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The global business next door

TED talk by Scott Szwast

When you think of a ‘global company’, what do you imagine? A massive conglomerate? A far-reaching tech corporation?

We would like you to watch an interesting TED talk on this topic. Please search www.ted.com or YouTube for ‘Scott Szwast: The Global Business Next Door’. This video was filmed in 2015 for a TED Institute event given in partnership with UPS. In the video, Szwast reveals that our image of the global business is wrong: 98% of US exporters are in fact companies with fewer than 50 employees. And yet, this only includes 1% of all US businesses.

Szwast explains why so many companies hesitate to leap across the border, and why they need to make the jump.

Your task

Has watching this talk changed your perspective of global marketing? If so, in what way?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Read the other comments to see how this talk might have challenged other learners.