Emissions Crisis could affect the German Economy. Recently in Australia, Bannister Law filed two class action lawsuits in federal court on behalf of Australian citizens who purchased the defective Volkswagen vehicles. More than 100,000 cars in Australia had been sold with software that manipulated pollution controls.