The Real Time Project founders are all “globalists” in the way they view the world, so it’s really the only way that they know how to do business.  Angela Kyle, American-born and educated with stints in the U.K., is a  recently minted U.K. citizen. Kit Macgillivray -  Canadian-born, New Zealand educated — has spent most of his professional career in the U.K., Middle East and Australasia. Tanya Greiner – born in Mexico, Swiss citizen and Swiss educated — is a Zurich resident who has spent her professional career in Hong Kong, Sydney and Switzerland.

Teams With an Unusual Mix of Skills

The Real Time Project does consulting work around the implications of content becoming more real-time. This is more than just Twitter and has profound implications for entertainment, particularly sports, as well as e-commerce. Trying for a sound bite to describe this, Angela opts for “McKinsey meets Ideo.” Her point is that you have to pull together a very diverse range of skills relating to social media, real-time Web protocols, video distribution and much more, and frame that within the context of a business and branding strategy that will “move the needle” for large clients.

It is unlikely that this ideal multidisciplinary team will be sitting in one office all employed by your company and available at the drop of a hat to engage with the client at the exact time when the client is ready to take action. Angela gave us an example:

“We are working with a global IP and content rights owner in the U.K. on a project that originated in Japan and is currently developing significant traction in the U.S.  The global management team needs a perspective on how to best leverage the U.S. activity and disseminate this knowledge to teams in other regions.”

Scaling By Getting the Right Mix of Face-To-Face and Virtual

Today, really large consulting companies like McKinsey and Accenture can operate this way using internal resources. But they often lack that spark of creativity and access to bleeding-edge innovation that small consulting firms offer. However, as Angela pointed out, her firm’s resources are currently maxed out with a few big clients, so the company needs to scale.

And that led Angela and her partners to the federated, networked micro-multinational way of working. I asked Angela, “If an investor wrote you a big check, would you change to a traditional model? How can you imagine scaling this business model tenfold?

Angela told us:

“We would expand our monthly networking event in London called The Real Time Speakeasy.  This is a true ‘mixer’ of people from the technology, content and marketing worlds, and is more of a discussion-based forum than a ‘card-swapping’ meet-up. We would love to scale that event to bring it to different cities, to film speakers and distribute the content virally.”

This echoes a theme we are hearing from entrepreneurs running micro-multinationals: It’s crucial to get the right mix of face-to-face and virtual.

The post Tales of Micro-Multinationals: The Real Time Project appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Checking Out Your Loan Collateral

Bluewater’s employees and contractors are mostly loan collateral field examiners who regularly visit borrower companies (located anywhere) on behalf of the bank to make sure the loan collateral is actually and physically as reflected by the company’s regular financial reports.

If you want to borrow money and have nothing to hide, you will welcome the Bluewater Field Examiner dropping in to check out your collateral.

Kicking The Collateral Tires Means You Have to Be There

Yes, that involves old-fashioned shoe leather. You cannot do this safely just by reading documents. So Bluewater’s Field Examiners have to be close to where the borrowers are. Having them at a desk in the main office is not helpful.

Bluewater is a national tale, not yet multinational. The company has 19 employees and several contractors spread across nine U.S. states. But it is growing nationally by using online tools and this will enable the company to grow internationally when the time comes.

Process Driven

This is process-driven work. As Robert Bowles, founder, explained to us:

“The Field Examiners typically spend three to four days at a borrower’s location. They observe, report, then move on to the next assignment.  Most of their scheduling is communicated by logging in to the office file server, reviewing the up-to-the-minute schedule (an Excel worksheet), and making travel plans based on that. Work papers and files are stored on the office file server, and communication is handled via phone and e-mail. To date, it’s been a pretty analog process without a lot of innovation. We’re hoping that Worketc helps us improve, centralize and streamline all our processes, improve collaboration, making information more accessible and in real-time.”

Scaling the Micro-Multinational Model

We asked Robert how he would envisage scaling this model if capital were not a constraint. We heard an answer that we are getting from many micro-multinationals about improving online connectivity. But one part of his answer stood out:

“And we’d have a bigger party every year where everyone comes together in person.”

Yes, the jet plane is the tool that augments all those online tools! This is why networking events are thriving while traditional media wilts before the online wave. People need to make face-to-face contact, to break bread together, to look each other in the eye and laugh together.

Robert told us what concerns him when he looks at scaling the business in a more traditional model:

“I fear the efficiencies of scale might not offset the less tangible effects of what would surely become a less personal and interactive workgroup.”

Stay Close to Your Clients

But in the end, the ability to stay close to clients is a core advantage of this model:

“One of our key distinctions, separating our Lender Analytics group from direct competitors, is our motivation to keep our senior executives within easy reach of all our clients. Maintaining a small, nimble structure may be a key ingredient that cannot be extracted.”

Next Is The Real Time Project

This is the fifth in a series of six articles on micro-multinationals. Next is The Real Time Project.  If you run a micro-multinational and want to tell your tale to the world, send an email to bernard dot lunn at gmail dot com.

The post Tales of Micro-Multinationals: Bluewater LLC appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Marketing To Micro-Multinational

Worketc’s customers are mostly micro-multinational and they also operate this way.

Worketc has customers in 23 countries ranging from Malta to the U.S., New Zealand and China, and has employees and/or contractors in Nova Scotia (Canada),  Phoenix (U.S.), Jaipur (India) and Manila (Philippines).

Managing Across Time Zones

Dan Barnett spoke about managing across time zones:

“The biggest challenge (and also the greatest benefit) is being able to effectively leverage time zone differences.  So, it is great when a customer comes to you with a problem at 9 p.m. at night, and it is fixed by the time the client starts work the next morning because you had a team on the other side of the world just starting their work day.  But sometimes this happens in reverse  – an urgent problem arises and the only person that can fix it is already fast asleep. No one likes getting a panicky phone call at 3 a.m.!”

Saving Money By Hiring Talent Wherever They Are

Dan was explicit about the cost savings from working across borders:

“I can find great talent anywhere in the world, and not have to pay capital city rates for that talent. I figure my wage bill is maybe 25 percent of what it would be if [my whole staff was] in San Francisco, all working from the same office.

The cost of a traditional small business operational model makes starting up that much riskier.  You need to be raising money (or be prepared to mortgage your house or borrow money from friends) and you have to get to a much larger scale before turning a profit.  This level of risk and uncertainty certainly isn’t for me.”

Cultural Issues Of Being A Tiny Multinational

Dan also describes the cultural issues of being a tiny multinational:

“We have had contractors and customers from the Asian region who have tended to be quiet in nature.  This butts up against a more Western, outspoken nature and this leads to all manner of miscommunication.  For example, one early contractor we employed from the Philippines was very polite and quiet.  Now, because the person didn’t challenge the other team members and didn’t add urgency around issues, everyone naturally assumed that this person either a) wasn’t working or b) just didn’t care.”

Scaling The Micro-Multinational Model

Asked whether, if capital were not a constraint, could he imagine scaling this business model tenfold, Dan told us:

“I believe so, but only if we continue to build out a flat organizational structure with each region becoming a “micro-multinational” in its own right — a hub-and-spoke structure rather than the traditional pyramid hierarchy.”

This hub-and-spoke model was mentioned by other micro-multinationals in their scaling plans. It fits the network model and is a theme we intend to explore in future interviews.

Next Is Micro-Multinational Bluewater

This is the fourth in a series of five articles on micro-multinationals. Next is Bluewater.  If you run a micro-multinational and want to tell your tale to the world, send an email to bernard dot lunn at gmail dot com.

The post Tales of Micro-Multinationals: Worketc appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Not Just Bits On The Wire

So Jadience have to deal with real world issues such as import/export regulations and tariffs, warehousing and inventory, picking & packing and delivery logistics. Being physical makes global expansion a bit tougher. Jadience source globally, mainly from Asia, but sell within the NAFTA free trade zone. Expanding beyond that is not as simple as taking a credit card order online. They have to think about distributors, retailers, tariffs, delivery and so on. Helping micro-multinationals with physical products to expand globally is an area where we expect to see a lot of innovation.

Biggest Challenge Running A Micro-Multinational

We asked Jadience’s founder, Jenelle Kim, what is the biggest challenge running a micro-multinational?

“Wow, depends which week you ask!  There are many challenges.  Because our products include supplements, herbs, and personal care products that are applied to the body, we have found that each country has unique industry regulations.  Plus, the cost of the regulatory process can be high.  We are in the process of investigating different global markets, and the language barrier comes into play; this requires the hiring of consultants before we even have a chance to really get a glimpse of the viability of different markets.  The list goes on, but if I had to choose one challenge for us right now, it is the inability to have someone on the ground to meet with clients in certain geographic areas face-to-face.  For example, a spa in Los Angeles will get more exposure to a rep than a spa in White Fish, Montana. As we continue to grow, this will change to an extent, and I am sure that as our computer networking infrastructure capabilities increase, we will have more of an ability to connect face-to-face via webcams, etc.  However, I am a firm believer that face-to-face interactions provide the best connections.”

We asked Jenelle Kim how they would scale if capital were not a constraint. Would they stay with this networked model or move to a more traditional model? Jadience, possibly because they sell physical products, was the only micro-multinational we interviewed that suggested a traditional model might be better:

“At some point, because of the nature of our business (we manufacture tangible goods), it would make sense for us to do so in some capacity.”

The Distribution Challenge

Distribution is the key challenge:

“It could work if we had the right distributors in place.  If we were to be doing this all on our own, I do not foresee that we would be able to do this completely under the current business model.  However, we would definitely continue to use a combination of both, leveraging our ability to be closer to the client without being physically closer.”

Next is Micro-Multinational Worketc

This is the third in a series of five articles on micro-multinationals.  Next is Worketc.  If you run a micro-multinational and want to tell your tale to the world, send an email to bernard dot lunn at gmail dot com.

The post Tales Of Micro-Multinationals: Jadience appeared first on Small Business Trends.

This branding and design firm delivers projects to clients all over the world via a federated structure, with core employees in Australia and specialist contractors in New Zealand, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Jamaica, Dubai and Singapore.

Managing A Federated Structure

The founders, David Faulks and Nick Morgan, have thought a lot about how to manage this kind of federated structure. One way they are innovating is by attracting people of all ages, mixing younger and older talent in teams. With the demographics in developed markets shifting to older people who want or need to stay actively working for longer, this can be a competitive advantage.

Like many micro-multinationals, Generation Alliance is a service business. The term client-centric is not just management-speak for them. If the client is happy they get paid and they get referrals and follow-on business. As anybody who manages that kind of business knows, this means you cannot stick to a rigid formula. You may have your special tools and techniques, your methodology, but you have to approach each client project with a fresh eye.

Rapidly Assembling Cross-Discipline Teams Across The World

Which brings it all back to talent – recruiting, motivating and managing. This is where micro-multinationals have a great advantage. Take a project that Generational Alliance did in Botsawana. Their mission was to re-brand the country for a global market. That requires deep skills to really find out what makes a country special. They were able to assemble a team that included a consultant from Jamaica with just the right skills for that.

The ability to assemble a team quickly is a core reason that micro-multinationals are thriving. This is a long way from traditional “command and control”. It is a more like “herding cats”. You have to find projects that inspire people to do their best, to push against their limits on a regular basis.

Can This Model Scale?

We asked David Faulks and Nick Morgan whether they would change to a traditional model if an investor wrote them a large check. Their response was emphatic:

“No – we would expand the potential of what we are doing to be able to resource more international assignments concurrently and we would activate significant IP-based projects we have designed related to community, environment and exciting business opportunities.  We would also immediately employ the 20 best young people we could find to create the next generation of creative change agents. We would expand our resource base/office in Europe and look to open an office in one of the developing countries we work in. We would also invest in our aim to stimulate greater involvement from ‘the Elders’ in our community in various projects where we know they can add value. “

David Faulks went on to point out:

“Nick and I have owned, worked in and worked for large organizations.  We are doing what we are doing now with gen.a because we believe in what we are doing and how we do it.”

Next is Micro-Multinational Jadience

This is the second in a series of five articles on micro-multinationals.  Next is Jadience.  If you run a micro-multinational and want to tell your tale to the world, send an email to bernard dot lunn at gmail dot com.

The post Tales Of Micro-Multinationals: Generation Alliance appeared first on Small Business Trends.

In olden days, “multinational” meant big. And it took a long time to get there. You started locally, then you expanded within a local region, then you went national and finally you went multinational. Now we see companies going global from day one, enabled by the Internet.

We will chronicle the real stories behind this transformation in business. We are interviewing the founders and managers of these micro-multinationals to find out what it is really like to manage a business at the leading edge of this trend.

First, we want to separate this from two trends that look similar at first sight:

1. Virtual companies: This tends to mean that there is no physical office that everybody commutes to. The problem is that the term “virtual company” sounds unreal, or insubstantial. These companies are very real, with real products/services that their customers rely upon, real revenues and profits and the people who work there rely on getting paid by these companies to pay their bills.

2. Telecommuting: Traditional companies have worked with “telecommuting” employees for a long time. The arrival of Net based collaboration tools make that a lot easier. This saves on office rent and enables companies to retain employees who need a more flexible schedule. Telecommuting is great and the trend will increase. But it is very different from the genuinely networked companies in one critical aspect. In a traditional company, the physical office is still the core and the “remote workers” have to work hard to “stay in the loop”. In a genuinely networked company, nobody is out of the loop, there is no core to be remote from and everybody has to make the online tools work.

This is about talent

When your product is digital (designs, code, SEO, writing, advice, finance, whatever), location of people who create your product is simply irrelevant. You would be crazy to restrict your search for employees, contractors, partners, vendors (all being “talent”) by zip code.

The Product Can Still Be Physical

You can design something and send it to get made in China, assemble a site that attracts traffic, bung in some simple e-commerce and then outsource the pick and pack fulfillment.

This is what has been called Punk Manufacturing and Chris Anderson at Wired hailed as the next Industrial Revolution.

Kicking Off The Series Is Generation Alliance

This is the first in a series of five articles on micro-multinationals. Next is Generation Alliance, a company “headquartered” in Australia and – you guessed it – doing business globally. If you run a micro-multinational and want to tell your tale to the world, send an email to bernard dot lunn at gmail dot com.

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