Going Global: Factors Influencing U.S.-based SMEs’ International Market Access

Globalization promotes vast business opportunities for trade, flow of capital, ideas, and people. In order to integrate into the global economy, countries tend to promote policies, which in turn, help to remove barriers to the flow of investment, goods, and services. While there is ample information describing how multinational corporations have benefited from globalization through greater access to international markets and investment, there is a need to identify ways to unburden small to medium-sized enterprises so that they can reach their potential in the global economy. Barriers vary across business sectors. However, there are fundamental impediments that prevail, in general. The barriers to SME exports add to the resistance of their leaders to launch businesses outside of the NAFTA region. This descriptive paper summarizes international trade activity of USbased SMEs and focuses on key export barriers to US-based SMEs. An analysis of demographics and purchasing power of and Brazil, Russia, India and China is conducted, suggesting opportunities for US-based SMEs export to those markets

Understanding the Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on U.S. SMEs\u27 Trade Exports to BRIC

The global economy offers vast trade opportunities for U.S. businesses. United States’ SMEs are grossly under-represented in the global market. It is essential that U.S. SMEs adopt a global approach by expanding trade focus to include the emerging BRIC markets. Demographics and increasing purchasing power in the emerging countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) offer significant trade potential for U.S. SMEs export expansion. However, there are external and internal barriers to expanding beyond the NAFTA region. Free trade agreements reduce trade barriers, while creating opportunities for U.S. exports. Although US SMEs face their own set of challenges to expanding internationally, BRIC markets remain vigorous in spite of the world economic crisis. The paper describes SME trade activity and contributions to jobs, innovation and U.S. economic growth. Further it describes specific trade barriers to each of the BRIC countries, investors’ perceptions of BRIC’s stability and ability to partner with US companies and the industry sectors that have the most potential for US trade expansion to BRIC

How Do Globalism and Nationalism Impact the International Business Competitiveness of the United States of America?

Business competitiveness in the global marketplace is dependent upon the stability, infrastructure, policies, and practices of the nations with which it does business. A nation’s competitiveness is fundamentally interconnected with its businesses and while on the world stage, it is tied to its globalist and nationalist strategies. There are objective approaches to measuring various dimensions of national outcomes of competitiveness from economic, political, and social platforms. Many internationally recognized indices seek to offer standard-based, objective perspectives and associated data on what constitutes nation-state greatness. These indices are based upon a globalist perspective, acknowledging that a nation’s competitiveness is in relationship with other nations. The paper utilizes the constructs of business competitiveness in the context of several of these internationally accepted indices. This study operationalizes the USA’s global competitiveness from three dimensions: economic, political, and social, by analyzing indices recognized as valuable to assessing a nation’s outcomes. Further, it considers the international business competitiveness of the USA over four decades of the presidential administrations, from Carter to Obama, to advance the country’s international commerce and determine if there is alignment with the international standard measured by these indices. Also, each presidential business competitive policy and their concomitant outcomes, are analyzed based on the theoretical underpinnings of both nationalism and globalism and posit which posture best supports USA’s international competitiveness on the macro level. The paper concludes that both globalist and nationalist strategies in a globalized world have advanced the USA\u27s international business competitiveness

California\u27s Contributions to the U.S. Export Profile

Small to medium sized enterprises (SME) are the engine of the United States economy. And the world’s emerging economies offer great opportunities to expand. However, only 1% of U.S. SMEs engage in the international marketplace. Efforts at the national level to expand all U.S. exports, and especially those of SMEs, depend upon each state in the union to participate in this venture. As a key contributor to the U.S. economy, California’s and its vast majority of SMEs, play a key role in U.S. export profile. This paper describes the export landscape of the top five U.S. states, focusing on California’s SME export profile by sector, destination, volume and demographics. Advantages of diversity among SME owners and employers, as well as challenges of exporting to emerging markets are featured. California’s strategies to promote SME export prospects and its contribution to the National Export Initiative are considered in the context of selected internationalization of the firm theories for SMEs

Synchonizing U.S. States\u27 Strategic Plans to Increase Exports To Emerging Markets

The United States seeks to increase and expand exports to emerging markets. The majority of U.S. firms (98 percent) are small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with only 1 percent engaging in exporting. The Federal and State Governments encourage SMEs to expand exporting through the National Export Initiative (NEI) and NEI/NEXT initiatives. This paper examines NEI’s progress and strategies by leading U.S. exporting states, export activity to BRICSA, states’ alignment with NEI and the extent to which NEI has facilitated federal and state collaboration. Further, it reviews NEI/NEXT objectives and strategies to internationalize U.S. business practices

Why do results conflict regarding the prognostic value of the methylation status in colon cancers? the role of the preservation method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In colorectal carcinoma, extensive gene promoter hypermethylation is called the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP). Explaining why studies on CIMP and survival yield conflicting results is essential. Most experiments to measure DNA methylation rely on the sodium bisulfite conversion of unmethylated cytosines into uracils. No study has evaluated the performance of bisulfite conversion and methylation levels from matched cryo-preserved and Formalin-Fixed Paraffin Embedded (FFPE) samples using pyrosequencing.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Couples of matched cryo-preserved and FFPE samples from 40 colon adenocarcinomas were analyzed. Rates of bisulfite conversion and levels of methylation of <it>LINE-1, MLH1 </it>and <it>MGMT </it>markers were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For the reproducibility of bisulfite conversion, the mean of bisulfite-to-bisulfite standard deviation (SD) was 1.3%. The mean of run-to-run SD of PCR/pyrosequencing was 0.9%. Of the 40 DNA couples, only 67.5%, 55.0%, and 57.5% of FFPE DNA were interpretable for <it>LINE-1, MLH1</it>, and <it>MGMT </it>markers, respectively, after the first analysis. On frozen samples the proportion of well converted samples was 95.0%, 97.4% and 87.2% respectively. For DNA showing a total bisulfite conversion, 8 couples (27.6%) for <it>LINE-1</it>, 4 couples (15.4%) for <it>MLH1 </it>and 8 couples (25.8%) for <it>MGMT </it>displayed significant differences in methylation levels.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Frozen samples gave reproducible results for bisulfite conversion and reliable methylation levels. FFPE samples gave unsatisfactory and non reproducible bisulfite conversions leading to random results for methylation levels. The use of FFPE collections to assess DNA methylation by bisulfite methods must not be recommended. This can partly explain the conflicting results on the prognosis of CIMP colon cancers.</p

vanA in Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis, and Enterococcus casseliflavus detected in French cattle.

The goal of this study was to assess the presence of enterococci species presenting van-mediated glycopeptide resistance in French cattle. Fecal samples were collected from healthy and sick animals, and enterococci were screened for vancomycin resistance. Vancomycin resistance was principally encountered in Enterococcus gallinarum and Enterococcus casseliflavus strains. However, glycopeptide resistance was detected in three different species of enterococci (E. faecalis, E. faecium, and E. casseliflavus). Molecular characterization of the genetic support proved that they all presented the prototypic VanA element. Interestingly, the E. casseliflavus strain displayed a remarkable VanB phenotype/vanA-vanC genotype. Transferability, associated resistances, and factors of vanA cotransfer were sought. This study proved that acquired vanA genes can still be detected in food-producing animals more than a decade after the avoparcin ban. Indeed, calves, which are recurrently exposed to antibiotics in France, may allow the re-emergence of glycopeptide resistance through coselection factors, and this might potentially be concerning for human health

Dietary patterns and risk of inflammatory bowel disease in Europe: Results from the EPIC study

Background: Dairy products may be involved in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease by modulating gut microbiota and immune responses, but data from epidemiological studies examining this relationship are limited. We investigated the association between prediagnostic intake of these foods and dietary calcium and the subsequent development of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: In total, 401,326 participants were enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. At recruitment, consumption of total and specific dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese) and dietary calcium was measured using validated food frequency questionnaires. Cases developing incident CD (n=110) or UC (n=244) during followup were matched with four controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for total energy intake and smoking. Results: Compared with the lowest quartile, the ORs for the highest quartile of total dairy products and dietary calcium intake were 0.61 (95% CI 0.32-1.19, p trend=0.19) and 0.63 (95% CI 0.28-1.42, p trend=0.23) for CD and 0.80 (95% CI 0.50-1.30, p trend=0.40) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.49-1.34, p trend=0.60) for UC. Compared with nonconsumers, individuals consuming milk had significantly reduced odds of CD (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.13-0.65) and nonsignificantly reduced odds of UC (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.49-1.47). Conclusions: Milk consumption may be associated with a decreased risk of developing CD, although a clear dose-response relationship was not established. Further studies are warranted to confirm this possible protective effect