9 Trends Reshaping the Global Business Environment

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This is Deloitte's second annual “Business Trends 2014: Navigating the next wave of globalization” report that explores nine trends that are currently reshaping the business environment - driven by long-term, potentially irreversible, shifts in the global economy.

The nine trends are all directly related to one key question:  What is going on with the global economy?

The report is broken down into three sections:

Section 1:  New consumers
Section 2:  New collaborations
Section 3:  New leadership

Read the report by downloading it to your device here.

How Companies Deal With Import Quotas

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In the article below, I discuss "The Great Quota Hustle" published in Forbes (2000) and then I profile three sourcing companies: Li & Fung, Connor and Esquel Group.  My intent here is that you can glean lessons on how the big guys run their sourcing companies and come up with some new ideas on your own to better manage your supply chain.

Read the entire article:  How Companies Master the Quota System

Life Is About Moments

“I've always believed in savoring the moments. In the end, they are the only things we'll have.” - Anna Godbersen, The Luxe

Photo credits:  @2014 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Will Global Poverty Ever Be Eliminated Entirely?

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In Linda Yueh's "The rise of the global middle class [6.18.13]," she purports that the new global middle class in China, India and Brazil have propelled their economies to equal the size of the industrialized G7 countries and that by 2050, they are forecast to account for nearly half of world output, far surpassing the G7.

What is middle class?

According to organisations like the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it's someone who earns or spends $10 to $100 per day.

Will the trend last?  As the article says at the end, "The prize, which many will hope is in reach, is that global poverty is eliminated entirely within another couple of decades."

Read the entire article:  The rise of the global middle class  Be sure to read all the reader's comments - oftentimes more telling than the article itself.

More current pieces on the rise of the middle class:  The Swelling Middle, How We Can Strengthen the World's Fragile Middle Class (requires free registration) and The "Fragile Middle"

What's NEXT for the National Export Initiative? Try NEI/NEXT.

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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced NEI/NEXT – a data-based, customer service-driven initiative to ensure that more American businesses can fully capitalize on markets that are opening up around the world.  NEI/NEXT will build on Administration-wide achievements under the National Export Initiative (NEI) through five core objectives, to help all businesses reach the 95 percent of consumers who live outside the United States.  Here are the objectives:

1.  Connecting more U.S. businesses to their NEXT global customer with tailored industry-specific information and assistance.

2.  Making the NEXT international shipment easier and less expensive, through efforts to streamline U.S. government export-related services, reporting requirements and processes, and speeding American goods to more markets through domestic infrastructure improvements.

3.  Expanding access to finance for U.S. businesses’ NEXT export transaction, helping more exporters obtain financing to meet international demand, and ensuring more companies know what products and services are available to reduce risk and export to new markets with confidence.

4.  Promoting exports and foreign direct investment attraction as the NEXT economic development priority in communities and regions across the country by enhancing partnerships with local and state leaders and by coordinating with SelectUSA, the U.S. government-wide program housed within the Department of Commerce to facilitate foreign direct investment.

5.  Creating, fostering and ensuring U.S. business’ NEXT global opportunity by helping developed and developing economies improve their business environments, by opening new markets, and by establishing conditions and addressing barriers to allow more American exporters to compete and win abroad.

Read more:  U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker Announces Next Phase of the National Export Initiative

For more on NEI/Next, including state by state success stories, visit:  http://www.trade.gov/neinext/

Full report, "National Export Initiative, Next, Strategic Framework," visit:  http://www.trade.gov/neinext/neinext-strategic-framework.pdf

Related posts here.  Need help exporting?  Get started here.

Tune In: It's National Small Business Week 5/12-5/16

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With the United States having more than 28 million small businesses, it's easy to understand how and why we honor these hard-working individuals who create jobs, spur economic growth and develop innovative measures to improve our world.  That said, there will be lots of excitement, conversations and celebrations around this important week - from SBA to the White House to well ... all the companies who salute the crucial role that small businesses play in our lives.  The national celebrations will be held in four major venues: San Francisco, May 12; Kansas City, May 13; Boston, May 15; and Washington, D.C., May 15-16.

Check out some of the activities and conversations below.

•  The White House Blog
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/05/12/national-small-business-week-starts-today

•  Statement by the President of the United States on National Small Business Week:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/12/statement-president-national-small-business-week

•  SBA.gov
http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/official-sba-news-and-views/open-business/national-small-business-week-starts-today

•  National Small Business Week site:
http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/

•  National Small Business Week 2014 - A Celebration of the Accomplishments of Small Business - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
https://www.uschamber.com/blog/national-small-business-week-2014-celebration-accomplishments-small-business

•  Small Business Week - National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
http://www.nfib.com/small-business-week/

•  Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council)
http://www.sbecouncil.org/2014/05/12/small-business-week-2014-needs-to-spark-bipartisanship-to-help-entrepreneurs-says-small-business-advocate/

Let's continue to support and celebrate small businesses every day!

Students Apply Classroom Work in the Real World of International Business

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Commercial and construction lighting company Jameson, which is based in Clover, South Carolina, wanted to determine whether its newest durable lighting line, Cero light, could find business in other countries and to find the best market to release the product.  Enter international business students from University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business who took on the challenge so that they could apply classroom work in the real world.

The students learned that Jameson’s Cero light could be applied to various industries, mining in particular. The final report detailed several findings, including the high costs and slow growth of the domestic mining industry that was below average in relation to the rest of the world.

The report analyzed everything from active international markets for Cero light to bureaucratic obstacles, trade barriers, risk, market saturation, currency rates, infrastructure needs, potential economic growth, duties, shipping, insurance, compliance costs and many other necessary elements involved in international trade.

Read more:  USC business students learn about global competitiveness with small-business project initiative