Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based Bradley Corp., an international manufacturer of commercial plumbing fixtures and washroom accessories, received a 2010 Exporter of the Year award from ThinkGlobal Inc., publisher of Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Bradley serves a diverse customer base ranging from small local facilities to international corporations such as WalMart, General Motors, U.S. Postal Service, W.W. Grainger, and AMC Theaters Corp.

Here's what we can learn from Bradley on taking a business global:

"Our company's commitment to product innovation and strong customer service - as well as aggressive sales promotions in Germany and the Czech Republic -- have all positively influenced our continued success in product exportation," said Steve Zingsheim, Vice President, International Sales, Bradley Corp. "We also work closely with the Department of Commerce and take advantage of services such as the Gold Key in Japan and Mexico. Because of our many years of service in the international community through organizations like Milwaukee World Trade Association (MWTA), we mentor international students enrolled at local area colleges."

Find out more here. Bradley backgrounder here.

Congratulations to Bradley! It is clear they are benefiting from their export efforts through new market expansion opportunities that lead to powerful growth.

Photo credit: Bradley's Themepark Women's Restroom

With or without the United States, the global economy is surging forward.

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim (pictured) is the first man from a developing nation to become the world’s richest person – a shift that underlines the loosening of America and Europe’s stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires’ club.

Find out how there was a time when Americans held top spots in the world and how that is changing here.

Related articles here:

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Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

This week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony (worth a look!) unveiled a motion controller for the PlayStation 3 (pictured), offering gamers its answer to the Nintendo Wii. It's called the Move and is a rectangular device curved on the sides to fit comfortably in the hand. It also has a glowing ball at the end that contains technology used in tracking a player's motions.

Interesting what all the major players are doing in this industry:

Nintendo's success with the Wii, released in November 2006 as the first console to offer motion-sensing technology, has brought the gaming technology to the mainstream.

Microsoft is expected to join the trend in offering a motion-sensing device for the Xbox 360 in time for this year's holiday shopping season.Unveiled in June 2009 as "Project Natal," the Xbox system relies on sensors that track players' body movements to allow them to interactively play sports and other games without having to hold any hardware.

Read more at here.

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Why are some governments more effective than others at attracting nontraditional foreign direct investment? Thunderbird’s Roy C. Nelson, Ph.D. (pictured), a global studies professor with expertise in Latin America, argues that ...

... nontraditional foreign direct investment, which requires more advanced skills and training from a country’s workers, can help improve a country’s development prospects and diversify its economy. Examples of this include investment in software development centers, biotechnology or global services.

Learn more about what Dr. Nelson has to say on this subject here.

Follow Nelson on Twitter here.

Step aside BEMs (big emerging markets), and instead, let's take a look at RDEs (rapidly developing economies) -- an important growth engine for many multinationals.

Is there a difference between BEMS and RDEs? In my due diligence for this post, I discovered BusinessWeek's article, "In Recession, Focus on Emerging Markets," and I'm still unclear as to which countries are identified as RDEs. Could RDEs really be BRIC countries under a new guise?

BCG (Boston Consulting Group), through its globalization arm, claims to know a thing or two about these RDEs (perhaps they will make the distinction for us):

BCG’s Global Advantage practice helps clients achieve global competitive advantage by capturing opportunities arising in and from the RDEs. We support both industry leaders from developed countries and fast-growing companies from the RDEs on a wide range of issues.

Check out their ...

Impact Stories

And this may be of interest to you too -- a report from the BCG web site:
The 2009 BCG 100 New Global Challengers

Posted from The Global Small Business Blog

Three-year old Zinch.com, a platform that allows students to be seen for what they are -- not just numbers, but people -- explains when to expand a business internationally:

When to expand internationally?

"We're three years old, and we were cash-flow positive before our current venture financing came. Although it is risky and expanding internationally adds a lot of complexity to the business, we think this is such a good idea that we want to expand before someone else does.

The scarcest asset is our relationships with institutions. They are very skeptical, but right now we have more than 800 clients, of which some are the most selective in the world," Anne adds. This, together with simplifying its technology, gives Zinch the edge to expand internationally and manage its complexity.

Read more here.

Pepsi wants to help you out.

This year, the Pepsi Refresh Project is giving millions of dollars to fund ideas across six different categories (e.g., The Planet), that will refresh the world.

Submit your idea and vote for what you care about most: