How does global business flow now?

DEEPER with Brad Skelton >>

I HAVE been regularly talking about global business changing rapidly and how the internet and modern transportation methods have impacted the landscape of competition for numerous industries. Distance does not matter anymore.

If your overhead structure and prices are not globally competitive you had better get your skates on and make them so before the freight train runs you over.  

To say it again, regardless of international borders, overseas competitors are now able to take you and your company on at home and are doing so.

I follow the McKinsey Global Institute and recently they released a research report with some stats that you cannot afford to ignore. 

Here they are:

• There was a $26 trillion flow of goods, services and finance in 2012 which is equivalent to 36 percent of global GDP.
• By 2025 it is estimated that cross border business flow will reach $85 trillion.
• Global GDP will grow by an estimated $450 billion each year.
• There was an 18-times increase in internet traffic from 2005 to 2012.
• About 90 percent of commercial sellers on eBay export their goods to other countries vs 25 percent of traditional businesses.
• There has been a 500 percent increase in Skype call minutes since 2008.
• In 2012, China accounted for 12 percent of global trade in goods which was up from 2 percent in 1990.
• In 2012, emerging economies accounted for 38 percent of the total cross-border flow of goods, services and finance, which was up from 14 percent in 1990.

 

These confirm the trends I have been writing about in this blog for quite some time now about how global competition is developing.

All of the businesses I am growing in Depth Industries are geared to help companies stay globally competitive by accessing the goods and services that will help them not only survive, but prosper in this landscape of truly international competition.

Time to face the brutal fact: International competition is commoditising goods and services more than ever before in history and, whether you like it or not, price is increasingly the driver in the decision making process.

Are you globally competitive and chasing down international markets? If not, why not?

There are some great opportunities if you are rigged the right way.

-- Brad Skelton, 2014.

BACKGROUND

Brad Skelton has come a long way indeed from his childhood in Brisbane, when he dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps of owning his own business, while playing with Tonka trucks in the backyard sandpit. Those dreams eventually led him to shipping the real thing, and other heavy cargo, all over the world through his own companies – seeing revenues top $140 million and with 200-plus employees operating in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. His ongoing insights and commentary on business experiences have made him known around the world as The Shipping Bloke. Like most entrepreneurs Brad Skelton has had some setbacks, too, but these have served to provide tremendous lessons along the way and he believes he is a better businessman for those challenging experiences.

Today Brad Skelton is developing, guiding and investing in new businesses under the Depth Industries brand in accordance with the new rules of a truly globalised and constantly restructuring economy. Talking about and helping business leaders to navigate this tumultuous era of business change is his current passion. A past graduate of the prestigious Birthing of Giants programme at MIT in Boston, a current member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO), a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a director of companies other than his own, plus a former member and chapter chair of the Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO) in Brisbane, Brad Skelton provides regular astute insights for business leaders on his web log at www.theshippingbloke.com

ends

 

Ends