The World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of government and corporate leaders in Davos, Switzerland (pictured), runs until Sunday.

Here are some highlights.

World Economic Forum

With cloud computing, an on demand access to virtualized IT resources that are provided as a service over the Internet, you can reduce risk and gain control. This is not new. It has been taking place in some form or fashion for years. Just a new name has been coined to define it. For example, if you have an email account with a Web-based e-mail service like Gmail, Yahoo or Earthlink, then you've had some experience with cloud computing.

Cloud computing 101: "How Cloud Computing Works"
Wikipedia definition: Cloud computing

Whatis.com definition:

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams.

According to InfoWorld: What cloud computing really means

2010 Tipping Point for SMB Use of Cloud Computing:

Tip No. 5: SMBs use the cloud to avoid infrastructure problems faced by offering their services in different countries around the globe. The cloud will act as an equalizer in this manner and allow SMBs large and small to compete internationally.

In line with above, cloud computing has changed how companies market, sell, provision and deploy new services on a global basis.

As cloud computing goes global, you have to ask yourself: whose laws matter?

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A landmark intellectual IP agreement -- known as Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) -- is in the works. Why the secrecy?

Learn more here.

Too many organizations mistakenly limit offshore work to routine tasks.

More broadly, our research has implications for what kind of work is “offshore-able.” We believe that if Western companies focused more on fostering collaboration between workers separated by geography and culture, and less on forcing offshore workers to perform tasks in very specific ways, the range of work they could source offshore would be significantly expanded. Companies struggling to fill talent gaps in semiconductor-chip design, drug discovery, engineering and other intellectually complex areas could draw on high-quality and growing talent bases in countries like India and China.

Read the entire article here.

Who wouldn’t want to sell to more than 1.7 billion people? According to Internet World Stats, that’s the current number of Internet users worldwide, up 200,000 since December! How can you prepare to capture this astounding audience and do business with the world? Above all else, you need customers, but before we cover that, here are other factors to consider.

Read more here.

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Separately, Happy Australia Day!

If you are in the process of expanding abroad, avoid cultural gaffes by learning local business etiquette in the country you are about to do business.

This article offers some good tips by business owners and experts in the trenches on how to immerse yourself in a country's culture to better understand the people, respect their ways and be sensitive about never offending.

Expanding Abroad? Avoid Cultural Gaffes

You might also check out our 8 Global Marketing Gaffes.

Newsweek's Fareer Zakaria has a conversation with Google CEO Eric Schmidt about doing business in China despite the restrictions that Beijing imposes on Internet freedom.

Excerpt here:

Why did you make this decision? It surprised many people and many companies.

Google is a different kind of company than many others. The issue of operating in China was always complex for us. We were asked to accept a system of censorship that we were very uncomfortable with. But we had come to the conclusion that operating in China was better for everyone—us, the Chinese people—than staying out of the country. We have decided that we cannot participate in censorship anymore.

Read the entire interview here.

You might also check out Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.'s commentary in the WSJ (1/22/10): China, Google and the Cloud Wars (very interesting)

Refer to our blog post 1/19/10: Message to China: Stop Carving Up Cyberspace with Boundaries