Monthly Archives: January 2019

Do you understand enough of the current economic environment and new tariff increases to make informed fiduciary decisions for your business?  Birchtree Global trains business leaders now to make good decisions for their companies using accurate, fact-based information.  We recommend you read the research and watch the upcoming webinar, “Aftershock The pervasive effects of tariff hikes” produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a division of the Economist.

https://pages.eiu.com/Feb19PublicPolicyAftershockEMEAUSMKT_Aftershocklandingpage.htmly

This report examines ten areas likely to be negatively affected by tariff increases.  Listed below is a summary of their findings which will be discussed in depth in the webinar.  The information will help business strategists, HR and Finance executives, as well as globalizing businesses identify key trigger points that may affect business operations and require organizational reset.

This report provides insight on the following areas, which affect all business operations, particularly those of us in global business:

Inflation, Supply Chains, Export Growth, Productivity and Rent-Seeking, Economic Growth, Poverty, Inequality, Health, Environment, Politics.

“Inflation: Tariff increases will likely cause an uptick in inflation in the US, particularly if the dollar weakens. The UK appears even more vulnerable to an inflation spike.

Supply chains: Tariffs are unlikely to lead to major new “reshoring” of production back to the US.  Some companies will shift production from China to neighboring countries, but this is a more costly and complex process than many imagine.

Export growth: Retaliation from other countries means that import tariffs will act as a “tax on
exports”. Export-focused sectors like the UK automotive industry are at risk.

Productivity and rent-seeking: Tariff hikes will channel resources towards import-competing
firms and shield them from competition, weakening productivity growth.

Economic growth: Tariff increases hurt economic growth, although the timing and scale of these negative effects will depend on a variety of factors.

Poverty: Tariff increases are likely to disproportionately hurt poorer households through their
effects on inflation and/or employment.

Inequality: Tariff increases may have a certain equalizing effect if they disproportionately affect
output in high-value-added sectors and facilitate the expansion of low-value-added sectors, as
is expected with Brexit. However, any boost in inequality would come as a result of a decrease
in overall output and growth.

Health: While not the focus of recent tariff increases, tariffs levied on health products can cost lives, particularly if developing countries implement them (for instance, as several already do on mosquito nets).

Environment: The EU’s experience of levying tariffs on Chinese solar panels demonstrates that such moves can hurt environmental goals—an effect that the US is now likely to experience.

Politics: Recent tariff increases are a response to the political polarization caused by trade liberalization. They are more likely to exacerbate this polarization, rather than address it.

Do you want your business to grow? You’ve got one more day to join Anita Campbell from Small Business Trends and Alice Bredin from Bredin, Inc. for a discussion on how small business attract and hire top talent. You’ll discover how to make quick, meaningful changes to the way you recruit candidates and plan for long-term success.

https://lnkd.in/dX6Jvqx

In this webinar, you’ll learn: -How the fastest-growing small businesses expand their talent pools and hire efficiently -Tips for avoiding common recruiting time wasters -Strategies for winning over candidates against larger, name-brand companies -Characteristics of great hiring managers – how much they spend on hiring and where they find candidates.  If you are not an expert, then upgrade your recruitment skills.

Earn recertification credits by attending this webinar, which has been approved for 1 HRCI credit and 1 SHRM CP credit.

Can’t make the webinar? RSVP anyway.  We’re sending all registrants a copy of the recording and slide deck. This is a terrific webinar for businesses who need to find great employees quickly!

I’m pleased to announce Birchtree Global won the Global Leadership Award at the International Conference on Business and Finance in Las Vegas last week for leadership in research-based business studies.  We are all thrilled!  We believe what sets us apart from our business services colleagues is our focus on research-based solutions to client problems.  We focus on analyzing our client’s strategic objectives and crafting customized solutions that maximize their objectives, rather than recommending one-size-fits-all solutions.  We research and present at conferences continuously and are so pleased to have our contributions acknowledged by the IBFR.

I was on a State Visit to China for women executives and at the end of the trip, we stopped at the Hard Rock Café in Shanghai.  My colleagues and I were commiserating over the lack of “agnostic” consulting advice.  That is, consulting advice based on furthering the client’s business strategy, rather than being sold a “vendor one-size fits all” solution.  Having established businesses in more than 40 countries at this point, I knew most vendors offered their products as the ultimate solution for any staffing, payroll, tax, legal, or financial issue.  No one was offering or suggested a competitor’s product, even though those products would have been a better solution.

It occurred to me at this point that what the world needed was a business that could focus on creating optimum solutions for a client’s business strategy.  A solution based around picking the right providers for the business needs.  My colleagues agreed and the idea for Birchtree Global was born.  Adult beverages were involved…

On January 1, 2019 Birchtree Global turned 20 years old.  According to JP Morgan Chase, only 7% of businesses reach this milestone.  I think one reason we’ve done so well has been our focus on enabling our client’s strategy, using fact-based documentation, by being adaptable, thinking outside the box, and hiring the best people.  All made possible by some of the best customers on the planet.

Being successful has meant we’ve been able to give back to the community and our causes.  In 2018 I’m pleased to say contributions have been made to the Colorado Book Trust, The SPCA, Solace for Stephanie, the Explorers Club, the World Trade Center, Rotary Means Business, The Bedford-Armonk Rotary Club, and the American Museum of Natural History, among others.

We look forward to the next 20 years!

Happy Birthday Birchtree Global!