Until date, the world of international business was more like astronomy prior to Copernicus, who revolutionized the study of the planets and the stars with his theory of planetary motion. In the sixteenth century, the Copernican system replaced the Ptolemaic system, which held that the earth was the center of the universe with the sun and all the other planets revolving around it. The Copernican system, however, placed the sun at the center of the solar system with all of the planets revolving around it. Astronomy would never be the same.
Likewise, business entrepreneurs across the world are guilty of having Ptolemaic tunnel vision when it came to viewing international business opportunities. Like their pre- Copernican counterparts, owners saw an economy that revolved around the nations that served as their home bases. Market opportunities stopped at their homeland’s borders. Global trade was only for giant corporations that had the money and the management talent to tap foreign markets and enough resources to survive if the venture flopped. This scenario no longer holds true in the twenty-first century.
At present, the global marketplace is as much the territory of small upstart companies as it is that of giant multinational corporations. The world market for goods and services continues to grow, fueled by a global economy that welcomes consumers with new wealth. According to researches, by 2025, over 1 billion people globally are likely to join the ranks of middle-class consumers, creating a tremendous opportunity for small businesses.1 Powerful, affordable technology; the Internet; increased access to information on conducting global business; and the growing interdependence of the world’s economies have made it easier for small companies, many of which had never considered going global, to engage in international trade. These micro multinational companies are proving that even the smallest companies can succeed in the global marketplace. A study of the future of small business by Intuit predicts that nearly half of U.S. small businesses will engage in some kind of global trade by 2018.
Furthermore, business entrepreneurs are discovering unique tools of global business are within their reach, the costs of going global are decreasing, and the benefits of conducting global business can be substantial.
Get Global in your business and ensure its success in the years to come!
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