Blog October 2012

The Internet’s global reach has made possible a cost-effective means for marketing products and services overseas. Companies that establish a corporate web site, which publicizes their products and services, provide an electronic mechanism for safe and secure electronic transactions, features order tracking, and lists products’ technical specifications can easily apply electronic commerce to international marketing.

Small- and medium-sized companies can marshal available resources to broaden market presence internationally by adopting some of these e-commerce or electronic business practices.

Step-by-Step Guide to Going Online

Use these steps as a guide to creating your website and marketing your company overseas using the Internet and key service providers.

Companies seeking foreign audiences with their websites will want to either localize or internationalize their site, or provide a mixture of both processes. Forrester Research notes that "visitors linger twice as long [on international sites] as they do at English-only web sites; business buyers are three times more likely to buy if addressed in their own language; and customer services costs drop when instructions are displayed in the user's language."

Localization consists of adapting one’s website to meet the linguistic, cultural, and commercial requirements of a targeted market. Internationalizing a firm’s website enables the company to be multilingual and to be sensitive to cultural conventions without the need for extensive redesign. Localization or internationalization must be part of the online exporter’s corporate strategy for website and business development.

Be Attentive to Employee and Worker Concerns

As part of our blog series on tax literacy, MBDA will highlight the latest tax-related news issued by the IRS for business owners.  The material presented in this website is not offered as legal or tax advice.  You are urged to seek the advice of your tax advisor, attorney, and/or financial planner for any issue related to tax obligations.

Payroll

Maintaining good payroll records is critical for both you and your employees. Keep all records of employment taxes for at least 4 years. They should be available for IRS review. The following is a list of some of the records you should keep:

I attended the 42^nd Annual Meeting of the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) and came away with extraordinary news and a more optimistic outlook on the growth and expansion of the minority business community.  Today, NAIC released a quantitatively focused report that underscores the strong performance of minority and women-owned private equity firms.  These firms create new jobs and expand the U.S. economy by providing much needed capital to the nation’s minority- and women-owned businesses. 

The report, referred to by its short name, Recognizing the Results, is formally titled The Financial Returns of NAIC Firms: Minority and Diverse Private Equity Managers and Funds Focused on the U.S. Emerging Domestic Markets.  Compiled by the highly respected accounting firm KPMG, Recognizing the Results demonstrates that NAIC members—27 minority and diverse private equity firms focused on the U.S. emerging domestic markets – have outperformed the overall private equity industry for the past 13 years.  These results capture a representative sample of the larger sector of diverse and minority private equity firms. 

Are you a woman who is ready to start or expand a small business? Now’s a good time to take that first step, with help from a U.S. Small Business Administration series of four web chats during October, which is also National Women’s Small Business Month.

Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing segments of the small business community. Today, about 30 percent of small businesses are owned by women, compared to about 5 percent in 1970.