We have all heard about the “global marketplace” and many small business owners have wondered just how to tap into this much-discussed global customer base. The answer to that question, however, depends on whether you plan to open up shop in your prospective country or if you simply plan to ship goods there while remaining stateside. Whichever way you decide to go, remember that doing business overseas—especially in a culture different from your own—can be a world apart from what you are used to. Still, for all the differences and difficulties you might have to face, doing business overseas is not only possible, it can be very lucrative and rewarding in a variety of ways.  International Business: Getting Started It all begins with research; research into the countries or regions you may wish to penetrate, into the markets they offer, their political environment and their relationship with the United States. The place to start this research i... [Read Full Article]

With the reach that the Internet can give your business into foreign markets, there is great opportunity to grow and prosper. There is also a real chance that your business efforts overseas could run into some real snags, especially when it comes to your overseas marketing efforts. Bad Translations at Work We have all heard the apocryphal—and completely debunked—tale of the disastrous Central and South American introduction of the Chevy Nova (no va, in Spanish, means “won’t go”). If that one, however, is untrue, there are others that have actually taken place. Some of these include: Coca-Cola: Bite the Wax Tadpole Back in 1928, when Coke first entered the Chinese market, they had to choose 4 Chinese characters to represent the sounds Ko Ka Ko La. The problem was that they pursued this phonetic needle in the haystack of Chinese characters with no regard to what the characters they finally chos... [Read Full Article]