Small Businesses Part of Global Marketplace
The following comments appeared in the Small Business Advocate Newsletter. They reflect the converging forces of globalization and the Internet on the SMB market:
“Hopefully it won’t come as a surprise that your small business is part of a global marketplace. That means your competitors are across town, across the country, and across the planet. Plus there’s a new Main Street where competitors set up shop in a market called cyberspace, where customers and businesses get together by doing eBusiness.
eBusiness is the overarching perspective of the online marketplace, and includes three primary activities:
1. eCommerce – where customers make purchases and lay their money down online.
2. eShopping – where customers educate themselves online, both in terms of product options and technical information.
3. eCustomer Service – where businesses employ online technology to serve customers in activities that do not require human involvement, like a Frequently Asked Questions resource.
This new global and cyber reality is creating both threats and opportunities. Small businesses must be prepared to challenge the threats and pursue the opportunities.”
Founder of Small Business Trends
Social Media Swami
With so much downsizing these days it can be hard to see what to do for smaller business in terms of offering benefits. I have been considering using a PEO to help cut the cost and still maintain benefits for employees.