International business

Boards & Directors 35th Anniversary Edition Features Worm On A Chopstick

December 13 in Business, Entrepreneurship, International business, intrapreneurship, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Boards & Directors 35th Anniversary Edition Features Worm On A Chopstick

Very pleased to announce that the upcoming 35th Anniversary Edition of Boards & Directors magazine will feature Worm On A Chopstick: : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives in its recommended reading section “Book it: Best bets for board reading“.  As you may know, Boards & Directors magazine targets officers and directors of public companies. To see the  review of ‘Chopstick’ and other recommended books, click here Worm On A Chopstick Featured in Directors & Boards 35th Anniversary Issue

I sent many messages to traditional management in ‘Chopstick’ (e.g., innovation management, entrepreneurial thinking, globalization, etc.), but most positive response for the book to date has been from the entrepreneurial sector. I am very appreciative of the recognition of ‘Chopstick’ which is in good company with the other recommended books here.

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Entrepreneurship in the Health Care Sector and Syndicated National Radio Interview – Entrepreneurship- New Directions

December 5 in Business, Entrepreneurship, International business, startup, Strategy, Uncategorized by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Entrepreneurship in the Health Care Sector and Syndicated National Radio Interview – Entrepreneurship- New Directions

Upcoming – TV Interview :Entrepreneurship in the Health Care Sector and Syndicated National Radio Interview: Entrepreneurship- New Directions

I have agreed to do a one hour TV interview on entrepreneurship in the health care sector. The interview will be scheduled for early January and follows my recent live TV interview discussing entrepreneurship on the weekly Upside Business Show on November 21st- the program was well received – copy of broadcast now available at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18671440 (click on Nov.21st show if needed)

While we see enormous challenges in today’s health care market, positive developments are emerging. One perspective, which I shared in my recent book ( Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/84texaf), is the pharmaceutical market includes two primary sectors—therapeutics (i.e., drugs) and diagnostics. Therapeutics is the pharmaceutical firms’ traditional business, reported to be about a $400 to $450 billion market.

Compare that to the diagnostics business, which includes several hundred companies, including many early stage entrepreneurial companies. Revenue estimates vary, but total diagnostic sector revenues are estimated at less than $30 billion, or less than 10 percent of a major pharmas traditional business. But diagnostics reduces health care costs and improves patient care, and many exciting developments are emerging providing the tools needed to improve early disease detection and wellness. Most important, we see entrepreneurial firms creating real excitement here. In the upcoming interview, I will share my vision on new directions I foresee and also invite one or more industry representatives to also share their insights.

I also accepted an invitation for an interview on a nationally syndicated NYC radio show to discuss new entrepreneurship directions and policies.

Stay tuned for dates and times – schedules to be firmed up shortly.

 

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How A Startup Catalyst in Lebanon Helps Young, Aspiring Entrepreneurs

November 26 in Business, Entrepreneurship, International business by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on How A Startup Catalyst in Lebanon Helps Young, Aspiring Entrepreneurs

How A Startup Catalyst in Lebanon Helps Young, Aspiring Entrepreneurs

You read that right, Lebanon. One of Lebanon’s most active startup catalysts, Seeqnce, hosted a new competition in partnership with Cedrus Ventures during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Over two weeks in Seeqnce’s new interactive workspace in Hamra, young aspiring entrepreneurs submitted ideas, formed teams, underwent training and selection, and then completed a 48-hour bootcamp, culminating in a prototype pitch to judges. Of
60 initial entrepreneurs, only 42 made the initial cut to form 11 teams, and one team dropped out due to the pressure. Many fledgling startups gained valuable experience here.

Teams present their business models to the jury, led by the Minister of Telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui. Each team had five minutes to explain their business concept and general revenue model, and then they had to showcase either a working prototype or a skeleton of their website. The jury assessed them based on four criteria: team members, presentation, product, and viability. Jury members asked tough questions, such as the supply chain of some products and how some of these startups were differentiating themselves from other established companies on the market.

The above highlights are extracted from an interesting article which I recommend reading
http://www.wamda.com/2011/11/its-not-just-about-the-idea-at-startup-competition-the-execution

Here are my observations on the above:

  • The MENA (Middle East North Africa) region has a vibrant, energetic new venture community driven by aspiring entrepreneurs – this is a positive force in these countries – I find many in the U.S. are not aware of this
  • The MENA economies are really driven by smaller companies – for example, in Saudi Arabia, about 40 percent of the population work in companies with market cap of less than $15,000. While many are what we call ‘necessity’ vs ‘opportunity’ driven small business, nonetheless the new venture momentum is strong
  • The above scenario is, at some level, repeated in every country in the world. Global entrepreneurship is alive and well. As an example, I closely track the health care sector and while the US has an impressive health care system, most would be surprised at the level of innovation  emerging from overseas entrepreneurs.
  • Helping these efforts provides many of the benefits you would expect such as regional economic growth, job creation, and so on. Being directly involved in this area several years ago, I saw one other benefit- the ability to identify and build on these
    relationships to create a win-win and also help U.S. companies and our economy.

Today this is an ad-hoc effort . During a November 21st TV interview on the Inside Scoop Business program http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18671440 , I described a new program, the AEGIS program (“Accelerated Entrepeneurial Global Investment System) I am proposing to help attract overseas innovative ventures and technology to the U.S. market to promote job creation, innovation, and economic growth. Some key features of the proposed new program which I described in the interview:

  • Replaces today’s ad-hoc approach to identify, analyze, track and manage new ventures with a highly structured, well-defined program
  • Builds a base of ‘showcase’ companies in targeted sectors (e.g., alternative energy, bio-tech, health care, others) that provide high upside, economic benefits
  • New U.S. entities have global reach thus creating new export opportunities

I am starting discussions with the administration in early December related to AEGIS and will be seeking to attract major business partners to also participate. From my perspective looking at global entrepreneurship, I see many benefits here and the
ability to create win-win situations with overseas partners.

Stay tuned.

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Comments on EY Article “Global entrepreneurs changing the world”

November 4 in Business, Entrepreneurship, International business, startup, Strategy by Paul Silverman | Comments Off on Comments on EY Article “Global entrepreneurs changing the world”

Posted Comments on EY Article –“Global entrepreneurs changing the world” -An interesting article about how global entrepreneurs can take on big multinationals.

http://tinyurl.com/3uuyepo

Interesting insights here- thanks for sharing. Outstanding group of global
entrepreneurs. I am involved in this area and one number in article that jumped out at me is only 53 percent of 300 entrepreneurs interviewed believe important to adapt products to meet local market needs.

As we know, major ‘transnational’ competitors face global competition and  pursue two key strategies- either cost leadership or product differentiation –  cost leaders do minimal local market customization to compete globally (think soap and consumer products),  but leading global product differentiators do need to create scale to achieve lowest cost possible, but still have added costs to meet local market needs- achieving balance here is tough as all know.

Many case studies to illustrate this – I like to use IKEA which most know- profitable , successful, undifferentiated, low cost Scandinavia  supplier of low cost, easy to assemble furniture in many European markets – entered a major market – the U.S. – and results poorer than expected. Why? U.S. consumers wanted changes ranging from longer beds (we are taller here) and increased quality among other changes – these changes were made, improved results but decreased margins in U.S. market.

For IKEA and many others, global undifferentiated product strategy had to change to succeed in US (and other) market(s).

Lessons for entrepreneurs?

–Global market is excellent opportunity and entrepreneurs
should pursue through organic strategy and alliances (JV, acquisition, other) .

–To achieve long term sustainable, defensible business, I do think the need to
customize to meet local market needs will increase not decrease – this impacts
margins so favors larger global firms who have ‘scale’.

–What this means for entrepreneurs is need to look closer at local market trends – entering overseas market and securing initial market share with an innovative product or service is a great accomplishment- important though to understand the longer term “lessons learned’ by many firms about need to customize as competition intensifies and margins impacted

— Do what you need to learn about “going global’ – clearly this is where there are outstanding global opportunities emerging in all sectors and entrepreneurial companies can play a major role

Paul Silverman