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March 11, 2009
Have American Entrepreneurs Lost Hope?
Posted by Jason Del Rey at 11:03 AM
Earlier this week, the Times published a post on its Bits blog focusing on a recent interview with Jack Ma, founder of the giant B2B site Alibaba.com, and CEO of its parent company, Alibaba Group. Ma, who we featured last year in a How I Did It, told the Times that he believes the global recession will last three to five years and "If you don't accept that, you are in trouble."
Ma also shared his not-so-upbeat view on the current state of entrepreneurship in the United States. "You don't see the hope here," he said. "This time they are waiting for the government."
Ma's statement didn't sit well with at least one reader: Mitch Free, CEO of MFG.com, an Atlanta-based competitor of Alibaba.com, which former Inc. staff writer (and current Times writer) Stephanie Clifford profiled in our May 2008 issue. "While there is concern – and we should all be concerned – the spirit and confidence of grassroots manufacturing and entrepreneurship here is far from broken," Free wrote in the blog's comments section. "I...hope that (Ma) takes the time to visit some of the U.S. manufacturers and businesses that are fighting these business conditions to develop and grow. I think that doing so may give him a more accurate perspective of the American spirit."
Free might be on to something here. Over the past year, my colleagues and I have spoken with dozens, if not hundreds, of entrepreneurs who are battling through the recession with ingenuity, innovation, and hard work. That's a pretty good sample, but still just that. So is there any truth to Ma's assertion?
July 3, 2008
Champagne and Robots In France
Posted by Eric Schine at 3:32 PM
Last week I co-moderated the French American Conference of Entrepreneurs in Paris. In two packed days of speeches and panels, the 450 attendees listened intently in a large auditorium inside the Louvre museum as hugely successful American entrepreneurs like Kevin Ryan, a co-founder of DoubleClick and now a co-founder of Alley Corp. and Martin Eberhard a co-founder of Tesla Motors, the electric sports car company, spoke about their wild rides to success. For the audience, mostly young French just getting their start, these successful American entrepreneurs are like rock stars.
It's always fascinating to hear the stories of how great ideas are born, especially when those ideas turn into billion dollar businesses. But for me one of the most interesting parts of the event came at the very end: a networking session in the beautiful garden of L'hôtel Potocki, the ornate mansion that once belonged to a Polish count but which today is the headquarters of the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris, one of the sponsors of the event. Here, I was able to meet and talk with many of those attending the conference. It was a bit of an incongruous setting. There, sipping champagne on the terrace of this magnificent eighteenth century residence was a collection of some of modern France's most promising and scrappy hight-tech entrepreneurs.
One of them is Jean-Christophe Baillie, the founder of a Gostai, a company that makes software for consumer robotics. Baillie, who graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique, France's top technical school, and who has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence has assembled a team of 15 software engineers who make and license operating software for consumer robotics. The software, called Urbi can be used on a wide variety of robots and also opens up programming to hobbyists who want to give robots unique behavior since it supports Linux and other open source programs. Baillie launched the company in 2006. Among Gostai's clients and licensees are Sony Computer Science Labs in Paris, the French robot maker Aldebaran, and many European and U.S. universities, including Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
In a cramped lab inside of ENSTA, a research institute on the edge of Paris, Baillie and his team are working on software for robots that play, robots that teach and robots that work. The idea is to develop easy to use programs that will allow anyone to customize a robot's behavior, from getting a drink from the fridge to reading a newspaper out loud, to recognizing a face to even doing a dance.
For now, the little lab is strewn with small human and dog shaped robots that walk, follow the movement of balls with their "eyes" and, in the case of the dogs, chase the balls and bark. On computer screens, programmers are working on software for robots that will play soccer at an upcoming robotics competition in China called robocup, with a Gostai sponsored online competition called “robotstadium”.
Baillie has been able to take his vision and his little young company as far as he has thanks in large part to the French government. Gostai, like all French start-ups, benefits from an array of tax breaks and subsidies without which it would be impossible to get rolling, given France's generous and, for business, burdensome social benefits. But while it may be easier to start a business in France than in the U.S, it's far harder to grow one. The market is too small and financing is harder to come by. So, in a few days, Baillie will be hopping a plane and making the pilgrimage to Silicon Valley, as so many French tech companies have done before. Says Baillie "The point is not to save a few euros with the French tax reduction program, it's about raising money and growing very quickly into an international business." Spoken like a true entrepreneur.
June 24, 2008
Inc. Goes To France
Posted by Eric Schine at 1:59 PM
In a few days I’ll be traveling to Paris to co-moderate the French American Conference of Entrepreneurs. Some big entrepreneurial names will be in attendance from the American side, including Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist and Reid Hoffman, the founder of Linkedin.
There will also be some big names from the French side, but most Americans aren’t familiar with these French companies. Two of the more prominent French entrepreneurs that are planning to attend are Fabrice Sargent of cellfish.com, a mobile phone media company and Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet , founder of Priceminister.com, a hugely popular site that sells new and used merchandise online, including cars.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the French have their own great entrepreneurs. The word “entrepreneur,” of course, is a French word. The truth is the French are great inventors and innovators and always have been. We can thank France for a lot more than just great wine, bread and cheese, although we can certainly thank them for that as well. France is the country that has given the world such marvels as the bicycle, the gyroscope, the parachute, and the hot air balloon. Let’s not forget Jaques Cousteau's invention of the “acqua-lung,” the first ever SCUBA gear. And, depending on whom you talk to, there’s also a strong case to be made for the French inventing the airplane and the movies, or at least movie projectors.
What’s so amazing to me is the strength and depth of entrepreneurialism in France today despite labor laws and an overall business culture that is often hostile to starting and building businesses. Despite the efforts of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to bring reforms, France remains one tough place to build a business. It’s a place where government bureaucrats can fine business owners if their employees put in more than 35 hours of work a week. And it's a country where it’s so hard and expensive to fire workers, that many small companies decide not to hire more help when they could really use it, thus crushing their chances for real growth.
Yet even with all those obstacles, the French manage to create and grow fabulous companies. One of my favorite stories of French entrepreneurialism is that of Francis Holder, founder of Maison Paul, a fabulously successful chain of boulangeries that have multiplied across France and can now be found in England, the Middle East, Asia and, in the U.S., in Florida. All told, there are nearly 300 Paul boulangeries across the globe. Yet Francis Holder started life with none of the connections and elite schooling that so often are requirements for success in France. Holder learned the virtue of hard work waking up at 4:00 AM to help his dad prepare and bake the daily dough. Then he'd help out his mother in the storefront after school. What a great success story. If Francis Holder had built his business in the U.S., we’d surely be writing about him in Inc.
Over the course of the next several days, I’ll be blogging about some of the French entrepreneurs I’ll be meeting at the FACE Conference. I suspect I’ll come across some fascinating companies and I look forward to sharing with you the best of what I find. So stay tuned!
May 14, 2008
The Kiva Connection: Exclusive Interview from Cambodia
Posted by Tamara Schweitzer at 10:38 AM
When I set out to blog about the entrepreneurs that Mansueto Ventures sponsored through Kiva.org, I wanted to provide readers with as many details as possible about the day-to-day lives of small business owners in developing countries and how exactly access to microfinance was impacting their operations.
As you can imagine, it is not a simple task to connect directly with entrepreneurs in developing communities, as most do not have access to communication technology. So far, what I have learned about the entrepreneurs we sponsored and what I have reported here on this blog has come from examining the background profiles and photos posted on Kiva's website of each borrower. However, this snapshot is only part of their story, and as a journalist, I felt it my duty to uncover as much of the individual's story as possible.
This is where Kiva comes in. The organization's staff has been amazingly instrumental in getting me access to the information I desired. I have connected with several Kiva fellows, volunteers who are stationed in countries all over the world where Kiva has microfinance partners. These fellows are working on the ground to facilitate the smooth transaction between the local lending institutions and their clients. As such, many of these fellows have the chance to visit with entrepreneurs in their homes and places of business.
Continue reading "The Kiva Connection: Exclusive Interview from Cambodia"
April 23, 2008
The Kiva Connection: Business to Business Lending
Posted by Tamara Schweitzer at 1:34 PM
Last week, Advanta, a major provider of small business credit cards, announced that it has partnered with Kiva.org to launch KivaB4B, an initiative that gives small business owners and entrepreneurs the opportunity to increase their contribution to the social cause of microlending. The KivaB4B program encourages entrepreneurs in the U.S. to support their counterparts in developing countries by making microloans through Kiva. Advanta small business customers who make a loan using their Advanta credit card will get their grant matched by Advanta for up to $200 per month.
With KivaB4B, Advanta and Kiva have tapped into a very powerful cause in the entrepreneurial community: business-to-business giving. In my experience meeting and writing about small business owners, I have always been struck by how quick entrepreneurs are to lend a hand to a fellow business owner just starting out, or advise an entrepreneur who may be stumbling through the growth process.
Yet small businesses are often reluctant to align themselves with social causes because they may not have the means to make the kind of substantial contribution that a larger, public company could. Same goes for the average person looking to make a difference. The minimal financial commitment needed to make a microloan is precisely the appeal of social causes like Kiva. The average entrepreneur on Kiva.org is requesting less than a $1,000 loan. KivaB4B extends that appeal to the small business arena, allowing small businesses the opportunity to double their social impact with just a couple hundred dollars.
There is also the aspect of personal connection when lending through Kiva. Borrower profiles not only help lenders put a face to a name, but it also gives small business owners the opportunity to select a personal story that they connect with or locate a specific business sector they wish to support. As part of the KivaB4B launch activities last week, an Advanta customer was introduced to the entrepreneur she loaned to through Kiva, a seamstress from Samoa. This marked the first time that a Kiva borrower has been brought to the United States to meet face-to-face with her American supporter. You can read more about the Samoan seamstress, Senerita Mataomaile's story at this link. The meeting of Senerita Mataomaile and her lender, San Francisco-based filmmaker Karil Daniels, is just one of the many inspiring stories on the KivaB4B site and a great example of entrepreneurs connecting through Kiva and through the cause of microlending.
What do you think of the KivaB4B initiative? Are you more inclined to give to a social cause if you know you could double your financial impact?
April 9, 2008
The Kiva Connection: All About Group Loans
Posted by Tamara Schweitzer at 11:37 AM
In continuing to introduce the entrepreneurs Mansueto Ventures has loaned to through Kiva, I thought I'd write about one of the more unique loans in the bunch. We contributed to a group of five women (pictured below), who live in Uganda and each have their own business. However, instead of each of the woman applying for an individual loan, they are receiving a group loan, meaning the money that they request (in this case the total loan amount was $1,650) goes to fund all five of the businesses they are involved with.
Each entrepreneur can apply for a different amount of money, but each borrower is accountable to the others in the group when it comes to meeting repayment deadlines. Some of the microfinance institutions that Kiva partners with only disburse group loans because the format is often more successful (or desirable) than individual lending on a number of levels.
For the MFIs, group loans take less time and money to manage -- the format not only allows the institutions to disburse several loans at once, but also to collect the repayments all together. Additionally, group lending makes it possible for the MFIs to reach a greater number of entrepreneurs in need. For the borrowers, being part of a group loan creates a kind of community among the participating entrepreneurs. These women not only learn from each other, but they become each other's support network. If one member of the group defaults on a loan, the entire group is liable for paying that money back. Group loans have an extremely low default rate because each individual knows that his or her reputation is on the line.
Pictured here is the group that calls themselves Lugoba A. The five women are: Christine Namwalo, Betty Mirembe, Amina Nanyonga, Gorette Nantume, and Ruth Nankya. Ruth and Gorette have retail businesses, Amina is in charcoal sales, Betty runs a canteen selling snacks, and Christine runs a restaurant in their village of Nansana. I was curious about the pink papers in their hands and I was told that a document is given to each entrepreneur by the microfinance institution as a formal acknowledgment that they have received the loan. The form also represents their pledge to pay back their loan on time.
For more information about the Mansueto Ventures Kiva lending project, click here.
March 12, 2008
The Kiva Connection: Meet the Entrepreneurs
Posted by Tamara Schweitzer at 5:39 PM
Welcome to the newest installment of the Kiva Connection. In my first blog post last month, I wrote about our company-wide endeavor to make microloans to entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world through Kiva.org.
What's great about getting involved with microfinancing through Kiva is that their online model provides a level of visibility to the lenders -- anyone can go to the Website, see a picture of the entrepreneurs requesting loans, and read their story. And while I could simply post a link to our borrowers' profiles on Kiva.org, what I am trying to accomplish with this blog is to make our sponsored entrepreneurs -- whose day-to-day work lives can feel so distant from our own office-centric jobs -- a little more accessible.
To do this, I have connected with several Kiva-affiliated people, or fellows, who are on the ground working with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in countries where Mansueto Ventures has sponsored entrepreneurs. In effect, Kiva fellows are the bridge between the MFIs (that assess the businesses in need and disburse the loans) and the entrepreneurs themselves.
One of the things I have learned in corresponding with Kiva fellows across the globe is that the process of approving and disbursing loans for entrepreneurs is a laborious one. The surging popularity of Kiva has certainly allowed many microfinance institutions to thrive, however, most of these institutions still lack the resources to efficiently process the sheer volume of loans that are requested on a daily basis.
Because many MFIs are stretched thin, their staff does not always have time to write journal updates on every entrepreneur. But, Kiva lenders do receive brief progress e-mails once the loan has been disbursed to the entrepreneur, and any time that the borrower pays back a portion of the loan. Based on the e-mail updates I have received, all 7 of our loans have been disbursed to the entrepreneurs and four of the businesses have already made a repayment.
Continue reading "The Kiva Connection: Meet the Entrepreneurs"
February 6, 2008
The Kiva Connection: Our Adventure in Microlending
Posted by Tamara Schweitzer at 4:40 PM
Over the holiday season, Inc.com reached out to our colleagues at Mansueto Ventures -- the company that publishes the print and online editions of Inc. and Fast Company -- with an idea to sponsor an entrepreneur through an organization called Kiva.org. As you may know, Kiva.org is a website that facilitates microloans to entrepreneurs all over the developing world.
Since its launch in 2005, Kiva has partnered with 77 microfinance institutions in 39 countries. These "field partners," as they are called by Kiva, identify entrepreneurs in impoverished communities who are in need of loans to purchase the necessary equipment and supplies to sustain their businesses.
Through its Internet-based model, Kiva.org makes it possible for just about anyone to support an entrepreneur in a developing country. The site displays short profiles of all the entrepreneurs who have qualified for loans, so potential lenders can choose who their money will go to. Once the loan is disbursed, the microfinance institution posts progress updates to the Kiva site until the entrepreneur has repaid the money.
At Inc.com, we saw lending through Kiva as a unique opportunity for us to forge a connection with entrepreneurs in other parts of the world and to shed light on their experiences. While our sponsored entrepreneurs may be in a much different place economically than the U.S.-based entrepreneurs we cover, the trials and tribulations that they face as business owners are no doubt similar -- and we will use this blog to examine their challenges as well as their triumphs.
Continue reading "The Kiva Connection: Our Adventure in Microlending"
August 16, 2007
Africa's New Entrepreneurial Hubs
Posted by Mike Hofman at 1:48 PM
The west African nation of Ghana is quickly becoming a hub of global business in a region long known for its economic, political, and social challenges. As Nitasha Tiku reported in our April issue, "The country's GDP has posted gains for six consecutive years, the government has lowered trade barriers, and the stock market in the capital, Accra, is bustling."
So bustling in fact that now Hilton is jumping into the Ghanese market, building a luxury hotel in Airport City, a newly developed part of Accra, according to the web site Hotel Business News. (To see the article, click here.)
Hilton is also considering new properties in Equatorial Guinea and Uganda.
Is the development of business-traveller hotels across Africa a sign that the continent is finally becoming an integrated part of the global business community? Consider this additional fact: Our latest survey of Inc. 500 companies, to be published in September, shows that America's fastest-growing firms are currently doing business in at least 12 African countries, led by cosmopolitan South Africa but including such once-hard-luck cases as Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.
July 27, 2007
France's Entrepreneurial Renaissance
Posted by Mike Hofman at 4:50 PM
Under new leadership, France, the nation that coined the term 'entrepreneur,' may be headed for an entrepreneurial revival—if proposed tax cuts and revised employment regulations are adopted, that is.
So reports the Los Angeles Times. "The word 'entrepreneur' may have gone missing from the French spirit, if not from its vocabulary, but the new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is determined to bring it back and has the legislature working overtime in a special session to do so," the Times reports. "In general, [the new government is] trying to make things easier and more profitable, particularly for the small and medium-size businesses that are the backbone of the French economy."
Emboldened by the new pro-business attitude in Paris, "Many French entrepreneurs are ready for a storming of the economic Bastille, as it were," the paper says.
Have you lived or worked in France? Do you think Sarkozy will be able to jumpstart the entrepreneurial economy there? And do you think lower taxes and longer work weeks are the way to accomplish economic growth in France, or would you recommend an alternate agenda?
April 24, 2007
Going Global, Part 22: Toyota Doth Protest Too Much
Posted by Sarah Goldstein at 3:23 PM
It's official: Toyota has surpassed GM as the top-selling automaker in the world, ending what the New York Times called "one of the longest runs of dominance in all of global history." It's a milestone, if an expected one, for the auto industry, which GM has led since surpassing Ford in 1931. A spokesman for Toyota suggested that the company is not preoccupied by being number one, insisting that, “we look at the results as simply a reflection of how our products are viewed favorably around the world. We don’t just make them and push them out the door — we have a ‘pull’ system and we build them when they are ordered.”
But don't be fooled by Toyota's seeming modesty--it helps the company from appearing too much like the threatening foreigner. Indeed, Toyota remains a high-profile target of American and European trade restrictions. Jim Womack, president of the think tank the Lean Institute, spoke with Inc. about Toyota's ascendancy for the global issue. As Womack sees it, "Toyota's managers spend a lot of time managing the decline of Ford, GM, Chrysler--they don't want to be seen as the foreign company that wrecked American industry."
For information about when the US imported the first Toyota Corolla.--and other global highlights (or lowlights depending how you see it), check out our timeline here.
What do you think of Toyota's success? Do you think the US and European governments need to enact more protectionist trade restrictions or is a competitive global economy in our best interest? What do you drive?
Going Global, Part 21: VCs Head to China
Posted by Mike Hofman at 9:34 AM
That giant sucking sound you hear is $360 million in U.S. venture capital heading to China. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the storied Silicon Valley venture capital firm behind Intuit, Google, and Amazon, announced today that is plans to open two offices in China, where it will invest in high-tech startup companies, the New York Times reports.
"The move... underscores the growing interest among venture capitalists in China’s blossoming economy and entrepreneurial culture," the Times writes. "Kleiner Perkins, while far from the first venture firm to enter China, is a particularly high-profile example of the trend."
VCs are eager to invest overseas, the Times says, because they feel in some cases foreign companies will have an easier time going public on foreign exchanges. The paper speculates that the Hong Kong exchange could benefit from VCs like Kleiner Perkins setting up shop in Asia. (To read the rest of the article, click here.)
What do you think? Should venture capitalists be looking for deals overseas? And political and legal issues notwithstanding, do you expect that the Asian financial markets will catch up to the U.S. markets when it comes to things like initial public offerings of stock? If so, what effect will that growing competition have on the U.S. economy?
April 23, 2007
Going Global Part 20: Sego v. Sarko
Posted by Max Chafkin at 3:20 PM
The French election results are in! Sort of.
Yesterday a record number of voters in France turned out for the first round of presidential elections, narrowing the field down to two candidates: Nicolas Sarkozy (from the right) and Ségolène Royal (from the left).
French elections are generally more colorful—and, consequently, more fun to watch—than the American variety. For instance, Royal’s longtime partner and the father of her four children, François Holland, is the head of the French Socialist party and a political rival (he was once considered a front runner to succeed Jacques Chirac). Meanwhile, Sarkozy, who has run largely on a platform of economic liberalization, has been blamed by some for inciting the riots in 2005, when he suggested turning a power hose on unruly youth.
Continue reading "Going Global Part 20: Sego v. Sarko"
April 19, 2007
Going Global, Part 19: Is China's GDP a Bad Moon Rising?
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 6:27 PM
China announced today that its first quarter GDP grew 11.1 percent year-over-year, sparking concerns of overheating for the country’s as yet immature financial system and capital market. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, exports were up 27.8 percent, profits from industrial enterprises rose 43.8 percent, and wholesale and retail sales were up 14.7 percent.
Economists say the tremendous first quarter growth, one of the highest jumps in a decade, was distorted somewhat by the Chinese government’s own investment into the economy. Plans to build infrastructure, in the form of highways, railways, factories, and industrial parks, acted as a catalyst for excessive lending. “This is the first quarter blowout, but we don’t expect this to continue,” Jonathan Anderson chief Asia economist at UBS told the New York Times, “There were a lot of wacky thing happening in the first quarter.”
Meanwhile, China’s enviable growth has given rise to some of its biggest problems. Soaring exports are causing friction with the U.S. and the U.K., its major markets, as the West watches their trade deficits rise. And while furious investment in China’s infrastructure may have been a boon for its domestic market, it also triggered fears of a long-term drag on the economy from unnecessary projects.
Experts expect the Chinese government to respond to concerns over first quarter figures by gradually raising interest rates, just as it has been. “The root of overheated investment is China’s excessively low interest rates,” Ha Jiming, chief economist of China International Corp in Beijing explains in the Wall Street Journal. Officials also face pressure to allow the yuan to appreciate more quickly.
Currently China’s interest rates and currency are still “at levels that stimulate economic growth rather than retard it,” alarming some analysts. Still, many indicators show signs of health. The Times speculates that booming exports and massive investments could soon help China overtake Germany as the world’s third largest economy.
How does the rest of the world stack up to China? In this month's global issue, writer Max Chafkin and I played cartographer, mapping each country’s GDP growth and marking industries and markets around the world ripe for entrepreneurial activity—and a few to avoid.
What do you think about China’s GDP growth? Is it overheating? Does your business rely on Chinese exports? How will you be affected if China increases interest rates in an effort to curb growth?
April 18, 2007
Going Global, Part 18: My What Pretty Hair Extensions You Have
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 5:46 PM
Looking for another reason why your small business is better than a corporate behemoth? As Riva Richmond at the Wall Street Journal reports, small businesses have a leg up when it comes to cutting their dependence on U.S. suppliers and tapping directly into international markets, thanks to their size and agility. Richmond makes her case through the story of Sonia Seye, a 30-year-old entrepreneur from Senegal. When Seye wanted to develop Hair Universal, her Los Angeles-based hair salon, into a statewide franchise, she dropped her local middleman and went to India to buy the hair extensions she needed to supply her budding chain.
Companies that sell hair extensions purchase much of their stock from Hindu temples in India where devotees shave their heads as an act of piety at the end of a pilgrimage or as a symbol of gratitude for prayers answered. In fact, India’s human hair trade has ballooned into a multi-million dollar industry, according to Zreportage, encompassing “temple hair” prized by wigmakers, “village hair” that women gather from their brushes and sell in exchange for trinkets like bindis or barrettes, and “thuku hair” swept from the floor of barber shops. In 2006, major temples and exporters earned combined revenues of more than $300 million.
As a small business, Seye’s operation was nimble enough for her to enter the Indian market without having to jump too many hurdles. “Entrepreneurs and small businesses have a bigger opportunity, and it’s easier for them to go global than large corporations,” explains Robert D. Hisrich, director of the Thunderbird School’s Center for Global Entrepreneurship in Arizona, citing the flexibility that comes without the bureaucratic and legal constraints on deal-making that can hamper big business.
Of course, entrepreneurs have to do their due diligence first. (In April's global issue, we put together a primer on some of the big issues—bribery, intellectual property theft, unfamiliar labor laws—to help get you started.) Seye spent six months developing a shortlist of potential suppliers, including verifying their credentials with the Indian consulate, before flying to Chennai, a city on the southeast coast that serves as a trading hub for most Indian suppliers due to its proximity to the Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala. The temple is one of the world’s richest and most frequented, second only to the Vatican, where more than 50,000 pilgrims visit daily.
Last year, The Observer uncovered the dark side of the “temple hair” trade in villages around Chennai. In order to get a foothold in a market monopolized by the Hindu temples, “unscrupulous agents of small-time exporters” pay husbands less than $10 for their wives hair or force women to shave their heads.
Do you think it’s easier for small businesses to go global than large corporations? Has sourcing supplies directly from foreign markets given your business a competitive advantage? What can U.S. suppliers do to remain profitable if their clients are cutting them out of the equation?
April 17, 2007
Going Global, Part 17: Selling Services Overseas
Posted by Mike Hofman at 3:54 PM
During our reporting on doing business abroad, we tried to be mindful of the fact that the experience for a service company was by-and-large very different from the experience of a manufacturer. One of the main service companies that we write about in the magazine is the Hoffman Agency, a well-known PR firm based in San Jose, Calif. The company has several offices overseas.
In the article, editor Leigh Buchanan writes that founder Lou Hoffman has led the firm's push into foreign markets. "In 1994, as clients like Hewlett-Packard stepped up their global marketing, Hoffman yearned to expand along with them," she explains. "Planning to open his first international branch, he narrowed his sights first to Asia, because it was less competitive than Europe, and then to Singapore, a city-state that was more Western than the rest of the region. In fact, Singapore was so Western that Hoffman felt he could simply dispatch one of his executives to handle the office launch. He did. It worked."
Thereafter, however, expansion proved difficult. In some places, few people knew enough about Western style PR to be hireable. In other places, the economics of opening a branch office were conspicuously difficult.
I bet Hoffman's experiences are not unique, and I wonder how other expanding service businesses have fared when they went overseas. What has your experience been?
April 13, 2007
Going Global, Part 16: Wither Russia?
Posted by Mike Hofman at 12:06 PM
Tensions between Russia's government and the strange mix of entrepreneurs and oligarchs that makes up the country's nascent private sector seemed to rise today, according to an Associated Press report. "Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's most vocal opponents, called Friday for the use of force to oust President Vladimir Putin," the AP reports, "and claimed he has support from some in the country's political elite."
The Kremlin responded by initiating criminal proceedings against Berezovsky for plotting a coup, and by asking the British government to extradite him to Moscow to stand trial.
"[Russian president Vladimir] Putin has created an authoritarian regime against the Russian constitution,'' Berezovsky is quoted by the AP as saying. ''I don't know how it will happen, but authoritarian regimes only collapse by force."
The disconnect between the strongman Putin and the free-market capitalists who are building the New Russia (or, some would say, exploiting it) has been growing for some time. As Max Chafkin writes in the April issue of Inc., "Moscow has a love-hate relationship with free enterprise. Though some entrepreneurs have made a killing here since the collapse of communism, the country has restricted foreign investment in recent years."
Yet despite the dangerous political environment, Russia's economy has been growing at a nice clip: 6.4 percent according to the World Bank.
Are you more optimistic or pessimistic about Russia's future? Do you think the country needs a ruthless leader like Putin to hold the whole thing together in the name of progress? Or do you hope that the private sector, however corrupt, plays a larger role in setting the policies that will chart Russia's future political and economic affairs? Finally, do you do business in Russia? If so, what have been your experiences there?
April 12, 2007
Going Global, Part 15: Wheeling and Dealing Around the Globe
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 5:12 PM
Top trade representatives from “the group of six” gathered in Delhi today to formally recommence trade negotiations that stalled last July after failure to reach a consensus on two issues: reducing farm subsidies in the U.S. and E.U. and opening access to markets for services and manufactured goods in India and Brazil.
Named for the city in Qatar where the first meeting took place in 2001, the so-called “Doha round” was conceived by the World Trade Organization with the goal of breaking down trade barriers between developing and wealthy economies. Despite pressure from Democrats in Congress not to budge on farm subsidies, at the end of the day the U.S. agreed to “drastically reduce our trade-distorting agriculture subsidies” in order to gain broader access to new markets. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab said the move was motivated by a desire to reach an outcome before “Doha fatigue” set in.
The meeting concluded with a consensus among the six participating nations to aim to finish the round by year’s end. The Doha agreement is a top trade priority for the Bush adminstration, which is seeking an extension of the President’s trade promotion authority that expires in June. That authority enables the president to negotiate without Congressional involvement.
Still, after so many delays few hold hope that this latest round will yield any significant breakthroughs. The current climate, reports Carl Mortished of The Times, is better suited to bilateral ”sweetheart deals” than a Doha-style multilateral trade agreement. “Bilateral deals suit almost everybody because each side can carve out a microworld of trade in which the parties can reach agreement without rocking too many boats,” says Mortished, pointing to recent free trade agreements between the U.S. and Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea (our largest FTA in 15 years).
U.S. agricultural groups may take issue with the “sweetheart” part, at least when it comes South Korea. In order to keep the pact in play, the U.S. conceded this week to South Korea’s refusal to further opening its rice markets to U.S. farmers. South Korea also continues to oppose opening its beef market to American livestock, which closed after the mad cow disease outbreak in 2003.
Unsure which countries have free trade agreements that could benefit your company? Take a gander at the treasure map in our global issue to find areas around the globe with unexpected opportunities for U.S. entrepreneurs.
What do you think? Is there still hope for the Doha Round? Have U.S. negotiators conceded too much in their agreement with South Korea? Does excluding rice set a bad precedent for future FTAs?
April 11, 2007
Going Global, Part 14: Political Risk
Posted by Max Chafkin at 5:53 PM
In this blog, we've been talking a lot about the best places in the world for entrepreneurs. These countries are typically characterized by strong economic growth, peace, and stability—but opportunities often present themselves in places that are less than idyllic. How, for instance, should entrepreneurs weigh the potential of a lucrative sale against the possibility of a terrorist attack like the one that struck Algeria earlier today? (23 people were killed in two separate bombings, one targeting the prime minister's office.)
Following such tragic events, it's tempting to write off a place like Algeria. But less stability generally means less competition. Howard Dahl's story of selling farm equipment in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, is a good example of the phenomenon.
As part of this month's cover story on global business, we asked Ian Bremmer how entrepreneurs can calculate political risk. In the piece, Bremmer, a consultant who recently wrote a book on the topic, says that entrepreneurs should consider "shocks" (like a terrorist attack or an earthquake) and "stability" (a government's ability to contain a crisis). Shocks are tough to predict, but, if you do business in a country with a stable government, they probably won't be catastrophic. Bremmer suggests hedging against risk by doing business in multiple countries or in different regions of the same country.
I wonder what people who have spent time in tumultuous places think about this strategy. How does your business cope with the threats of war, unrest, and terrorism?
Going Global, Part 13: Is It Safe Yet?
Posted by Sarah Goldstein at 4:52 PM
The murder in Instanbul this January of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink served as a sobering reminder that Turkey is not yet the liberal state that some in the West have hoped. In response to Dink's death, efforts to abolish article 301, which makes it a crime to insult the state or Turkishness, have increased. Yesterday the Voice of America reported that 53 Nobel prize winners have signed a letter urging Turkey to repeal article 301 under which scores of intellectuals, including Dink and Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted.
Draconian laws like article 301 tarnish Turkey's image as the Middle East's sole democracy and disturb its bid to join the EU. Stephanie Clifford highlights such tensions in "Fully Committed," her article following entrepreneur Bülent Celebi as he tries to build a Silicon Valley-style company in Instanbul. Some of the challenges that come up for Celebi include navigating the state's labyrinthine bureaucracy; running an ethical company in a place where bribery is business as usual; and keeping a liberal home where liquor is sometimes illegal and corporal punishment the norm.
As a country like Turkey -- and even more so China -- opens itself for business, the economy is often ahead of the politics. For entrepreneurs with a global itch, do your homework and read Ian Bremmer's article "How to Calculate Political Risk."
April 10, 2007
Going Global, Part 12: Trade Wars Abrewin'?
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 12:45 PM
After weeks of hinting, the White House took its intellectual property beef with China to the World Trade Organization. U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced yesterday that the United States is filing two requests today for dispute consultation.
The first case accuses China of establishing an excessively high threshold for prosecuting manufacturers and distributors of pirated goods. The second takes issue with China’s policy of handling books, movies, music, and computer software exclusively through state-owned importers, a trade barrier that can delay distribution of legitimate goods.
These filings are the latest in a string of attempts from the Bush adminstration to reverse the U.S. trade deficit with China, which has risen to a record $232.5 billion. Less than two weeks earlier, the White House retaliated against Chinese government subsidies to its paper manufacturing industry by imposing steep tariffs on imports of glossy paper from China. According to the People’s Daily, China’s foreign trade has risen at an average annual rate of more than 30 percent since its accession to the WTO in 2001.
Analysts peg the timing of these moves as a response to mounting pressure from Democrats in Congress who have threatened further sanctions against China if the deficit isn’t reduced. But regardless of the hoopla surrounding the filings, the scope of the cases is narrow, focusing on media and books, ignoring industries with similar complaints like pharmaceuticals and auto parts. Lobbyists from The China Copyright Alliance, an industry coalition of big budget studios, independents producers, and the recording industry, have been pushing officials to file a case for months.
During the announcement Schwab was careful to stress that the U.S. was open to “a comprehensive settlement” at any time during the arbitration process, characterizing the filings as par for the course between international trading partners. Despite the diplomatic rhetoric, officials in Beijing have already registered their anger with the Bush administration’s decision to go to the WTO.
In our global issue, I talked to Ted C. Fishman, best-selling author of China Inc., about ways that entrepreneurs can protect their intellectual property rights in China. Read more of Fishman's take on IP theft in China here.
Is the WTO capable of curtailing piracy and counterfeiting in China? Do you think China will strike back against American imports or withdraw cooperation on diplomatic issues? Has your company done business in China? What difficulties did you find in securing your intellectual property rights for your products and services?
April 9, 2007
Going Global, Part 11: What Would Bono Do?
Posted by Sarah Goldstein at 6:43 PM
It was the World Bank's Doing Business Report that provided reporters Nitasha Tiku and Max Chafkin with economic metrics for Inc.'s Opportunity Map, and various Bank experts supplied us with dozens of other fun facts throughout our global issue. So what exactly does the World Bank do? Who does it serve? And has Paul Wolfowitz turned the fifty-year-old lending organization into a front for advancing the White House agenda?
For answers to these questions check out this excellent article by John Cassidy in last week's New Yorker. Cassidy joined Wolfowitz on a World Bank trip through Turkey, observing as the "neoconservative zealot" reveals something of a bleeding heart. At the heart of the article is Wolfowitz's conflict with the Bank's member countries and executive board to revoke aid to corrupt governments. "Current and former World Bank officials" and a number of bank shareholders have questioned Wolfowitz's criteria for corruption, Cassidy reports. "Why were projects...suspended in India and not Indonesia, which by many measures is more corrupt? Why Uzbekistan and not Tajikistan? Why Congo-Brazzaville and not the Democratic Republic of the Congo?"
How do you think lenders should deal with corrupt countries? Are we forcing the poor to pay twice when aid is withheld? What would happen if the World Bank and IMF were dissolved and private charities like the Gates' and Bill Clinton's took their place?
Going Global, Part 10: H-1B Visas
Posted by Mike Hofman at 5:22 PM
Two days. That's how long it took the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency to receive 133,000 applications for new H-1B visas. A random computerized lottery will now be held to decide who among that group of applicants receives one of the 65,000 visas that will ultimately be issued, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
H-1Bs, which are restricted to college-educated foreign workers, are relied on in particular by companies in advanced technological fields. "Although the numbers are at an all-time high," the Chronicle writes, "the vast amount of applications didn't really surprise anyone with insight into the system. Last year's cap of 65,000 visas was filled in 50 days. Many who didn't get their H-1B visa then have been waiting since. And more people want to come to the United States to work because the economy now is showing continued signs of improvement."
As Nitasha Tiku and Max Chafkin write in this month's special report on global business, one option for U.S. companies bumping up against the visa cap is to open a branch office in Canada, where there are fewer restrictions on immigration. Canada is particularly welcoming of foreign-born entrepreneurs.
So what's your experience with H-1B visas? Did you apply to take part in the upcoming lottery? Do you employ someone who did? Do you think the U.S. should expand the program, as many tech firms have requested? And would you consider expanding into Canada in order to ensure that your company had access to more foreign-born and -educated workers?
April 6, 2007
Going Global, Part 9: Islamic Bonds
Posted by Max Chafkin at 4:01 PM
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal, published a fascinating story on the market for corporate bonds that comply with the standards of Islamic law. Paying and collecting interest are "haram," or forbidden, to devout Muslims, creating an awkward situation for entrepreneurs in search of capital.
Malaysia, which is generally more liberal in these matters than Gulf states, led the way in creating financial products that conform to the Quran's standards. While these products are loans in all but name, they have helped make Kuala Lumpur a booming center for international banking, making it much easier for local businesses to find seed funding. As Nitasha Tiku and I discovered in our reporting, Malaysia presents other opportunities for entrepreneurs: strong high-tech and telecom sectors, as well as lots of incentives for foreign companies.
Of course not everyone in the Islamic world agrees with the Malaysian interpretation, arguing for a stricter regulations against money-lending. The following is a defense from an employee of the country's central bank:
"It's all about the journey you take to that destination," he says, drawing a parallel between financial gain and sex. A seeker of sexual pleasure, he explains, can get married or fornicate on the side -- just as a seeker of financial gain can profit from an Islamic sukuk or a conventional bond. "You'll have enjoyment in both cases," Dr. Daud chuckles, "but one is halal [permissible] and the other is not."
I'll admit that corporate bonds are pretty exciting, but Dr. Daud may be stretching this analogy too far. That said, this story is worth a read as an example of how entrepreneurship can cause people to rethink deeply entrenched beliefs.
Going Global, Part 8: Second-Tier Cities, First Rate Growth
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 1:19 PM
Ever thought of doing business in Wuhan? Kunming? Zhuhai? Maybe you should. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, they’re among 14 second-tier cities currently boasting 2 percent higher GDP growth than China's national average. What’s more, while these cities comprise only 8 percent of the country's total population, they account for 19 percent of its total GDP.
Yesterday Barry I. Friedman, Minister-Counselor from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, hosted a round table discussion at the Business Council for International Understanding in New York City, urging entrepreneurs and investors to consider these emerging markets.
Where the Chinese government’s development efforts previously focused on coastal megacities like Shanghai and Beijing, Friedman explained, they’re now turning their eye inland. Officials have budgeted $125 billion in highways and $160-$200 billion in railways, he estimated, impelled by the mass migration of Chinese from the rural countryside to burgeoning cities. With that growth comes opportunity, both for companies that can help China fulfill its infrastructural needs and for retailers who can meet the rising demand for consumer goods as the spending potential in these cities increases.
China may have downscaled its number of economic development zones, narrowing their attention to 50-60 areas, said Friedman, but many of the zones are located in second-tier cities. Entrepreneurs can benefit from preferential rates on government utilities and land usage, not to mention decreased competition. Big players like Wal-Mart, Wyndham Worldwide, and diesel-engine maker Cummins have already staked their claim.
Unsure if your business is prepared to take the plunge? Take Are You China Ready?, the U.S. Commercial Service’s self-diagnostic tool. If this is the first time you’re dipping the company toe in global commerce, second-tier Chinese cities might not be the place to start, says Friedman, “They’re still very traditional and a little . . . funky.”
Looking for other unexpected opportunities around the world? Check out the 21st century treasure map in our global issue. Vintage clothes in Ghana. Tourism in the Marshall Islands. Who knew?
April 5, 2007
Going Global, Part 7: Know Your History
Posted by Sarah Goldstein at 2:27 PM
Tracing the rise of global competition begins with a modest and inauspicious point: the rise of civilization. With civilizations came the first trade routes linking disparate communities through commerce. As time progressed, those routes expanded along land and sea, through the air, and eventually across pathways of fiberoptic cable to link supply and demand. And so one could begin a discussion of global competition with the silk route, Spanish conquistadors, or even the triangle slave trade—certainly all three involved goods changing hands on an international scale with global repercussions.
But after speaking with a number of economists, academics, legal scholars, and business consultants we narrowed things down a bit, focusing the timeline around three trends: major policy agreements that removed international trade barriers; technological advancements which increased productivity and reduced the time it takes to travel or deliver goods; and products which, though we may not have known it at the time, heralded the rise of world trade. While there are doubtless treaties and innovations which we’ve left off the list—The Panama Canal? NAFTA?—we wanted to focus on things that both made international trade more efficient and more global—the items on this list did not just yield regional implications, they changed the world.
What dates do you think we should have included? How have these advancements in global trade affected your business?
Going Global, Part 6: The Politics of Maps
Posted by Mike Hofman at 1:26 PM
If you turn to page 100 of the April issue or click here, you will find what we consider to be the coup de grace of Inc.'s global issue, which is a map of global business opportunities. The map highlights information ranging from gross domestic product growth for every country in the world, to the best and worst countries in terms of ease of doing business, to specific opportunities in exotic and interesting places.
In preparing the map, we took special pains to consider what it should actually look like. That's because all maps are flawed. It's inherently impossible to create a rectangular map of a round earth without some distortions.
After some debate, we decided to make our map using something called the Hobo-Dyer map projection as our main inspiration. The Hobo-Dyer is itself a modified Gall-Peters map projection. (Hobo-Dyer was modified principally through graphic design, to be slightly more attractive than Gall-Peters, which is considered in the cartography community to be a little over the top and severe.)
The map was designed by Mick Dyer, a British cartographer, and unveiled in 2002. Jimmy Carter chose pointedly to use the Hobo-Dyer in materials he distributed in Oslo and online, as part of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech that year.
The Hobo-Dyer is often designed so that Australia is at the top of the world, although Inc. did not take this dramatic step. Because of this, however, Hobo-Dyer is popular Down Under, and appears on school and pub walls there. You will also find a Hobo-Dyer map proudly displayed on the website and in the dining room of the Tuck Shop, an Australian meat pie pub, on East First Street near First Avenue in Manhattan, for example.
Both Peters and Dyer were designed in response to or as a critique of the dominant Mercator map, with which we are familiar. They argue that Mercator, which was designed by a Flemish cartographer named Geradus Mercator in 1569, magnifies the land mass of Europe because that's where Mercator was from, and because the Europeans of that era were full of themselves. They note that there is no particular reason why Mercator centers the map on Europe, with the Americas to the left and Asia to the right, except that Mercator was catering to the home team.
In terms of fact and geography, the most obvious criticism of the Mercator map is that Greenland and China appear to be almost equal in size, when China is much, much larger in reality. Alaska and Mexico—that's another flashpoint for Mercator haters. (We want to thank Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein of ODT in Amherst, Massachusetts, for their help.)
From Inc.'s perspective, the reason for studying the Hobo-Dyer was precisely because it was conceived in part to suggest to users that map-making is not purely objective, but in fact influenced by political, economic, and cultural biases. At the heart of virtually every story in this issue is the thesis that preconceived notions must constantly be reconsidered. In today's world, entrepreneurs can find opportunities in places they never expected, and in places that they have perhaps written off because of a prior negative experience. Longitude and lattitude may be immutable, but economic conditions are changing all the time.
What do you think? Did we pick the right map? Have you done business in any of the countries we highlighted on the map? If so, tell us about your experiences there.
April 4, 2007
Going Global, Part 5: Liquid ban be damned!
Posted by Sarah Goldstein at 4:30 PM
When globetrotter Pat McGovern first drafted his "Tips for Business Travelers" it's unlikely he imagined a world where liquids were contraband. Today's New York Times looks into the new companies and products that are cropping up in response to increasingly aggravating carry-on rules.
If your business takes you overseas and you're banking on making a good first impression, you may want to consider investing in "dental finger mitts" (real name) from La Fresh, a moist towelette that you slip over a finger to wipe your teeth. Travel accessory company Travelon, puts a new spin on "ready made," coming out with "instant tooth gel, mouth wash and shaving gel in the form of tablets that, like Alka-Seltzer tablets, transform when water is added." One entrepreneurial-minded former flight attendant has created Pitotubes, clear, refillable bottles that are small enough to meet carry-on limits but durable enough so as not to leak.
As more travelers check their bags, so do more airlines lose them (in September 2006, the second month of the ban, lost luggage increased 92 percent from the year before). Most of us see these stiff regulations as a royal pain—but an enterprising bunch saw a lucrative opportunity. Dental mitt anyone?
Going Global, Part 4: And the Survey Says . . .
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 3:00 PM
In January, we surveyed 449 companies about going global, including past Inc. 500 honorees and members of our reader panel, the Inner Circle. Sixty-two percent of the companies we spoke to were already conducting business outside the United States. Not surprising considering that “more than 70 percent of the world's purchasing power is beyond our borders,” says Israel Hernandez, Director-General of the U.S. Commercial Service. In fact, fifty-seven percent of the CEOs we polled said they were encouraged to do business outside the U.S. by a growing market for their products and services.
Of course it wasn’t all foreign tax incentives and lower labor costs when they got there. What was the most difficult part? Thirty-seven percent said international logistics, 22 percent said hiring and managing staff abroad, and 19 percent said intellectual property theft.
In our global issue, senior writer Stephanie Clifford and I ask the experts how to navigate international waters when it comes to those issues and more. We found a way to make up revenue lost to knock-offs in China, why employers should think twice about firing a worker in Sierra Leone, and what to do if your customers insist on paying in local currency.
Has your business expanded overseas? What difficulties have you encountered? If you’re unsure about making the leap, what concerns are holding you back?
Going Global, Part 3: The Bribery Question
Posted by Stephanie Clifford at 11:01 AM
One concern entrepreneurs have about going global is what to do about bribery. NPR conducted an interesting interview on the subject with Nigeria’s anti-corruption chief, Nuhu Ribadu, this morning. Steve Inskeep asked about Western companies offering bribes in order to get business in the oil-rich nation. Ribadu indicated it wasn’t uncommon; indeed, he’s currently investigating a company that became a Halliburton subsidiary.
So what do you do when your competitors are giving bribes, and your suppliers are asking for them? Here’s what reporter Nitasha Tiku advised in answer to that question in the April issue.
It’s a dilemma that entrepreneur Bülent Celebi faced when he moved from the Silicon Valley back to his Turkish homeland. He was starting a wireless-router company called AirTies; I wrote about his successful, and complicated, move in an April-issue story called Fully Committed. He immediately saw that bribes were common and expected—he was asked to hire certain ‘consultants’, and give certain gifts. Celebi chose not to give bribes, figuring that once he started, he wouldn’t stop. (Besides, he said, he didn’t have the money to do so anyway.) But it probably hindered the growth of his business. When he was seeking government contracts or approvals, or trying to get boxes of routers out of customs, he had to wait, and wait, and wait—while some of his competitors greased the wheels and got ahead faster.
I wonder whether paying bribes is ever justified: if all your competitors do it, are you hurting your business by refusing to?
April 3, 2007
Going Global, Part 2
Posted by Mike Hofman at 4:46 PM
It's been a bad couple of days in Ukraine, as the country's rival political factions square off in a brewing constitutional crisis: the nation's president wants to dissolve parliament, while the prime minister says hell no (or is that "niet"?)
Coming only a few short years after the optimisim of Ukraine's Orange Revolution, the chaos in Kiev could cause some American businessmen to forego the Ukrainian market altogether. Not Howard Dahl. Though troubled by what is happening to Ukraine, Dahl's companies, which manufacture heavy farm equipment, expect to book $30 million in export sales in 2007—the majority of that money coming from Ukraine. Dahl shares the story of how and why his company entered the markets of the former Soviet Union in 1992, in an article in the April issue of Inc., which is on newsstands now.
Today, I asked Dahl, whose company is based in North Dakota, what he thought of the current crisis. He writes : "It has been very troublesome to watch the Ukrainians struggle in forming a functioning government. The East with Yanukovych and the West with Yushchenko have two very different directions they want the country to move—one toward Russia and one toward Europe. They are quite equally divided and I see no simple solutions unfortunately."
Despite the political uncertainty, Dahl says that doing business overseas, in emerging markets like Ukraine and Russia, is a joyful experience. At times, it has even proven a great source of comedy. In the Inc. article, Dahl recalls that in early deals he was paid through barter. "Once, a customer offered us 30,000 polar fox pelts for a machine," Dahl writes. Having no experience in the fur industry, he turned down the offer. "I found out later what the value of those pelts would have been if I had resold them to a furrier in Europe," Dahl says. "I should have done that deal."
To read Howard Dahl's story from start to finish, click here. To browse the entire 42-page package of stories on doing global business, click here. Finally, for a blog on all things Ukrainian, click here.
Going Global, Part 1
Posted by Max Chafkin at 1:14 PM
This month's issue of Inc. is about going global, covering everything from how to join the "Hunan Mafia"—Drink snakes blood, recommends IDG founder Pat McGovern—to how to get tax breaks in South Africa. To help you sort through it all, we're going to be blogging this week—taking a closer look at the companies, countries, and strategies covered in this month's issue.
In our reporting over the past few months, we talked to entrepreneurs, consultants, academics, and government officials (paging the economic counselor to Azerbaijan). Now we'd like to hear from readers. Who of you out there are starting companies, opening offices, or sourcing overseas? Where are you seeing opportunities and where are you running into problems?
Check out the package here, keep an eye on this blog, and let us know what you think.
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