Take Your Business Global, Virtually

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Within this challenging global marketplace, there is no need to overstretch your dollars to go global. Thanks to the Internet, you can do it virtually on a shoestring.

SMEs worldwide are using the Internet to increase their reach. According to a poll of US marketers by Bredin Business Information, 17 per cent of SMEs want to boost their online activity to make a bigger impact without much of a budget risk.

Read more about how it can be done, here.

Another good resource on trends and virtual office can be found here.

Chicago Boats At Monroe Harbor

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Hope it's smooth sailing in your part of the world. Enjoy the weekend.

Global Indian of the Year

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It doesn't surprise me that Ram Charan is The Economic Times 2008-2009 Global Indian of the Year after being chosen ahead of other fairly well-known and respected names such as Ram Shriram of Shepaio Ventures, Ajit Jain of Berkshire Hathaway, Anshu Jain of Deutsche Bank and Vinod Khosla.

I am big fan of Ram's having read, "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done," (one of my all time favorite books co-authored with Larry Bossidy), "What The Customer Wants You To Know," and "Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't."

He's authored more than a dozen brilliant business books over his professional career (a workaholic I might add).

A couple of years ago I was so fascinated by his insights that I tried to get him to speak at an event in Chicago but was unsuccessful. He was too busy and his speaker fee was astronomical -- well beyond our client's budget.

Needless to say, if you don't know about Ram's work, you should. He offers fresh, bold insights into the world of business. Very cool. Very ahead of its time yet relevant for managing in today's crazy times.

Congrats to Raman. A well-deserved honor.

How To Scale Up An Educational Operation in the U.A.E.

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What's in a name, especially when it's a university in the United Arab Emirates that wants to be viewed as a leading-edge education system in the Arab region?

Find out here:

Education as an Export: Tayeb Kamali on the UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology

Additional resource:

Higher Colleges of Technology
Photo gallery (worth a look)

On Becoming an Effective Global Leader

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My company is stretching into areas of the world I've barely heard of — we are definitely broaching the unknown. As a leader, what do I need to be successful as globalization changes the rules of the game? Marshall Goldsmith's (pictured) answer:

MG: To help me answer this question, I contacted Maya Hu-Chan of the Global Leadership Development Center at Alliant University's Marshall Goldsmith School of Management. Maya is an international management consultant and certified executive coach who specializes in global leadership, executive coaching, and cross-cultural business skills. Maya and I co-authored Global Leadership: The Next Generation (Kindle edition), from which we learned much about facing the challenges of globalization.

Read more here.

Additional resources:

Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior. Dr. Goldmith's 24 books include What Got You Here Won't Get You There, an NYT best seller, WSJ #1 business book and Harold Longman Award winner for Business Book of the Year. He has been recognized as one of the world's leading executive educators and coaches in BusinessWeek, the Economist, Forbes and The Times of London. His articles and videos are available online at MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com and he can be reached at Marshall(at)MarshallGoldsmith.com. His latest book is: Succession: Are You Ready?

Did You Know?

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Did you know that the Executive Office of the President of the United States has a blog under the Office of the United States Trade Representative?

Well either did I until today.

About them:

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of more than 200 committed professionals with decades of specialized experience in trade issues and regions of the world.
We negotiate directly with foreign governments to create trade agreements, to resolve disputes, and to participate in global trade policy organizations. We also meet with governments, with business groups, with legislators and with public interest groups to gather input on trade issues and to discuss the President's trade policy positions.
USTR was created in 1962 and has offices in Washington, Geneva, and Brussels.

Visit the blog here. For the home page of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, go here. To get a glimpse of the recent 2009 Trade Policy Agenda Report, go here.

Is Your Brand a Global Powerhouse?

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A ranking of Swiss brands conducted by Interbrand unveiled that the top five brands were, in order of brand value, Nescafé, UBS, Nestlé, Credit Suisse and Zurich. Other globally recognized brands in the top 20 included Rolex, Omega, Lindt, Swatch and Longines.

How did a tiny country -- with less than 16,000 square miles of land mass and less than 8 million people -- largely known for keeping to itself become such a branding powerhouse? It starts with Switzerland’s view of its own brand.

The inherent value of “Swiss made” brands is so high that the country’s government is currently considering new laws to protect it: “The government wants to replace vague laws with concrete rules to crack down on abuses of ‘made in Switzerland’ and Swiss cross labels” (“Protecting ‘Swiss made’ brand divides opinion,” swissinfo.ch, April 6, 2008). The movement is known in Switzerland as “the legislation project Swissness.”

Discover why Swiss brands have global clout here; start to think about how your brand is perceived by the world; and, take a shot at stimulating your brand here.

Additional resource:

The Trouble With Brands

Discover a New World

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Just returned from a run by my favorite area, Loyola University Chicago North Shore Campus near Rogers Park, Illinois. I do this run just about every morning. Enjoy the weekend.

Understanding the Potential of Global Trade for Small Businesses

Discover China

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There are so many things I don't know.

Here's one of a zillion:

China Newspaper, China English Newspaper, Global Times

More here.

Swiat Nauki

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Yesterday, I visited Borders downtown Chicago, and scanned the recent edition of Scientific American (SA). I got caught up in "Does Language Shape What We Think?" Later, because I was so impressed with all the great content, I decided to check out SA's website. My goodness, I had no idea how global they are.

Swiat Nauki is their Poland edition. According to Google Translate, Swiat Nauki stands for "World Science."

If you want to get a quick course in cross-cultural online communications, pay a visit to each of these wonderful Scientific American sites from all over the world. You get a good feel on what works, what doesn't, especially on design and color schemes.

Russia
Spain
Taiwan
Italy
Japan
India
Israel
Germany
France
Czech Republic
Holland
Brazil
China
United States

Look at all the other countries that Scientific American operates in here.

It Ain't Easy Operating in the Developing World

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And the first thing you must remember to do is to throw out your traditional global business strategies because they won't work in the developing world.

Let's take a look at why and capture some answers along the way on how to find success in these important new environments where hundreds of millions of potential customers live.

Lessons From the Developing World

Additional resource:

Can world economy count on developing countries?

Diary of a Fellowship in China

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Over at The New Entrepreneur, BusinessWeek, Stacy Perman, who is on a two-week fellowship in China, reports on entrepreneurship in a series of blog posts.

Check it out here.

Another Gorgeous Day in Chicago

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog. Photo taken during the Cool Globes Display in Chicago, Illinois.

I hope you enjoy your weekend. Get out there and have some fun!

Guess Who's a Powerhouse Among South American Economies?

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Argentina? Bolivia? Chile? Guess again. Try Brazil. And The Export-Import Bank of the United States is putting some money there to promote exports. Exim Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg says:

“I chose Brazil as my first international destination for good reason: Brazil is a powerhouse among South American economies and offers tremendous opportunities for U.S. exporters in many sectors. I want Brazilians to know that Ex-Im Bank has the will and the capacity to finance their purchases of U.S. equipment, products and services."

Read all about it here.

Lower Barriers to Green Trade

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Letter to President Obama: "Lower trade barriers to green goods and services."

Several trade associations recently sent a letter (that includes the above remark) to President Obama pushing the Administration to pursue a quick conclusion of a comprehensive Environmental Goods and Services Agreement. The associations asked the president to use multiple channels to lower trade barriers to green goods and services, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), other economic forums, and climate negotiations.

Read more here.

Culture Shock

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Finding work/life balance on an overseas assignment can be stressful.

According to the 2007 Expatriate Work/Life Balance Survey, the most recent by New York-based ORC Worldwide, 65 percent of expats report feeling the strain of managing the demands of work and home, leading to amplified anxieties at home and at the office.

Among the findings: Expats are working longer hours abroad than in their home country -- an average of 13.4 more hours per week -- and are plagued by late-night phone calls, text messages and e-mails, extensive regional travel, and language and cultural differences.

What's the major problem? Inadequate preparation.

Read more here.

The Big Second Wave: Young Americans Heading to China

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It looks as if more adventurous young Americans are arriving in China to ward off unemployment in the states and to be a part of either regular employment or an entrepreneurial boom.

Read more about it here:

Shut Out at Home, Americans Seek Opportunity in China.

Have any readers done this? If so, please contact me at ldelaney(at)globetrade.com. and I'll interview you. We'll share your story with readers.

Socializing On The Go In South Africa

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Part Facebook, part Flickr, and a dash of Twitter combined with a GPS-type navigation system, The Grid -- a mobile social network that allows users to chat and share stuff in a mobile location-based matrix with all of their friends and locate them on a map -- is a first for the African continent.

Call it, if you will, socializing on the go. If users want to have a soda with a friend, they log into The Grid to see which friends are nearby and tag the location of a nearby hangout. Then they send a soda invitation with directions to entice their pal to stop in. If the soda group wants more friends to join them, they can log in again and type up a blog, message or record a quick video and invite everyone who’s free and happens to be nearby.

Everyone can easily see where friends are and what they are doing due to The Grid displaying the user’s approximate position on a street map. Users from any network can join in the experience because The Grid was developed to showcase innovative new technologies to all South Africans.

Learn more here at the Brand Channel and stop in at The Grid.

Wherever You Are, Take a Break

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Strolling around Millenium Park in Chicago and captured a picture of the Cloud Gate.

Enjoy the weekend. Back with you on Monday.

Taking a Home Business Global

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How hard is it to take a home business global? Got a computer? Got an Internet connection? If so, you're 99 percent there. All you need to do next is find overseas customers and make some money in the process.

Let me help you get started. We'll begin with opening your kitchen to the world.

BakeSpace.com. Recipe swap and food social network. Very cool.

What's next? Are your recipes worth something? Start charging. Turn that home business into a global empire!

ITAR-Export Compliance Measures

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Breaking into the defense business is one of the few bright spots in our global economy but export enforcement law and regulations are complex. You have to learn about export compliance and be fearless about asking the right questions. Outside experts are helpful but can become expensive.

Find out how to set up an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)-export compliance program and more here.

Additional resources:

ITAR Export Compliance -- Export Rules

ITAR Export Compliance

eCustoms Export Compliance

ITAR Wikipedia

Which Country is the World's Largest Manufacturer?

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It depends. Are we asking the question for now or in the future?

Learn more here.

Local Impact....9/28

You might have wondered why I started covering the national health care issue, rather than more local problems. The latest poll that came through might be a reason. Currently 48% of the surveyed population are rating the health care system we have as good or excellent, as opposed to 29% last year. And, we're going into a congressional recess.

What does that mean, locally? With the announcement of the possibility of increased taxes on the "middle class", there is a real chance that the health care bill will stall, if not fail. Medicare cuts have already been projected. What are most of the Essent hospitals dependent on? Federal programs.

PRMC is currently, if I'm not mistaken, considered as part of the metroplex in Medicare reimbursement levels. The new cuts will leave the rural rates alone and cut into metro. So, a quandary: Will the new rates drop below the rural, equal them, or stay above? How much of a cut will PRMC take? Hmmm?

Quite possibly Nashville was sitting back, confident that a lot of the self-pay/no-pay would now be covered, pushing their revenue levels up. Now, the projection might not be so rosy...possibly equivalent to a lump of coal in their stocking.

Show and Sell Your Creative Work to the World

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Promote your creative work and gain global exposure at the Artician, a new community for creative professionals. They provide an effortless way for anyone to build, manage, and fully customize their portfolio.

Show and sell your creative work to the world.

It's free, sign up here.

RBN – Real Host, Latvia and the Zeus Botnet

RBN (Russian Business Network) via Real Host Ltd. is a fairly blatant cybercrime and bullet proof hosting hub. Inhabiting AS8206 Junik based in Riga, Latvia, and is high on any watch list. (ref1 & ref2)

As Dynamoo points out “A real sewer” (ref3), moreover this has all the hallmarks and operational elements of the apparently fragmented RBN, either as a resurgence or a clone of the RBN’s business model.

Fig 1 – Front page of installing cc – Zeus botnet rental & loading

Of more current interest, this is the base for distributing the new and as yet un-patched “Zero day Flash/PDF exploit” (ref 4), Zero day MS e.g. Directshow - MS09-028, and a core center for the Zeus botnet C&C (command and control) the # 1 botnet in the US with an estimated 3.6 million PCs infected.

Also known but updated usage of RBN methodologies:

# Rock Phish - which originally introduced the Zeus (aka WSNPOEM) Trojan.

# ZeuEsta (a mix of the ZeuS crimeware and the El Fiesta Exploit Kit). However, since April 17 2009 ZeuEsta in combination with SPack Exploit Kit (ref 5)

Fig 2 – iSell.cc - Stolen: Bank logins, credit cards, PayPal Sales and IDs – On Real Host

Fortunately in more recent times there are several good sources within the Open SEC community of up-to-date information as to malware domains, spam centers, botnets, to select a few:

• Spamhaus – SBL75831 – lists the net block for Phishing and Malware hosting. (Ref 6.)
• Fire - shows up to 9 complete malware servers over recent times. (Ref 7.)
• MalwareURL – shows currently 199 domains hosting amongst other badness; 18 trojans, 25 redirects to exploits and rogue anti-virus, 6 Botnet C&C (command and control) (Ref 8.)
• Google’s Safe Browsing - shows for AS8206 Junik in the last 90 days; 12 sites providing malicious software for drive by downloads, 102 sites acting as intermediaries for the infection of 11,810 other web sites. Finally it found 161 websites hosting malware that infected 20,681 other web sites.
• Google’s Safe Browsing - as an example for just one of the domains – 71.speed.info – 32 scripting exploits

The Results of Investigation and Reporting the Issues

Fig 3 – Real Host Routing – as of 073109

Fig 4 – Real Host Routing – as of 080309

Money Mule sites - the Barwells Group and NewskyAG reveals the following:

BarwellsGroup

"During the trial period (1 month), you will be paid 2,000 USD per month while working on average 3 hours per day, Monday-Friday, plus 5 commissions from every transactions or task received and processed. The salary will be sent in the form of wire transfer directly to your account. After the trial period your base pay salary will go up to 3,500USD per month, plus 5 commissions."

Clearly this is a money mule recruitment program. Sounds pretty good for 3 hours work per day!

NewskyAG

Not only does this domain operate a money mule scam, it also ran a Zeus C&C server. What is scary is that people actually fall prey to this scheme as shown by this quote from yahoo answers:

In summary Real Host from within Junik serves;

• exploits including un patched (or soon to be patched) 0days
• Payloads to drop on victim PCs including: fake codecs, banking trojans, spambots, fake antivirus, down loaders and even a Mac trojan
• phishing sites,
• money mule recruitment sites;
• Zeus botnet Command and Control servers
• Distributing licensed software (Warez),
• Illegal porn content

Added to which is a center for the RBN cybercrime business model;

• botnet rental,
• botnet loading,
• phishing
• iFrame exploit affiliate,
• warez
• credit card trading forums,
• openly selling credit card, PayPal accounts and bank logins, over 10,000 “newly harvested”

So who is Real Host Ltd.?

To start with the net block is leased from Junik by Alex Spiridonov, Abay Street 2a, Almaty, Kazakhstan. However, here are just a few other tell tale signs:

• Many of the domains are ex-Estdomains.
• All of the websites are in Russian or for the trading arm Russian / English.
• Older entities which many had thought were dead and gone are here; Barwells Group, Newsky, Web-Alfa, and good old Botnet.Su

All of these were operational elements of RBN (Russian Business Network). So this may not be a reincarnation of the RBN but are clearly Russian organized cyber criminals, in the same vein and at least headed by someone from the old RBN school.

Further manual investigation led to the following information on domains supplied by Real Hosts:

IP Domain Purpose

213.182.197.229 yourgoogleanalytics.us Money Mule Recruiting

213.182.197.229 barwellsgroup.cn Money Mule Recruiting

213.182.197.249 Vikd3jj-3.com Malware

213.182.197.251 2k90.cn Malware

213.182.197.13 Mac-videos.com Mac Trojan

213.182.197.236 71speed.info Banking Trojan - Silent Banker

213.182.197.8 bestxvids.info Zlob

213.182.197.249 traffic-searches.cn Botnet C&C

213.182.197.237 1gigabayt.com Zeus C&C

213.182.197.14 iframepartners.com iframe sellers

213.182.197.228 Chlenopopik.com Zeus C&C

213.182.197.14 Megavipsite.cn Malware

213.182.197.20 Traffcount.cn Malware

213.182.197.229 Newskyag.com Money Mule Recruiting & Zeus C&C

213.182.197.235 Traffic-exchange.ru Part of iframe redirection service

213.182.197.10 vlkontacte.ru Russian Social Network Phish

213.182.197.251 Botnet.su Zeus C&C

The Botnet.su & related installs.cc domains, the attackers clearly aren't trying to hide their motives on this one! This domain was previously used by the RBN along with NewskyAG and others. Zeus is of the most common threats being hosted from Real Host's network.

References:

1. Martin Security

2. HostExploit

3. Dynamoo’s blog on Real Host / Junik

4. ISCsans Advisory “0 day Flash/PDF exploit”

5. Abuse CH ZeuEsta & SPack kit

6. Spamhaus SBL 75831

7. Fire

8. MalwareURL

Damned If You Do....9/3

Remember, years ago, when the Medicare renewal was let slip through the cracks and the reimbursement rates went to rural, rather than that of the metroplex? Well, under what is being cussed and discussed in Congress, that might be a good thing in the future.


Apparently, rural hospitals and physicians (medically under served areas) will not sustain the level of cuts that are being proposed to current Medicare levels. My take is that they are afraid of the egress of physicians from those areas to more profitable practices.


Understand, this is proposed, not a done deal.


So, PRMC and the other Essent hospitals might actually make out better. Who'da thunk it?


But, here is the kicker: While the percentage of insured would go up, the levels of reimbursement would still go down. The plan still doesn't cover everyone of those that are 'counted' in that 46, 47, or 50Million that is being bandied about.


What will happen, is more taxes--tax the wealthy will descend to tax the working. And I'll foretell something additional: Both Social Security and Obamacare both become means tested. So, if you've been responsible, saved, and invested in your retirement--tough. We're giving it to the ones that overspent their income (you saw it in the home loans, why not here as well?) All others pay cash.


All I'm saying, is that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. We've seen the examples: Federal programs with spending 300% over their estimates. Bailouts for the poorly managed (corporations as well as family finances.) Earmarks attached to "essential" funding...and we're willing to turn our health care to those people (who aren't crazy enough to opt for the same program)?

Adapt to Global Trade

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In the past, China has taken a conservative profile in organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). But now, its getting more adapted and flexing its muscles to global trade rules, as exemplified in its recent complaint to the WTO on an anti-dumping dispute with the European Union (EU).

Read more here and here.

The Ayer is a Bit Stale....2/23

Dr. Cerel has come to view, as of late. A few comments stored up directed me to two locations. The Mass Board of Registration, and "rateMDs".

The Mass Board of Registration had this to say:
Hospital Discipline:
This section contains several categories of disciplinary actions taken by Massachusetts hospitals during the past ten years which are specifically required by law to be released in the physician's profile.

1. Facility: Nashoba Valley Medical Center
Action Begin Date: 2/10/2005
Action End Date: 6/20/2005
Action: Other

Basis or Allegation:

• Failure to follow internal by-laws, rules, etc.


• Interpersonal skills/personal behavior


• Delay in treatment


• Lack of informed consent-surgery related


• Failure to prescribe

-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Facility: Emerson Hospital
Action Begin Date: 2/17/2005
Action End Date: 3/16/2005
Action: Suspension of right or privilege

Basis or Allegation:

• Failure to follow internal by-laws, rules, etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Board Discipline:
This section includes final disciplinary actions taken by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine during the past ten years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Date: 3/16/2005
Case #: 2007-024
Action: Practice Restrictions

I would say that he's on staff, with no restrictions, other than what was imposed by the Mass Board. Unless there's something current, the last action was three years ago. However, that put him on training wheels. Wonder when that ends?

RateMDs.com had this:

He has privleges in one hospital, and is rated 2.3 on a 5pt scale.