“Often the best sales strategy is not going directly into new markets, but it’s leveraging up your existing customers. We are seeing this in a lot of manufacturing sectors, in a lot of technology companies. We [Canadians] have very, very good products, but often these products have to be packaged or integrated into a bigger service for customers.”Read the entire article here.
The kiosk, which is located at SME Corp's office in Menara Matrade, also helps them leverage on the toolkit to enhance their business by reducing their operational cost. SMEs can gain access to the relevant information in the toolkit via the Internet and need not go to the kiosk personally to access it.Learn more here.
The SME Toolkit is an online program that enables entrepreneurs and small businesses to learn how to implement sustainable business management practices needed for growth in areas such as finance, accounting, international business, marketing, human resources or legal, at no cost.
"When I started the customer base, it was about 3 to 5 miles. Today, it's worldwide. People find us online through searches, through search engines, through Twitter searches as well as Facebook."Illustration credit: ScanMyPhotos (as referenced above).
Re-visiting an article I wrote back in early 2009 that is still relevant to today's times:
According to the McKinsey Global Institute report, "Growth and Competitiveness in the United States: The role of its multinational companies:" • The global context in which U.S. MNCs compete and invest is shifting. The United States retains many strengths that make it one of the most attractive markets for multinational companies’ participation and investments. But numerous fast-growing emerging markets and some advanced economies are making huge strides in increasing their attractiveness. The United States has entered a new era of global competition for multinational activity.This fact is merely one of numerous economic impacts U.S. multinationals are facing in the new world marketplace.
Very inspiring little story. I'll let you be in awe. It can start at such an early age.
According to Martyn Davies, Beijing is rolling out SEZs -- special economic zones -- in targeted African economies. There are six such zones currently operating in Africa, with more to come. It is hoped that these hubs for Chinese capital investment may prompt broader market reforms and stimulate growth in their recipient economies in the same way they did in China more than two decades ago.
As featured in the NYTimes.com:Even before last fall’s crash, sales at Lexington International, a 12-employee maker of a laser device for treating hair loss, started heading south. “People cut down on nonessential health care items, and we really felt it,” said David Michaels, managing director of the company, which is based in Boca Raton, Fla., and was founded nine years ago. When he analyzed his company’s performance, Mr. Michaels concluded that the possibilities for domestic sales growth were slim. But he had started exporting his product, called HairMax, to Canada and Australia in 2001. Perhaps expanding to other countries was the answer.Mr. Michaels turned to the Gold Key Service of the Commerce Department, hiring consultants who spent several months conducting industry research and visiting a handful of countries, the better to pinpoint potential distribution partners. Then, Mr. Michaels traveled to those places to meet his partners in person. At the same time, the consultants helped him understand the regulatory issues he would have to tackle in each country. Ultimately, the licensing process took three to nine months, depending on the region. The most difficult country was South Korea, which, Mr. Michaels said, has a particularly rigorous licensing procedure for medical devices.
Now, he is also selling to Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, in addition to South Korea, where, Mr. Michaels said, “There are significant social advantages to having a great head of hair.” He figures that international sales have more than compensated for the decline in the United States.
Read the entire article here.
