So are the rules of business the same around the world for men and women? As with most questions in international business environments, the answer is…it depends.
In the past thirty years, women have become a greater portion of the global workforce, as well as grown in the number of leadership positions held. We’re still far from equal in the global business world, but we’ve come a long way, Sisters!
That said, we need to keep in mind that not all cultures value gender equality in the workplace. My perspective is that we need to be prepared for common gender-bias situations that arise so that we can handle it with grace, poise, and without losing sight of the business objectives we seek to meet.
So I put this scenario to my blog followers to find out what you think a girl needs to do to get past this unfortunately common situation:
You’ve been working hard to negotiate a partnership in a host country. One night after dinner with your counterparts, a member of the partner company makes a pass at you. How do you avoid you or your partner losing face (or respect) and keeping the situation from interfering with the objective of establishing the partnership?
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Are You an International Entrepreneur?
People have asked me what defines an international entrepreneur. The answer might seem easy - someone who starts a company and then takes it into global markets - but that's not the answer. Here is my definition based on various academics and practicioners in the field of International Entrepreneurship:
An International Entrepreneur is someone who strategically leverages international opportunities, relationships and learning in order to improve business outcomes for their organization.
Here is what an international entrepreneur is NOT:
- Someone who reactively sells goods or services to a buyer outside of their home country.
I have talked with entrepreneurs who, when it comes to international opportunities, leave their entrepreneurial spirit behind. These leaders are normally quick to point out their international sales. But these foreign sales are mostly order taking. There is little if any effort to research foreign markets to find new market opporunities. Value chain activities are almost always exclusively based in the home market with little thought to competitive advantages that could come from foreign operations. And there is no attempt to identify foreign business partners who could help bring alternative funding sources, customer lists and other advantages to the organization. Finally, reactive international sales missed the chance to learn from foreign markets and become more competitive from that newly acquired knowledge. International entrepreneurs develop business strategies that incorporate these new sales, operations, and financial opportunities from overseas markets.
- Someone who started their own company recently.
An international entrepreneur who impresses me is Rob Joyce, CEO of The Wheelabrator Group (TWG). This company is one hundred years old - hardly a young start up. Yet TWG has gone through many changes and is now looking at how to leverage international markets for competitive advantage to serve manufacturing companies all over the world. Mr. Joyce did not start this company, but he has crafted business strategy that will ensure this medium-sized company's continued growth in mature markets like the U.S. as well as growing markets like China and India.
- An international entrepreneur must be their organization's leader.
Not true, but this person should be in a position that can affect the company's international business direction. It could be the head of sales, international sales, global ops, or the company's COO. There is a local company (Denver, Colorado, USA) with an enterprising young international sales manager. This manager developed a distributor network reaching over 90 countries worldwide, and has increased the portion of international sales from 10% to 30% of the company's revenue and a slightly higher percent of profits.
- An international entrepreneur must work for a for-profit company
Not true. Social entrepreneurs can be international as well. The International Development Enterprise is a not-for-profit organization focusing on bringing subsistance level farmers out of poverty in developing countries. Entrepreneurs from IDE have developed in-country relationships with partners in places like Bangladesh to produce irrigation equipment from local materials by local workers.
I hope this explanation helps to clarify the term International Entrepreneur. If you aspire to be an international entrepreneur, I hope these examples help spawn ideas as to where you can look for your next opportunities. Good luck to all!
An International Entrepreneur is someone who strategically leverages international opportunities, relationships and learning in order to improve business outcomes for their organization.
Here is what an international entrepreneur is NOT:
- Someone who reactively sells goods or services to a buyer outside of their home country.
I have talked with entrepreneurs who, when it comes to international opportunities, leave their entrepreneurial spirit behind. These leaders are normally quick to point out their international sales. But these foreign sales are mostly order taking. There is little if any effort to research foreign markets to find new market opporunities. Value chain activities are almost always exclusively based in the home market with little thought to competitive advantages that could come from foreign operations. And there is no attempt to identify foreign business partners who could help bring alternative funding sources, customer lists and other advantages to the organization. Finally, reactive international sales missed the chance to learn from foreign markets and become more competitive from that newly acquired knowledge. International entrepreneurs develop business strategies that incorporate these new sales, operations, and financial opportunities from overseas markets.
- Someone who started their own company recently.
An international entrepreneur who impresses me is Rob Joyce, CEO of The Wheelabrator Group (TWG). This company is one hundred years old - hardly a young start up. Yet TWG has gone through many changes and is now looking at how to leverage international markets for competitive advantage to serve manufacturing companies all over the world. Mr. Joyce did not start this company, but he has crafted business strategy that will ensure this medium-sized company's continued growth in mature markets like the U.S. as well as growing markets like China and India.
- An international entrepreneur must be their organization's leader.
Not true, but this person should be in a position that can affect the company's international business direction. It could be the head of sales, international sales, global ops, or the company's COO. There is a local company (Denver, Colorado, USA) with an enterprising young international sales manager. This manager developed a distributor network reaching over 90 countries worldwide, and has increased the portion of international sales from 10% to 30% of the company's revenue and a slightly higher percent of profits.
- An international entrepreneur must work for a for-profit company
Not true. Social entrepreneurs can be international as well. The International Development Enterprise is a not-for-profit organization focusing on bringing subsistance level farmers out of poverty in developing countries. Entrepreneurs from IDE have developed in-country relationships with partners in places like Bangladesh to produce irrigation equipment from local materials by local workers.
I hope this explanation helps to clarify the term International Entrepreneur. If you aspire to be an international entrepreneur, I hope these examples help spawn ideas as to where you can look for your next opportunities. Good luck to all!
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Time for Global Has Come! Entrepreneurs: Go Forth and Internationalize
Elhadji Koumama has a silver jewelry-making business in Agadez, Niger (Africa). He is a 26th generation Tuareg tribe metalworker. Elhadji has a 3rd grade formal education, but has learned to speak 5 languages and sells jewelry in Africa, Europe, the U.S., and everywhere using e-commerce on his website (www.tuaregjewelry.com). His business has many challenges – civil war, poor infrastructure, corruption, and lack of capital. Yet despite obstacles, the business grows and sustains his extended family and many neighbors in one of the poorest countries in the world.
I met Elhadji in 2007 when he came to Denver for a trade show. He is intelligent and introspective, with tremendous presence. Whenever I think of opportunity for entrepreneurs in global markets, I think of Elhadji. Global markets used to be only for large companies with deep financial reserves. With the advent of (1) the Internet, (2) lower communications costs, (3) lower transportation costs and (4) fewer trade barriers, the time has come for more entrepreneurs to reap the rewards of international trade.
I know. You’re an entrepreneur focused on developing products, closing deals and paying bills. Why spend resources expanding globally early in your company’s timeline?
Externally-Derived Competitive Advantages
The old-school-large-corporation approach to internationalization is to wait until you’ve saturated the domestic market, then use domestic earnings to expand overseas. The company increases market capacity by leveraging internally-derived competitive advantages (product differentiation, etc.).
Entrepreneurs: expanded market capacity is only a small bite of the internationalization cake! We know most entrepreneurs take innovative approaches to business and solve problems creatively. When these traits are applied to international markets, entrepreneurial companies can create multiplier effects.
Some examples:
New Funding Sources. As funding sources including small business loans dried up in economies hit by the recent financial crisis, capital can flow more readily in other countries. Colorado-based Wheelabrator Group went with a Polish private equity firm in their last round of funding.
Market Access and Add-On Product Sales through Partnerships. The right overseas partnership can create competitive advantages. Not only can you gain access to a partner’s clients, but a compatible offering can enhance your own product line in your home market. A Swiss machining firm could partner with a North American machining firm with compatible abilities. Each refers work to the other when the client has an order fitting the partner’s capabilities. Since machining companies rarely have overseas operations, this partnership would be a competitive advantage in serving large manufacturing companies that operate in both Europe and North America.
Reduced Business Risk. Wait a minute – isn’t going global going to increase my company’s risk? If you set up your operations right, then risk can actually decrease. Here are some reasons why: (1) Economic conditions affect different parts of the world at different times. The current financial crisis that bankrupted Iceland left Latin America virtually untouched. It’s like having a balanced financial portfolio. (2) Take a larger share of markets where competition is less. New York City chocolatier, Alison Nelson just expanded her Chocolate Bar stores into the Middle East. In Arab countries she faces very little competition and a growing market. (3) Many international business risks can be mitigated through insurance and locking in currency rates.
If you’d like to learn more about how international expansion could help your growing company become globally competitive, please contact me at intl.entrepreneur@gmail.com and follow my blog at http://intlentreprenr.blogspot.com.
Becky DeStigter
International Entrepreneur
I met Elhadji in 2007 when he came to Denver for a trade show. He is intelligent and introspective, with tremendous presence. Whenever I think of opportunity for entrepreneurs in global markets, I think of Elhadji. Global markets used to be only for large companies with deep financial reserves. With the advent of (1) the Internet, (2) lower communications costs, (3) lower transportation costs and (4) fewer trade barriers, the time has come for more entrepreneurs to reap the rewards of international trade.
I know. You’re an entrepreneur focused on developing products, closing deals and paying bills. Why spend resources expanding globally early in your company’s timeline?
Externally-Derived Competitive Advantages
The old-school-large-corporation approach to internationalization is to wait until you’ve saturated the domestic market, then use domestic earnings to expand overseas. The company increases market capacity by leveraging internally-derived competitive advantages (product differentiation, etc.).
Entrepreneurs: expanded market capacity is only a small bite of the internationalization cake! We know most entrepreneurs take innovative approaches to business and solve problems creatively. When these traits are applied to international markets, entrepreneurial companies can create multiplier effects.
Some examples:
New Funding Sources. As funding sources including small business loans dried up in economies hit by the recent financial crisis, capital can flow more readily in other countries. Colorado-based Wheelabrator Group went with a Polish private equity firm in their last round of funding.
Market Access and Add-On Product Sales through Partnerships. The right overseas partnership can create competitive advantages. Not only can you gain access to a partner’s clients, but a compatible offering can enhance your own product line in your home market. A Swiss machining firm could partner with a North American machining firm with compatible abilities. Each refers work to the other when the client has an order fitting the partner’s capabilities. Since machining companies rarely have overseas operations, this partnership would be a competitive advantage in serving large manufacturing companies that operate in both Europe and North America.
Reduced Business Risk. Wait a minute – isn’t going global going to increase my company’s risk? If you set up your operations right, then risk can actually decrease. Here are some reasons why: (1) Economic conditions affect different parts of the world at different times. The current financial crisis that bankrupted Iceland left Latin America virtually untouched. It’s like having a balanced financial portfolio. (2) Take a larger share of markets where competition is less. New York City chocolatier, Alison Nelson just expanded her Chocolate Bar stores into the Middle East. In Arab countries she faces very little competition and a growing market. (3) Many international business risks can be mitigated through insurance and locking in currency rates.
If you’d like to learn more about how international expansion could help your growing company become globally competitive, please contact me at intl.entrepreneur@gmail.com and follow my blog at http://intlentreprenr.blogspot.com.
Becky DeStigter
International Entrepreneur
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