4 Myths of Global Branding

Are you global or plan to be so?   Read this —  another line item in your global checklist.

Excerpt:  But as the barriers to global commerce have fallen complexities of global branding have taken their place. In today’s global economy business needs to be nimble enough to rapidly take advantage of new markets and opportunities as they arise. All too often these fleet-footed businesses are being slowed or sabotaged by hurdles they face when attempting to use their brands on a more global scale.

In this regard, I have assembled the four most common myths about global branding that I encounter almost on a daily basis.

Read full article via 4 Myths of Global Branding | Inc.com.

Crucial Body Language Cues to Know When Doing Business Abroad

This is interesting — including the comments.  Global small business

Excerpt:  Going to a foreign country? You can study up on Berlitz tapes or Rosetta Stone all you want, but in any culture, the verbal particulars tell only part of the story. Subtleties of tone and posture make up a large part of communication, even between fellow countrymen. The language barrier just puts even more pressure on nonverbal expression. So before you flip the Burmese version of the bird, or try to give a German prime minister a friendly shoulder rub, you should try to have a clear idea of the rubric of understanding through which your gestures will be interpreted, the standards of behavior to follow. Here are some of the most costly slip-ups you’ll want to avoid, most of which would be totally unremarkable back home:

Read full article via Crucial Body Language Cues to Know When Doing Business Abroad | OnlineMBA.

Structure Your Global Team for Innovation – HBR

Article provides good basic how-to if you have global teams to bring into the innovation mix.

Excerpt:  Many firms struggle to exploit the innovation potential of their global networks. That’s partly because they manage global projects like traditional ones. But single-location projects draw on a reservoir or shared tacit knowledge and trust that global projects lack. To get the most from dispersed innovation, managers need a different playbook.

Here are three ways to set up and manage global innovation for success:

Read full article  via Structure Your Global Team for Innovation – Keeley Wilson and Yves L. Doz – Harvard Business Review.

The Complete Guide to Global Social Media Marketing

The ebook is free but you do have to register your name and such.  Clicking on the link below takes you to site with a blurb on each of the 6 chapters in the ebook, a form to use for registering and a download button.

Excerpt:  Social media is a great way to connect with your audience and have a two-way conversation. But it can be easy to forget that not everyone who finds your social media pages will speak your language, or be able to relate to your region’s latest trends.

Creating a global social media strategy early on will prepare you for all of these challenges, and will keep you from overextending your resources.

Download HubSpot’s guide which will help you create a social media strategy that caters to your audience, whether in a specific country or across multiple nations. This free 71-page guide includes the following chapters:

Read blurb on each chapter and download guide here via The Complete Guide to Global Social Media Marketing.  From HubSpot

The Rise of the General Counsel — The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

Small business of-interest and takeaway advisory for when the “time makes sense” to choose inside legal versus private firms.  Legal

 Excerpt:  Obviously, private law firms have terrific lawyers who provide great service to business. And obviously the two trends described above are not uniform or universal. But there is a crisis in private firms, at the same time that there has been increasing growth, prestige and pay for general counsel and other inside lawyers. (For a more extended treatment of the views, go here.) No report on the the “uncertain times” facing “big law” should ignore the rise of inside counsel. Boards, CEOs and other business leaders have increasingly recognized that hiring outstanding general counsel and other inside lawyers is vital to the twin goals of the global corporation: high performance with high integrity.

Read full article via The Rise of the General Counsel — The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.

At Multinationals, Country CEOs Should Be Both Local and Global – HBR

Good read for small businesses who are global or want to be global businesses.  This article is more information and guidance in the file of why leadership, governance and management are different today than ever it has been in history.

Excerpt:  If you’re among the many multinational CEOs planning to appoint a local executive as your next country head in an emerging market such as Brazil, China, or India, you may want to think again.

Knowing the market and possessing networks are important, but that’s not all your company needs for success today. To deliver stellar performances, we believe that it’s critical for leaders in emerging markets to fit into two ecosystems at the same time: The local market as well as the global corporation.

Read full article via At Multinationals, Country CEOs Should Be Both Local and Global – Anil Gupta and Haiyan Wang – Harvard Business Review.

Dealing With the New World of Multinational Competition

Small business global or want to be?   This is a good read  —  trends and findings.

Excerpt:  Despite the risks involved, emerging markets continue to represent a major opportunity for multinational companies, both from the North and the South. Southern firms should continue to act through shared experiences and commitment to similar objectives and should leverage opportunities for regional integration. Northern firms should embrace new partnering and financing options and be early movers in new markets in order to stay competitive. Overall, partnerships between Northern and Southern firms offer mutually beneficial solutions and should be pursued by both sides.

Read full article via Dealing with the new world of multinational competition.  From PwC

APEC 2012 CEO Summit: APEC Reliable Supply Chains

Recommended read.  The graphs are very well done and there is also a download paper on “Reliable Supply Chains”.     Particularly for global small business.

Excerpt:  One of the challenges for the continued economic growth of the APEC territories is reliable, integrated supply chains. Removing key trade bottle necks will facilitate faster, less expensive, and more secure intra-APEC trade. While APEC has made progress in integrating, and making supply chains more reliable, this progress must continue in order to keep up with ballooning trade volume and to increase intra-APEC trade.

Read article, great graphs and download pdf paper via APEC 2012 CEO Summit: APEC Reliable Supply Chains.  From PwC

How to Manage a Global Supply Chain

More great small business takeaways this morning — global supply chain businesses’ best practices.  Recommended.

Excerpt:  Executives at Flextronics, Lubrizol and A. Schulman reveal best practices that allow them to expand their operations globally, while bringing their customers along for the ride.

Read full article via How to Manage a Global Supply Chain | Supply Chain content from IndustryWeek.

Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions

This is interesting.  To be used as an overview and not as an individual measure in another country — still there is value.  Small business global.

Excerpt: Firstly, the averages of a country do not relate to individuals of that country. Even though this model has proven to be quite often correct when applied to the general population, one must be aware that not all individuals or even regions with subcultures fit into the mould. It is to be used as a guide to understanding the difference in culture between countries, not as law set in stone. As always, there are exceptions to the rule.

Read full article via Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions.    From Clearly Cultural

Integrated Reporting: It’s Streamlined, But Will the Benefits Outstrip the Costs? – Knowledge@Australian School of Business

Good read from the Australian School of Business —  from a member of the international task force to integrate financial reporting.  The article is global —  small business need-to-know and news-to-watch.

Excerpt:  Simnett is on the content taskforce of the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC), which was set up in 2010 to develop a globally accepted framework that brings together environmental, social and governance (ESG) information with financial reporting in a clear, concise, consistent and comparable format. He describes the IIRC as “a powerful network of interested parties that has come together to do something about a reporting system that’s not achieving what it is supposed to achieve”.

One pressing reason to bring on integrated reporting is that some organisations have to meet multiple – up to 100 – reporting requirements, Simnett highlights. “We want to see if we can bring the multiple sources of information together and report them in a simple format that addresses what people want,” he says. “People are setting up corporate structures and reporting silos according to all these different requirements and it is not necessarily the most beneficial approach.”

Read full article via Integrated Reporting: It’s Streamlined, But Will the Benefits Outstrip the Costs? – Knowledge@Australian School of Business.

Cross-Cultural Communication Takes More than Manners – HBR

Global small business or want to be?   Read this.  You need to understand a culture from their side of the fence, trying to see through your “current eyes” means you are probably missing the important points and worse, offending the other person (s).

Excerpt:  A case in point: I facilitated an important global marketing meeting in Beijing not long ago with a U.S.-based multi-national food company, which had just purchased a specialty food product line from one of its rivals. The newly-adopted subsidiary had recently become a market leader under its old ownership, based mostly on very good market research that was informed and driven by a deep cultural understanding of the habits and behavioral preferences of the average urban Chinese.

The new owners sent their US team to participate in a strategy session, a discussion of where this Chinese subsidiary believes its market is heading and how it must respond to new and mounting competitive threats. The U.S. team set about asking questions as they would do in any meeting in the U.S. They tried to be sensitive to their hosts and believed they were treading lightly. To their surprise, the Chinese nationals reacted defensively to even the smallest and seemingly most innocent questions. “Who were these ‘outsiders’ telling us about our market?” In essence, perhaps without recognizing it, the Americans slighted them without even knowing how or why

Read full article via Cross-Cultural Communication Takes More than Manners – Leonard Fuld – Harvard Business Review.

Eurozone Debt Crisis: The Impact on US Businesses: PwC

Small business global need-to-know and news-to-watch.  Strategy and more.

Excerpt:   The Eurozone is at a pivotal crossroads and will likely emerge from the ongoing crisis looking quite different from the one we know today. Because the world is so interconnected, most companies will be affected in some way, regardless of how this crisis unfolds.

The Eurozone crisis has created risks—and new opportunities—so businesses must prepare to navigate the different outcomes that may unfold. The run-up to the spring Greek elections and EU Summit demonstrated how quickly scenarios once nearly unthinkable in the European debt crisis can become realistic. Political developments, economic news, and approaching debt redemptions can trigger fears of a sovereign debt default or a Eurozone exit that could materialize over the course of a weekend.

Read full presentation via Eurozone debt crisis: The impact on US businesses: PwC.

Who Rules the World, and How? Columbia Business School

This is an interesting read of research and excerpts from their book.  The small business takeaways — it gives insight into various countries and the “club” that rules governance currently in specific countries.   Tips to use now if you are, or plan to be, global.

Excerpt: A lot of decisions about how things get done and who gets to control what in firms happen in informal clubs rather than as a result of the rule of law

Read full article Columbia Ideas at Work : Feature.  From Columbia Business School

How Emerging-Market Companies Should Expand – Video – HBR

Small business takeaways with how-to.

Excerpt:  Krishna Palepu, Harvard Business School professor, uses Bharti Airtel to explain how companies from emerging markets can reach a global consumer base.

See video here via How Emerging-Market Companies Should Expand – Video – Harvard Business Review.