The world is shrinking. The time when only rich huge corporations were able to globalize is definitely in the past. In many ways, the market for your business may only be limited by your own imagination. As the digital divide gets narrower and narrower, and with efficiencies in shipping and services vastly improving, you might not be able to afford not globalizing your business.
In Fortune's Take Your Business Global Alessandra Bianchi has this to say about the growing globalization of small businesses -
Has your small business gone global yet? In an increasingly wired world, adding an international dimension - whether through importing, exporting, outsourcing, manufacturing overseas, or forming a strategic partnership - is now the province of both mom and pop ventures and large conglomerates. It is becoming almost as easy to do business in Peru as it is in Peoria. Result: The number of startups venturing overseas is skyrocketing. One recent study found that the number of multinational companies has swelled from 7,000 in 1975 to approximately 40,000 today. In addition, the net income of U.S. companies from operations outside the States now accounts for about half of income earned at home, compared to just 10 percent in 1950.
In Inc.com's article Gone Global - Why expanding overseas is your ticket to new markets, new ideas, and a world of adventure Leigh Buchanan says -
Foreign markets are like children's shoes: They offer plenty of room to grow. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, 95 percent of the world's consumers reside outside the United States. Some of those people have holes in their lives the exact size and shape of your product.
Entrepreneurs are getting the message. In a survey of 449 CEOs conducted by Inc. and Amar Bhidé, a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, 58 percent of those doing business overseas reported that foreign demand for their product was growing. Furthermore, just 12 percent of the stay-at-homes blamed their hesitation on a lack of demand. Anecdotally, a surprisingly large number of CEOs interviewed for this package--selling everything from trash-compacting equipment to toothbrushes to public relations--have been making money overseas for a decade or more. Perhaps the question facing businesses pondering globalization should not be "Why?" but rather "Why not?"
So where do you start? Cnn's money.com uncovers this in Who in the world is entrepreneurial? Where they scan the globe to uncover which countries are the most - and least - friendly to small business.
Research is the best place to start learning more - money.com has "Best sites for global entrepreneurs" - a guide to researching the international marketplace.
Need more inspiration? Marketing profs talks about "Going Global in a Web 2.0 World: A Punch List for Small Business where they run through how a "local" designer globalized her small business using online sites and tools".
Globalization may not be for everybody, but if it is for your business, this is as good a time as it gets to start taking the first steps beyond your backyard and into the wider world outside.
