Global Business and the Never-Ending Learning Curve
Posted in Business resources, Woman entrepreneur by Anne
Early in August I wrote about Energy, Globalization and Manufacturing. Today I want to point you in the direction of more interesting information about globalization, and let you know what’s going on my fall business reading list. I’m not only interested in this topic as a woman entrepreneur, I’m just plain interested.
Laurel Delaney at The Global Small Business Blog consistantly brings up good topics connected to small business and globalization. Her blog pointed me to this site: Knowledge@Wharton and their discussion of a book titled: GLOBALITY: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything.
GLOBALITY tells the story of a new era of international business competition. The global challenger companies—that grew up in the rapidly-developing economies—are challenging the big, developed-country corporations that have been globalization leaders for the last two decades. Both challengers and incumbents will find themselves competing with everyone (including former partners and suppliers) from everywhere (in both developed and developing markets) for everything (including customers, talent, and more).
This looks like a good one to put on my reading list.
I also like the Globalization category of Small Business Trends. It has many fine articles, one of the contributors being the above-mentioned Laurel Delaney. Read any of the articles listed and you’ll get thoughtful content about global business.
There is a reference in one of the articles to Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat. This a book I hear about time and time again, and have often told myself, “I have to read it!” And I haven’t, yet. It seems to me that the globalization of business is a trend that is here to stay, so I want to be more informed, making this is a second book that goes on my reading list (along with Friedman’s latest book, Hot, Flat and Crowded.)
I’ve also discovered a new and fascinating rejoinder to Friedman’s The World is Flat, titled The Entrepreneurial Society, by David Andretsch, from the Kauffman Foundation’s Entrepreneur’s Resource Center. As I mentioned in last week’s post Exciting Entrepreneurship Initiatives, this site is a tremendous source of information, globalization included.
New book by IU’s Audretsch declares business world ‘not flat’
Embracing innovation is the only way for Western businesses to succeed in the global market, says Indiana University economics Professor David Audretsch. In his new book, The Entrepreneurial Society (Oxford University Press). Audretsch argues that labor will continue to be outsourced abroad as long as the tasks involved are routine and replicable, but companies that reward new ideas, niche markets and community collaboration can thrive on local employment.
“If your company’s competitive advantage is based on lowest cost, you’re out of here,” he said. “If you want to stay and thrive in the United States, the focus needs to be on innovation. You need to think of things we’re not doing today.”
Baby boomers have had a difficult time grasping the changes of a globalized economy, he said. They inherited the economic success of the postwar era, in which large corporations were the major employers. Their attempts to follow an outdated formula have led to personal and corporate financial failures, Audretsch said.
Moving beyond the conclusions of Thomas Friedman’s 2005 bestseller The World is Flat, Audretsch argues that business innovation actually occurs in geographical “pockets” such as Silicon Valley software development, fashion in Paris and Milan, and finance in New York. Talent—and wealth—tend to collect in these areas known for cutting-edge development. The solution to the off-shoring dilemma, Audretsch says, lies in identifying community strengths and building these areas as hotbeds of innovation.
“It turns out, ideas and creation of those ideas happen in a proximate way—people gathered together make ideas grow, and to proactively respond you need to be in the same place together. Business innovation functions much like the world of music—the best work happens when you get together and jam,” he said.
This book will have to be added to my globalization reading list, as well!
I know that I’ve only scratched the surface of this topic and I’ve got an ambitious amount to absorb in just what I’ve found so far. But it’s a start, and a reminder that to stay current on the world, and business trends, the learning curve is never-ending.
