I “discovered” podcasts for myself a little over 3 years ago and have become somewhat of a junkie. I love to listen to a range of topics from business to pleasure whilst exercising or when in the car, so of course international expansion is high on the list for me. The global business podcasts I’d like to share with you today are all international in nature: 4 focus purely on business and the other 1 deals with more general intercultural topics which are extremely relevant.

These are not in any kind of ranking as each has their own merits and individual style.

1. International Business Podcast – Leonardo Marra

Leo together with his co-host Stefano Santelmo interview experts from around the globe, across several industries. The two of them are skilled at drawing their guests out for engaging conversations.

Each episode they speak with a guest from a different industry and background to uncover their challenges and draw out insights that can help you yourself to become a better international business leader.

Past episodes have covered such topics as

  • global people skills
  • wine in China
  • digital education
  • making social impact
  • bridging the gap between LATAM & the UK.

I was honoured to be invited to be a guest on episode 55 where we discussed why I called my blog “International Expansion Explained”, entering the Chinese market with Infant Formula and, in answer to Leo’s signature question, a story about visiting Iran back in 2004 or so…It was a really fun interview for me.

If you work across time zones, cultures and borders, this is the show for you. Follow the show on LinkedIn.

I also interviewed Leo for my inaugural International Expansion Explained episode & you can find the blog post about that here or the full video on YouTube.

2. The Worldly Marketer – Kathrin Bussmann

The Worldly Marketer Podcast brings you valuable insider perspectives on what it takes to grow a global business in today’s digital, social, multilingual marketplace.

In today’s connected world, businesses of all sizes can build an international brand presence through the savvy use of content, localization, and digital channels. Tune into this interview-style podcast, as Kathrin Bussmann talks with a variety of experts in the global business and global marketing space. You’ll learn about the challenges and the rewards of reaching out to a multi-regional, multilingual, and multi-cultural audience. And you’ll get a better understanding of what it takes to build a successful global brand in the Digital Age.

Since its launch in 2016, The Worldly Marketer Podcast has become the leading independent audio show focused on international and global marketing topics. It is the proud winner of the THINK GLOBAL AWARDS 2019 Community Award.

Some of my favourite episodes have covered such topics as
TWM 195: How CPG Companies Can Build Great Global Brands in Today’s Economy w/ James Banville
TWM 189: How to Do Business in South Korea in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond w/ Don Southerton
TWM 178: Why Brands Should Look to China to Understand the Future of Marketing w/ Ashley Dudarenok
TWM 154: How Retail Brands of All Sizes Can Use Ecommerce to Go Global w/ Nabil Malouli
TWM 168: How Google Helps Brands Reach South and Southeast-Asian Consumers w/ Lars Anthonisen
TWM 211: How IKEA Keeps Growing Its Global Brand by Speaking the Local Language w/ Anna Golubeva

Kathrin asks really insightful questions, and whilst I’ve highlighted a few episodes above that fit especially with my interests, I’ve yet to find an episode I didn’t find interesting. Kathrin was also a speaker at the Business Beyond Border Event I organised, together with Anja Riemer-Grobe.

You can find a blog post together with the interview here:

  • Kathrin Bussmann: Starting to Build your Brand in International Markets
  • Update: I was a guest on episode 218

    3. Business Beyond Borders – Cynthia Dearin

    The Business Beyond Borders podcast was started to help unlock the secrets of how to make your small business an international success. Companies that do international business have a bigger global impact, innovate more, make more money and are better places to work. Cynthia & her team believe also that the world is a better place when people everywhere have access to the best products and services which are available.

    The podcast includes episodes on such topics as

    • entering into the right market
    • managing supply chain risks
    • speeding up global expansion
    • successful case studies, especially of, but not limited to, Australian companies
    • reducing exchange risks

    Compared to the other two podcasts above, there are more episodes with a financial bias (eg transferring money across borders, subsidies and funding available in Australia). There are some gems in there, so well worth a listen. Of course, we all have different interests within international business but this is certainly one of the global business podcasts worth listening to.

    Update: I was a guest on episode 59

    4. How to be Global Podcast – Sarah Rapp

    Sarah Rapp is the bubbly host of the How to be Global podcast. She takes you through all the fun stereotypes, global stories and struggles which exist in our world, some of which you have probably never heard about. Sarah helps listeners to discover what it means to be global in today’s fast paced and culturally mixed world.

    Sarah aims to connect the world by lowering boundaries and fear about other cultures, whilst embracing diversity. It’s not a business podcast per se, but as the intercultural competence element is so crucial to being successful internationally, I feel that How to be Global really has to be included in this round up of global business podcasts.

    She has featured a wide range of guests from a huge range of backgrounds and covering a vast range of topics such as:

    • countries that are underrepresented in the media (eg. Palestine, Malaysia, Guam – even Transdnistria got a mention the other week)
    • becoming a digital nomad on retiring
    • multi-cultural dating
    • global branding
    • sustainable travel

    I “met” Sarah when she interviewed me for episode 80, which was great fun!

    bal Podcast Episode 80 KAthryn Read

    As with the other podcasts, you can find How to be Global on all major podcast channels.

    5. Brands Talk – Brigitte Bojkowszky

    Ready for brand stories? Get inspired and learn from thought leaders, CEOs, business owners, and managers, who tell their brand stories, who share their valuable insights from their own experience. For all Brand Lovers, this show is to help you develop and grow your brand in a more strategic and sustainable way! Walk the talk. Let’s get started and dive with Brigitte into the world of brands!

    Some of the episodes include topics such as:

    • Cultural influence on global branding strategies
    • brand success stories
    • growing sustainably across continents
    • non-profit brand stories
    • AI in branding

    Brigitte is really passionate about global branding strategy and that comes across in her episodes. As befits a branding specialist there is a lot of story telling and Brigitte’s own background in branding helps her to present the lessons we can all learn in a really accessible way. I especially enjoy the stories of how the different brands have rolled out their global strategies and mastered the challenges of “how much global vs how much local”.

    Update: I was a guest on episode 31

    Episode art for episode 31 of Brandstalk podcast with Kathryn Read

    2 Bonus Global Business Podcasts

    Asia.Expansion.Explained

    The podcast for innovative startups that want to expand to the Asian markets. Country insights, expert know-how and best practice cases for your market entry. Every Friday the podcast hosts Lisa Stöger and Fabian Gems talk with Asian experts to give you hands-on tips and tricks for your Asia-expansion.

    The only reason I didn’t include this podcast in the listing above is that it’s in German. So far there have been series on China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong & Singapore. Each series has covered topics such as

    • legal aspects of founding a company in the market concerned
    • sales and marketing
    • hiring staff
    • intercultural differences that you have to take note of when doing business there
    • fundraising

    Whilst the focus is clearly on startups there are valuable lessons to be learnt for anyone doing business in Asia.

    In episode 8 I was interviewed on sales and marketing in China.

    Pop Your Cultural Cherry – Lawin Ileto

    From making friends in Europe to seeing snow for the first time; The Pop Your Cultural Cherry podcast aims to give listeners a unique perspective on life in Europe with an Asian/Filipino twist. Lawin Ileto, the host, is a Filipino who came to Amsterdam to study and now works in Germany.

    The focus is more on various aspects of culture shock rather than on business. The stories are presented humourously and can help us all to take a look at our own cultures and what we take for granted. Episodes have covered topics such as

    • understanding the German job market
    • making friends abroad
    • Karneval and how it works
    • German development work in the rural Philippines
    • job hunting abroad

    Well worth a listen. Lawin interviewed me for episode 12 on the topic of connecting Asia and Europe through marketing.

    Episode 12 Pop your cultural cherry

    I hope that there’s something in that list that you find interesting and useful. Remember to subscribe to whichever shows you find interesting as this is a great way to ensure you never miss an episode. I personally don’t always listen to all the episodes but I can always delete them later if I decide I’m not interested in a week’s topic.

    You can find another global business podcast round up from me here.

    If you have any suggestions for other podcasts that you feel should be on this list, please comment below and I’ll go have a listen. At a later point I’ll write a separate round up of podcasts about the Chinese market as that is such a specific topic.

    Thinking that working with a consultant would accelerate your international expansion?

    If you’d like to learn more about working with me for support on your internationalisation projects or personal export knowledge, you can book a 30 minute international clarity call here.

    If you haven’t already signed up for my free e-book about how to select which international market to enter next, you can do so here, or using the form below.

    If you enjoyed this content please share it on social media or recommend it to your network.

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    Kathryn

    8 Comments

    1. […] producing new episodes. Some of them I’ve been honoured to be a guest on myself. You can also check out my podcast round up from around 2 years ago for more interesting […]

    2. The International Business Podcast is the only one on this list that I am familiar with, but the others look like they might be interesting to listen to as well. Thanks!

      1. I’m a regular listener to all of them – they all bring something different to the table!

    3. […] You can hear more about the study and its conclusions on Kathrin Bussmann’s Global Marketer podcast here. (I reviewed the podcast also here) […]

    4. Looks like a great list of podcasts, I have not heard of most of them, apart of the international business podcast, of course. Thanks!

      1. Thanks Francis! Somehow it’s quite hard to find “international business” podcasts – you can find a lot which are on China or other specific markets, but often the international ones focus on geopolitics, news or they’re academic institutions

    5. Hi Bridget, you’re very welcome! I’m really enjoying listening to each new episode you bring – the interview with Sarah Rapp was also great!

    6. Hi Kathryn,
      I feel honored that my BrandsTalk is among the global business podcasts you spend your valuable time to listen to! Thank you for sharing your top 7 list! I for myself am a huge fan of Kathrin Bussmann’s “The Worldly Marketer” Podcast and Sarah Rapp’s “How to be global” Podcast. Will happily tune in to the other ones you suggest on the list!
      Thank you Bridget (Brigitte Bojkowszky)

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