Let’s take a look at ten key global issues for business that Global Impact Companies face as they seek to expand and engage with our rapidly changing global economy.
1-Recruiting Internationally
It is easy to understand why almost a third of technology sector leaders in the U.S. included recruiting internationally as one of their top challenges. Recruiting across national borders will pose a lot of questions and problems for Human Resources to work out. The interviewing and vetting processes of your company will need to be planned out and carefully honed (through experience) in order to ensure job candidates are well- qualified for your positions. This is particularly challenging over long distances and when interviews must be done remotely.
Before making offers companies need to know what kind of salary and benefits packages will make competitive offers in that market. And in the hiring process HR teams will need to work through challenges like language barriers, time zones and cultural differences in order to identify quality matches with the company.
2-Employee Immigration Challenges
The immigration laws in our country and in other countries go through frequent changes. There are always some countries for which it is exceedingly difficult to secure foreign national visas for employees you may want to hire. In the U.S., for example, it is becoming much more difficult to get H-1B visas. While for the U.K. the continuation of the Brexit process muddy’s the future of immigration to the UK as well.
3-Paying Tariffs and Export Fees
A significant economic challenge in a global business environment is paying tariffs and export fees. For companies who want to sell their products in other countries across the map, it can be very expensive to pay export fees on products leaving, then transport them and finally pay tariff taxes to get them imported to the targeted foreign market.
4-Navigating Payroll and Compliance Laws
Another of these key global issues for business expansion is managing international payroll while maintaining compliance with ever changing laws regarding employment and taxes. The more markets your business enters the more difficult the management of these compliance challenges becomes. Therefore any time your company wants to add a new market there will be a whole new round of legal research to ensure you comply with local laws. This can become easier over time as you gain experience and know how to find the applicable laws.
5-Diminished Cultural Identities
Some cultures around the world have succeeded in capturing peoples’ imagination and causing other countries to adapt aspects of their culture to be more like the admired culture. The result has been a greater sharing of some aspects of these varied global cultures, but also a blending together that has diminished the smaller, unique cultural identities of many smaller nations. The problem here is that when cultures begin to lose their distinctive features, our overall global diversity becomes diminished.
6-Exploitation of Foreign Workers
Globalization has led to lower costs for goods which benefits many consumers, but a significant economic challenge in a global business environment that has resulted from the lower cost of goods is the search for cheaper labor sources. This has led many western companies to move their production lines overseas to countries with few protections for workers. This has inevitably led to the exploitation of workers becoming one of the key global issues for business.
7-Long Distance Communication
Mobile phones and Zoom meetings have become commonplace tools for communication in business and are easily adapted for international communication as well. However, there are plenty of times when these communication modes are not as effective as in person communication. Especially when talking to prospective clients, employees and distribution partners it can be vital to communicate in person. Language barriers, body language, and working through precise details are challenges in the best of circumstances but will be especially difficult when doing business “long distance” in areas of expansion.
8-Marketing in Foreign Countries
Do you know what the buying cycle for people in the country you want to expand into is? Have you made an effort to discover how best to reach your prospective customers in your new market? Product marketing is a significant economic challenge in a global business environment. Building brand awareness and product recognition will enable you to establish a faithful customer base. This kind of loyalty to a brand is necessary for long term success in a global market.
9-Communication within your Organization
How all of the team members who are engaged in your day to day globalization efforts communicate, report, and track their assignments has a huge impact on the overall success your business will have when taking your products into foreign markets. Putting an effective system and clear list of protocols in place, ahead of time, is necessary. It works best when it has already been proven to be successful beforehand. This way company leadership can be confident that they will know what is going on with the international expansion even when they are not always there to manage in person.
10-Human Resources
When pursuing your global business venture, it is important to think through how your business will meet the necessary working hours for production operations in a foreign country. It will be better to have excess laborers than to lack the workers needed for production. Human Resources will require additional investments for this process and for hiring and identifying potential issues that may arise with staffing. If you send some of your current team members to your expanding global markets, you must account for the vacancies created at home.
Final Thoughts
By taking stock of these key global issues for business before pursuing your future plans for spreading into new global markets you will better prepare for success. Taking these steps into consideration is demanding and can be done any number of ways, meaning that you have options.
One approach is to connect with a full service marketing agency with your goals in mind, and work with them to hone your brand, design an overall marketing plan that is tailored to your needs, and let your marketing agency develop and grow your marketing of industrial products and services at home and overseas.
Here at zo agency we work to build long term relationships with our clients. We call it Tribe!
We will work diligently to discover your vision, your passion, your needs, your hopes and dreams for your business and then will create an overall marketing plan that meets your needs and fits your budget. Visit us today at www.zo.agency
