What Will Be the Focus of the G20 Summit?

The City of Pittsburgh is making its final preparations before over 20 of the world's leaders converge on the city on Thursday and Friday. Many of the people who live and work in the city are thinking more about the travel restrictions and protests than the actual summit, or what will be discussed during the meeting. So, what will the G20 members be meeting about later this week?

The main topic that the G20 members will discuss is the worldwide economic situation, and how they can bring balance to the global economy. In a document that outlines the U.S. position on this topic, the US believes that exporters (like China, Germany, and Japan) should consume more, while countries with a lot of debt (like the US) should boost their savings. The document claims that "The world will face anemic growth if adjustments in one part of the global economy are not matched by offsetting adjustments in other parts." The US also imagines that the International Monetary Fund will have a greater hand in policy recommendations and assessments.

This kind of approach makes sense to us at IntellaCore. The world is no longer run by only a handful of large countries. Instead, as countries develop, they are gaining even footing with the once dominant countries. Many countries should be included in the solution to the problem.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to push for a larger role for developing countries in the global economy. He is also expected to restate India's position against all forms of protectionism, including trade, goods and services, and investment.

There will also be some focus on tightening financial regulations. There will be proposals to restrain bank executive pay and tightening the standards in the banking system to prevent another economic meltdown. Recently French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called to limit banker bonuses, and has actually promised to walk out of the summit if there is no agreement to cap executive pay and compensation.

But with all of this hype that we are experiencing in Pittsburgh, will anything actually come of the summit? The G20 has no real lawmaking power, so any changes that come from this summit will be the result of the lawmaking authorities for each of the countries. Some experts who have covered meetings like this in the past state that there will be a lot of self-congratulation, and the participants will say it was a great success. If any changes do come about because of this summit, don't expect anything to really start until November.

G-20 Preparations

The G-20 summit is about a month and a half away, and the City of Pittsburgh is certainly preparing for the meeting. Two of the major things in the news about the summit is the focus on preparing the police force to handle situations that come with events like these, and the beautification of the city.

Although it is not being reported, we at IntellaCore hope that the business owners in Pittsburgh and other areas like Pittsburgh can realize that there is more to their business environment than their geographic region. We hope that when people see the various world leaders from the 20+ countries on the news or in the papers, they will think about expanding their business into one of those countries, or simply think about becoming globally competitive. We are now living in a flat world. The term "flat world" simply means that a company can no longer 'hide"in the hills and the valleys of its regional market. Every company operates in the global, Internet marketplace whether they operate domestically, internationally, or virtually on the Internet.

Many businesses in this region understand these ideas. In fact, within the Pittsburgh region it is estimated that international business accounts for an estimated 130,000 jobs, and almost 80 percent of the public companies in the region operate or conduct business internationally. Equally as impressive, the delegates from the G-20 nations represent 90% of global GNP, 80% of world trade (including EU intra-trade), and 2/3 of the world's population.

We hope that everyone enjoyed the webinar. We hope that you learned that International business is not as intimidating as you might have thought before. Be sure to join our next webinar if you want to learn more about international business, or if you just want to become globally competitive within your own region - the details are below.

Top 10 Tips for Expanding Your Business into New Markets
Tuesday, August 18th 2:00PM – 2:30PM EDT

Top Ten Tips is a series of practical, fact-based webinars using the Path To Success methodology developed at IntellaCore. The webinars are short, hard-hitting, and are always combined with a whitepaper. Each webinar breaks down an important way that a company can increase revenue, reduce costs, and become a sustainable, competitive business.

The challenges that come with expanding your business domestically and internationally are not as great as they once were. You no longer have to do business only within your regional box. You can easily find markets nationally and internationally that have a need for your products. Attend this webinar to learn how you can conduct market research, develop market entry strategies, evaluate prospects, and learn to communicate over distances. This webinar teaches IntellaCore's perspective that it is global, Internet economy, and as such Internet tools and activities make it easier, cheaper, and less complicated to expand your business.

Click here to join.

The Top 10 Tips you will learn more about in the webinar are:
1. Research specific markets
2. Research regulations and fees
3. Finalize potential markets to enter
4. Develop a pricing strategy
5. Develop a localization strategy
6. Use virtual marketing to establish a presence in the new markets
7. Finalize market entry strategy
8. Find buyers and distributors, and build the relationship
9. Develop factors to consider when choosing a foreign representative or distributor
10. Strategize how to communicate with foreign companies who submit inquiries, and handle requests for information and price quotes

Click here to join.

While there are many international experts or technology experts, we are both. IntellaCore has a unique point of view because we are positioned at the critical crossroad where very few are -- that place where the global economy meets the Internet. Based on decades of experience in both International business and Internet-based activity, Path to Success aligns technology to the business plan, internally transforms the operations of the business, and expands their market presence into new domestic, international, and virtual markets.

The G-20 Summit and Community Involvement

In one of our previous blogs we wrote about the G-20 Summit that will be held in Pittsburgh this September. As we stated, Pittsburgh was chosen because the city is a model for the restructuring of the US and the global economies. Pittsburgh's economy, once based on steel and manufacturing had to change in the 1980s. Now the city's economy is focused on technology, healthcare, and robotics. Additionally, many of the new businesses and building in Pittsburgh are environmentally friendly.

Community involvement and interest has exceeded many peoples' expectations. In fact, hundreds of community members and business owners have attended several planning meetings. An IntellaCore representative attended one of these meetings and found that the community was very supportive of the summit.

Their ideas included the following:

• Put welcome signs inside the airport and outside, in all foreign languages presents
• Take delegations on a tour of Pittsburgh highlights
• Make lobby posters to welcome all 19 countries
• Downplay the sports
• Promote local food and no bottle of water
• Exhibition of green businesses
• Opportunity for protestors to speak
• A short video to present the city – in social media
• Jazz concerts to highlight African American culture
• Create a drama of public voice
• Manufacture a yellow and black button with “I’m from Pittsburgh” for citizens
• Teach what is the G20 to children and students of all age
• Organize public transportation
• Emphasize the medical research & role of this sector in the local economy
• Promote the local economy, local companies in each event

Many of these ideas came from business owners hoping to benefit from the summit. As the conference approaches, we are hoping that there are more ideas that will benefit the Pittsburgh region as a whole. With the community's ideas, we can see that the people of Pittsburgh are recognizing that the G-20 Summit is an excellent opportunity to highlight Pittsburgh's economic opportunities for continuous growth. As the Summit approaches, we hope that Pittsburgh businesses try to move out of their regional box and into the global, Internet economy.

A Local Perspective of the G-20 Summit

As many people know, the next G-20 summit will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in September. This summit will bring together leaders from Australia, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, and Russia, among others. These countries represent 85% of the world's production and 80% of the world's trade.

Pittsburgh was chosen for the summit because the city has transformed itself from an industrial city that lost 250,000 steel-related jobs in the 1980s, to a city that embraces the health care, technology, and robotics industries, and has an unemployment rate more than a percentage point below the national average. The city's growing focus on green engineering and green technology also played a part in the decision to hold the conference in Pittsburgh. Along with being a symbol for economic recovery, Pittsburgh was recently named the United States' Most Livable City by The Economist.

IntellaCore is based in Pittsburgh, and we will be documenting the ways the conference affects this area on this blog. We know that it is a global, Internet economy, but many businesses in this area do not. We are hoping that this summit helps many business owners to realize that there is a great amount of opportunity available to them. Many local businesses have already offered their services to the planning committee. Many more will seek international business to develop their business, and to further improve the local Pittsburgh economy.

Keep reading this blog for a local perspective of the G-20 summit.