Reimagining the Future: 12 Global Small Business Trendsto Watch in 2008

By Laurel DelaneySmall businesses are the heart and soul of our worldentrepreneurial economy. They create, inspire, andfundamentally change people’s lives. In the United States, wekeep nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit—a force that builtAmerica—and people from all over the world, rather than offeringcriticism, are engaging in the highest form of flattery: imitation.We must be doing something right!Let’s take a look at 12 global small business trends to watch in2008, trends that can be embraced by any culture and will addvalue to any nation.

1. EMBRACE THE WORLD

Small businesses will embrace the world and make globalizationcome true. When there is nowhere to grow, branching outglobally offers a wealth of opportunity, including rapid expansion.

2. EXPORT LIKE MAD

Small businesses will discover that a weak U.S. dollar offers anexciting, challenging, and fantastic chance to export. It makes allAmerican goods a flashing blue light special. As a result, smallbusinesses will start to export like mad. Their mandate in 2008will become “Go forth and export!”

3. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES

Small businesses will do whatever it takes to survive—good timesor bad—and going global will be the ticket to thrive. For mostentrepreneurs, decisions throughout the year will be made fast,and living with the consequences will be a fact of business life.Globalization 3.0 will be driven not by the folks in India or Chinabut by budding “born global” entrepreneurs and small businessestaking their businesses global from anywhere.

4. ADOPT THE OUTSIDER LENS

Small businesses are good at adopting an insider lens whenmaking judgments while immersed in a situation. Soon, though,small businesses will adopt the outsider lens, which involvesremoving or detaching oneself from a situation and establishing arealistic understanding of the risks involved. This is a cleaner lensand is more useful in doing business with the world, especiallywhen one must be sensitive to so many different cultures.

5. DISTURB THE STATUS QUO

Small business will not settle for the ordinary, or for establishingrules, because they have things to accomplish. They will breakrules and disturb the status quo to overcome obstacles andachieve brilliant results.

6. LEAD THE WAY

Small businesses will continue to lead the way in global trade.They typically generate 29 percent of the U.S. export sales in agiven year, and in 2005 they accounted for nearly $300 billion of the $906 billion generated by all U.S. exporters. Doing what’sright and what matters will empower small businesses to stay thecourse of international expansion, even if analysis might point toa different path.

7. PROVE GLOBAL SMALL BUSINESS IS THE REAL DEAL

Global small businesses are the real deal, and they will prove itby continuing to deliver results across borders—leaving peopleand businesses better off than they were before. The ideas theypromote and profit from are authentic and are based on thegenuine needs and desires of consumers worldwide.

8. SET PRIORITIES

Small businesses will align their goals for going global with their

passion. They will set a few priorities (one being going global)and will charge on until results are achieved. They will become aworld powerhouse of productivity.

9. INVEST IN COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION

Small businesses will realize that innovation is the fundamentaldriver of economic opportunity, greater globalization, jobcreation, improved business competitiveness, and thriving. Socialnetworking and media are merely the tip of the iceberg. Thanksto technology, anyone with a good idea, anywhere in the world,can now launch it in a heartbeat and for relatively little expense.More collaborative innovation will take place in the coming year,with further emphasis placed on orchestrating resources,reaching outside of an organization for new ideas, and fosteringinteraction, whether it involves your own participation or not.

10. PUSH FORWARD

Small businesses will push forward to passionately engage theirentire organization and their constituents, but they also will payattention to managing the push-and-pull of interactions. This isan area where we will not have much control. Get used to it.Prepare to use the Internet as an effective tool to create marketpull by raising your company’s profile and getting other people totalk about it. Push forward to build Internet share, which iscritical for success, rather than mindshare.

11. FORGET ABOUT SIZE

It doesn’t matter (unless you are talking about an entrepreneur’sdream—and if that is the case, then dream

big

). With powerfulsoftware and outsourced processes, small businesses can gohead to head with large companies. More than ever, smallbusinesses have the advantage over large companies; smallbusinesses are adaptable, flexible, resilient, maneuverable, andmore global.

12. ENSURE KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Small business owners will begin to foster knowledge sharingacross disciplines, making the ups and downs of the organizationmore transparent to all. Cooperation and sharing of ideastypically promotes the best possible results. This belief willencourage continuous improvement and high achievement in