Very important. The U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing at the Port of New Orleans on Keeping America Competitive: Federal Programs that Promote Small Business Exporting. The event included testimony from a number of witnesses. Read more here but let me leave you with an inspiring (yet maddening!) quote:

In her opening statement (PDF), Committee Chair Senator May Landrieu (D.-La.) noted that in 2008, $70 billion in exports maintained or created 600,000 high-paying jobs, and that small businesses make up nearly 97% of exporters nationwide. However, she went on to say, “while most of our exporters are small businesses, most of our small businesses are not exporting. In fact, small businesses make up just more than a quarter of the country’s export volume; trade remains dominated by larger businesses. What’s holding our entrepreneurs back?”

You tell me.

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Be brilliant. Apply for the award.

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Small businesses make up 97 percent of the country's exporters yet only 1 percent of the nation's small businesses export. This stat was cited by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.,) last week to demonstrate that exporting offers an opportunity for small businesses to grow even as they are bogged down by the recession.

Landrieu also said, "exporting has become a practical solution for small businesses looking to survive and grow."

Read more about how the Small Business Administration has two key programs designed to help small businesses that export. Go here.

The tough global economic climate is forcing Mother Nature to come out full force in unexpected positive ways.

Over the past year, many of the world's best-known luxury labels have started to introduce eco-friendly products, snap up brands that tout their social responsibility and weave environmental themes into their advertising and marketing.

Are you looking into the validity of global small business environmental and social responsibility efforts?

Maybe you should. Read more here.

Note: Image button can be found here (no affiliation).

If you have the time and the funds, nothing beats a visit to a country you are about to do business in to fully understand and appreciate how the people live day-to-day. Even Pepsi CEO, Indra Nooyi, realizes this:

The visit, one sweltering morning last week, was part of a 10-day "immersion" tour of China for Ms. Nooyi, who is seeking to strengthen the Purchase, N.Y., company's business in emerging markets. "I wanted to look at how people live, how they eat, what the growth possibilities are," she said in an interview Tuesday in Beijing. What she has seen has persuaded her that PepsiCo's approach to the Chinese market "is good, but not good enough. The opportunities are so much bigger." The company's "model for China has to be vastly different."

Read the entire article: "Pepsi CEO Tours China To Get a Feel for Market."

And one of the final points made in the article by Ms. Nooyi is right in line with our Top 10 Global Trends For Small Businesses For 2009 report published January 21st (refer to No. 1: "Disruptive innovation will be both the coolest and hottest new growth strategy in 2009 because it will transcend all boundaries and transform businesses" -- quote by Laurel Delaney) is this:

Ms. Nooyi challenged her China team to come up with ideas for products that cater to China's large older population. She also called for more in-depth research into women who, in China, are likely juggling work and motherhood and making the key day-to-day consumption decisions for households. She says she's calling on her executives to think "differently and disruptively," encouraging them to look beyond the company's traditional businesses in China.

Are you thinking differently and causing a little innovative disruption at your company?

What was he thinking when Tom Adams, CEO (37), chose to take Rosetta Stone public in April during the worst downturn in recent memory?

Since 2003, the company has grown from a small, family-owned business with $10 million in annual revenue and 90 full-time employees into a 1,200-employee operation with first-quarter revenue this year of $50.3 million.

Rosetta Stone’s shares have recently traded above $27 (shares went out initially above the estimated range of $15 to $17 and raising $112.5 million). The wildly successful offering sent a message of good news worldwide for privately owned companies.

Did Tom Adams take a calculated risk? Find out here where Lora Kolodny with The New York Times recently spoke with Mr. Adams about his decision.

Original entry about about Rosetta Stone and its interest to grow global can be found here (4/23/09).