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 international. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
How to Keep Overseas Partnerships From Failing
Everyone has either experienced or heard of an overseas business partnership that fell apart. I find that most people I talk to tend to blame the foreign partner for the demise of the relationship. The typical story goes something like this:
We started the partnership to take advantage of opportunities in the local market. But they had issues that they never resolved. Eventually we lost trust in them. Finally we just ended it.
Partnerships Need to be Mutually Beneficial
In the best partnerships, each partner has taken the time to understand the other's business and finds ways to help the partner be successful. That means open communications when the partnership is being formed about needs, expectations, priorities, etc. And the more important the partnership is to the overall success of the company, the more that partner will invest in the success of the partnership.
Sign the Contract, Then be Ready to Re-Negotiate Many Times
Anyone who has managed a project of any size can tell you that one of the most important roles of the project manager is issue tracking and resolution. Too many times especially Western companies expect that a detailed contract specifies the roles of each partner. The reality is that once the contract is signed, the negotiations don't stop. Roles need to change based on changing business conditions in country. That doesn't mean that the foreign partner should dictate new terms, but that both partners need to work together to address issues as they arise to ensure a successful ongoing partnership.
There May not be a Messenger
In the US, we say "don't shoot the messenger" - meaning you shouldn't hold bad news against the person delivering the message. In many places, they just won't give you the message that there's a serious issue. Instead they'll try to fix it themselves. By the time the partner hears about it, the issue could jeopardize the project! This is where individual relationships are important. During periodic trips to the partner, talk to your counterpart in private (never in a group) about any issues you can help with. These informal chats could save the partnership.
I wish you all great success with all your partnerships!
We started the partnership to take advantage of opportunities in the local market. But they had issues that they never resolved. Eventually we lost trust in them. Finally we just ended it.
Partnerships Need to be Mutually Beneficial
In the best partnerships, each partner has taken the time to understand the other's business and finds ways to help the partner be successful. That means open communications when the partnership is being formed about needs, expectations, priorities, etc. And the more important the partnership is to the overall success of the company, the more that partner will invest in the success of the partnership.
Sign the Contract, Then be Ready to Re-Negotiate Many Times
Anyone who has managed a project of any size can tell you that one of the most important roles of the project manager is issue tracking and resolution. Too many times especially Western companies expect that a detailed contract specifies the roles of each partner. The reality is that once the contract is signed, the negotiations don't stop. Roles need to change based on changing business conditions in country. That doesn't mean that the foreign partner should dictate new terms, but that both partners need to work together to address issues as they arise to ensure a successful ongoing partnership.
There May not be a Messenger
In the US, we say "don't shoot the messenger" - meaning you shouldn't hold bad news against the person delivering the message. In many places, they just won't give you the message that there's a serious issue. Instead they'll try to fix it themselves. By the time the partner hears about it, the issue could jeopardize the project! This is where individual relationships are important. During periodic trips to the partner, talk to your counterpart in private (never in a group) about any issues you can help with. These informal chats could save the partnership.
I wish you all great success with all your partnerships!
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, January 22, 2010
International Entrepreneur Contest - Recycle Your Unused Ideas!
It's time to bring your unused entrepreneurial ideas out into the light!
The person who sends in the best international product or service idea will win the first ever International Entrepreneur Recycled Ideas Contest. I will be giving the contest winner a US$100 gift certificate to Amazon.com (or other controversial on-line store or charity of the winner's choice). I will be posting new internationally-viable product or service ideas that are submitted so that entrepreneurs around the world might be able to use some of them.
Here are the contest rules:
1. The product or service needs to be one that is currently not developed (or in development) by you or anyone else that you know of.
2. Describe your product or service idea including the problem is solves in 100 words or less in English. Post your product idea as a comment to this blog or send a link to @intlentreprenr.
3. Please include your name and a twitter address if you want it to be included with your idea.
4. The whole idea of recycling is that by sending in your unused ideas, you are relinquishing your legal rights to the idea.
5. Technological product ideas are welcome, but please describe your product in non-technical terms.
6. You can post more than one idea, but the most you can post is three ideas, so please make them you best!
7. Entrepreneurs from around the world are encouraged to send entries! For non-native English speakers, ideas will not be discounted in any way for grammar or spelling errors.
8. Deadline for entries is midnight, January 31, 2010. The winner will be announced February 3rd and all viable ideas will be posted within the week following.
So let the brainstorming begin!
Becky DeStigter
The International Entrepreneur
The person who sends in the best international product or service idea will win the first ever International Entrepreneur Recycled Ideas Contest. I will be giving the contest winner a US$100 gift certificate to Amazon.com (or other controversial on-line store or charity of the winner's choice). I will be posting new internationally-viable product or service ideas that are submitted so that entrepreneurs around the world might be able to use some of them.
Here are the contest rules:
1. The product or service needs to be one that is currently not developed (or in development) by you or anyone else that you know of.
2. Describe your product or service idea including the problem is solves in 100 words or less in English. Post your product idea as a comment to this blog or send a link to @intlentreprenr.
3. Please include your name and a twitter address if you want it to be included with your idea.
4. The whole idea of recycling is that by sending in your unused ideas, you are relinquishing your legal rights to the idea.
5. Technological product ideas are welcome, but please describe your product in non-technical terms.
6. You can post more than one idea, but the most you can post is three ideas, so please make them you best!
7. Entrepreneurs from around the world are encouraged to send entries! For non-native English speakers, ideas will not be discounted in any way for grammar or spelling errors.
8. Deadline for entries is midnight, January 31, 2010. The winner will be announced February 3rd and all viable ideas will be posted within the week following.
So let the brainstorming begin!
Becky DeStigter
The International Entrepreneur
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Market Opportunities in Surprising Places
The last time Brazil played in the final World Cup football matches, there was a surge of large flat screen television sales in Brazilian cities. That shouldn't surprise any marketer. What was surprising was who was buying them. The urban poor living in favelas (shantytowns) of major cities were the main consumers of these high-end consumer products. But how is that possible? Groups of neighbors pooled their money together to buy one TV for several families.
Those business professionals trained in industrialized countries often look for similar market characteristics when we expand our companies into overseas markets. If I sell cars to a certain segment of the domestic market, I look for the same segment in overseas markets. That may initially lead me to markets in Canada, Japan, and the European Union.
Entrepreneurs always need to think smarter than their larger competitors in order to survive and to thrive. One market opportunity that should not be overlooked is the possibility of selling into lower income markets overseas.
Wait a minute - with limited resources I should try selling my product into markets with LESS disposable income? Depending on circumstances, yes. I'm a big fan of C.K. Prahalad, who has researched and written extensively on serving the world's poor without sacrificing profits.
Here are some reasons why:
Group Buying Power
Many cultures are more collectivist and may be comfortable buying as a group of neighbors or as a village. This pools together buying power, like the favela flat screens. In China, families often pool several incomes together to buy the highest status car that the family can afford.
Gotta Have It Products
Cultural values can affect buying behavior. China's one-child policy has created families where one child is supported often by two working parents and up to four working grandparents. That child's future, especially through education, is the entire family's priority. Any product or service that helps to improve a child's academic performance even slightly would be very marketable in China regardless of the country's lower GDP per capita.
Repackaging Can Be the Answer
In my culture (U.S.), buying products in bulk is practically a sport. The reasoning is that the bigger the package, the better the value. In most other countries, products are sold in smaller quantities. Instead of a package of 10 men's razors, a consumer would buy just one razor at a time. Instead of buying a computer, a consumer might pay per use at a computer kiosk near their home.
According to Dr. Prahalad in his HBR (9/02) article, there are approximately 100 million people on the planet with annual income over $20,000. There are 2 billion people with income of $2,000-20,000 and another 4 billion with incomes under $2,000. Is your product or service one that could be altered to profitably serve the majority of the world's consumers?
If you have questions about overseas marketing strategies, including how to sell into developing countries, please send me an email: intl.entrepreneur@gmail.com
Those business professionals trained in industrialized countries often look for similar market characteristics when we expand our companies into overseas markets. If I sell cars to a certain segment of the domestic market, I look for the same segment in overseas markets. That may initially lead me to markets in Canada, Japan, and the European Union.
Entrepreneurs always need to think smarter than their larger competitors in order to survive and to thrive. One market opportunity that should not be overlooked is the possibility of selling into lower income markets overseas.
Wait a minute - with limited resources I should try selling my product into markets with LESS disposable income? Depending on circumstances, yes. I'm a big fan of C.K. Prahalad, who has researched and written extensively on serving the world's poor without sacrificing profits.
Here are some reasons why:
Group Buying Power
Many cultures are more collectivist and may be comfortable buying as a group of neighbors or as a village. This pools together buying power, like the favela flat screens. In China, families often pool several incomes together to buy the highest status car that the family can afford.
Gotta Have It Products
Cultural values can affect buying behavior. China's one-child policy has created families where one child is supported often by two working parents and up to four working grandparents. That child's future, especially through education, is the entire family's priority. Any product or service that helps to improve a child's academic performance even slightly would be very marketable in China regardless of the country's lower GDP per capita.
Repackaging Can Be the Answer
In my culture (U.S.), buying products in bulk is practically a sport. The reasoning is that the bigger the package, the better the value. In most other countries, products are sold in smaller quantities. Instead of a package of 10 men's razors, a consumer would buy just one razor at a time. Instead of buying a computer, a consumer might pay per use at a computer kiosk near their home.
According to Dr. Prahalad in his HBR (9/02) article, there are approximately 100 million people on the planet with annual income over $20,000. There are 2 billion people with income of $2,000-20,000 and another 4 billion with incomes under $2,000. Is your product or service one that could be altered to profitably serve the majority of the world's consumers?
If you have questions about overseas marketing strategies, including how to sell into developing countries, please send me an email: intl.entrepreneur@gmail.com
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
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Why I write about International Entrepreneurs...
International entrepreneurship is my passion.
Entrepreneurship (wherever it occurs) is a powerful idea that anyone with skills and a lot of hard work can create their own livelihood and financially support themselves. To me, entrepreneurs represent empowerment, initiative, innovation, and life-long learning. As a working woman, entrepreneurship means that when my gender has kept me from rising in an organization, I can build my own company and write my own rules.
I started studying international entrepreneurs two years ago at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Manuel Serapio teaches the course on International Entrepreneurship and is one of the top academics in this field. We studied born-global companies, companies that profitably serve the world's developing countries, and international social entrepreneurship. For those in the U.S. who may not know, American exports have outpaced economic growth by about 5 fold recently. Companies are internationalizing at much earlier stages in their development. And entrepreneurs are leveraging competitive advantages from their overseas partners instead of relying solely on internally-derived advantages.
I'm starting this blog in hopes of sharing some of things I'm learning from my consulting and classes. My hope is to create new relationships with contacts in the U.S. and other countries that we may be able to refer each other business opportunities. I'm also hoping to connect with those people who want to tackle the challenges of doing business internationally so that we can exchange ideas.
A little more about me... my name is Becky Park DeStigter and live in Colorado, U.S.A. I have a consulting practice for helping entrepreneurs be more globally competitive. I also work part-time for the Institute for International Business at the University of Colorado Denver serving as business outreach to Colorado companies. I am pursuing two Masters degrees - an MBA and an MS in International Business. I'm married, and have two school-aged children and a golden retriever. I was an exchange student to the Netherlands and still speak Dutch. In addition, I also speak Spanish & German, although they're like a muscle needing exercise. I've learned a little Italian, Tagalog and Chinese, too. For fun, my family likes to alpine ski, cross country ski, hike, travel, and watch sports. I volunteer as a Girl Scout leader and AFS exchange student liaison. My hometown is Appleton, Wisconsin, which for anyone from outside the U.S. is between Chicago and Canada.
Entrepreneurship (wherever it occurs) is a powerful idea that anyone with skills and a lot of hard work can create their own livelihood and financially support themselves. To me, entrepreneurs represent empowerment, initiative, innovation, and life-long learning. As a working woman, entrepreneurship means that when my gender has kept me from rising in an organization, I can build my own company and write my own rules.
I started studying international entrepreneurs two years ago at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Manuel Serapio teaches the course on International Entrepreneurship and is one of the top academics in this field. We studied born-global companies, companies that profitably serve the world's developing countries, and international social entrepreneurship. For those in the U.S. who may not know, American exports have outpaced economic growth by about 5 fold recently. Companies are internationalizing at much earlier stages in their development. And entrepreneurs are leveraging competitive advantages from their overseas partners instead of relying solely on internally-derived advantages.
I'm starting this blog in hopes of sharing some of things I'm learning from my consulting and classes. My hope is to create new relationships with contacts in the U.S. and other countries that we may be able to refer each other business opportunities. I'm also hoping to connect with those people who want to tackle the challenges of doing business internationally so that we can exchange ideas.
A little more about me... my name is Becky Park DeStigter and live in Colorado, U.S.A. I have a consulting practice for helping entrepreneurs be more globally competitive. I also work part-time for the Institute for International Business at the University of Colorado Denver serving as business outreach to Colorado companies. I am pursuing two Masters degrees - an MBA and an MS in International Business. I'm married, and have two school-aged children and a golden retriever. I was an exchange student to the Netherlands and still speak Dutch. In addition, I also speak Spanish & German, although they're like a muscle needing exercise. I've learned a little Italian, Tagalog and Chinese, too. For fun, my family likes to alpine ski, cross country ski, hike, travel, and watch sports. I volunteer as a Girl Scout leader and AFS exchange student liaison. My hometown is Appleton, Wisconsin, which for anyone from outside the U.S. is between Chicago and Canada.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
