The tipping point has come and GE (NYSE:GE) says that more than 50% of its sales will be international this year. The company, quoted by Reuters said "business in emerging markets was growing at more than twice the pace of developed markets and was likely to expand by 20 percent a year for the next several years."

GE is assuming that its sales in the US will actually slow while revenue in India, Russia, China, and other large overseas markets will pick up. Most of these emerging markets are improving their infrastructure which plays in GE's strength in industrial and infrastructure construction and management.

But, the news is double-edged. Governments in many developing countries are much less stable than they are in the . And, in markets such as Russia, Nigeria, Indonesia, China and Saudi Arabia, totalitarian governments may not elect to let companies pursue unlimited growth. Venezuela recently pushed out several international oil companies and there is no reason to believe that this kind of behavior will be isolated to that country

Increasing business in the developing work is as much about diplomacy as it is about products and services. GE may want to hire some people from the State Department.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.