Global Economy

Just imagine an American ship drifting in Pacific ocean, carrying Chinese goods to Russia, having German passengers and Argentinean personnel, using the Japanese  service to navigate. At first glance at this astonishing cooperation you might be deeply impressed, and so was I, having heard a lot about international economy and a persistent tendency to open all markets and liberalize national economies. A wonderful marketing campaign is undertaken to convince everyone that global market is a cornerstone of successful economic development and sustainable growth. The main ‘promoter’ of this idea are TV channels. Just count how many times per day you hear about prospects that European Union will definitely have in case of enlargement of its borders, and about endless mergers and buyouts that European Countries rush to commit with foreign investments, and all that talks about the importance of direct and indirect foreign investments, that are essential to national business!!! All these efforts are aimed at earning more and more, making major market players richer. Unfortunately one important truth is not considered here, that ‘grows for grows is the ideology of cancer cell’:) I do assure you that these biased news are detrimental to your clear understanding of the problems that this ‘United International’ economy might face. Please, do not forget about dozens of negative aspects to which this ‘collaboration’ will lead: the internationalization of business creates a dangerous situation on financial markets: on international stock exchanges prices on stocks and bonds are fluctuating widely due to certain circumstances, and that has a negative impact on prices of derivatives: futures, options, swaps and forward contracts, that are traded on markets all over the world. The results are disappointing: one failure in one country can be transformed in global crises.
But lets draw our attention to some other issues, that  have social importance in world economy, thus turn to the point of level of life and safety, bearing in mind cultural diversity of particular nations.
Look here: even if I’m a citizen of  Belarus, that doesn’t mean that in few years I  will have so many differences if compared with European or American youth, and my country will not be exposed to opportunities and threats that world economy has. And what about standards? I don’t want to speak the language, that is native to more than 6 billion people in our planet, as I don’t see any advantages in common ‘global’ lifestyle, tastes, fashion, etc. Anyway this is also a foreseeable consequence of  further development of  world integration.
Why have I written this? May be I’ve done it to psychologically prepare myself to the fact that the process of globalization is inevitable and unstoppable, but nevertheless should be a subject to constructive critique…

Partnering with another business can be complex. It takes time and effort to build the right relationship. Problems are likely to arise if:

the objectives of the venture are not 100 per cent clear and communicated to everyone involved;

there is an imbalance in levels of expertise, investment or assets brought into the venture by the different partners;

different cultures and management styles result in poor integration and co-operation;

the partners don’t provide sufficient leadership and support in the early stages.

Success in a joint venture depends on thorough research and analysis of aims and objectives. This should be followed up with effective communication of the business plan to everyone involved.

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Also there were a lot of different students’ conferences this year. And I didn’t lose the opportunity to participate in them. One of my reports was devoted to gender problem in international business. And now I’d like to tell you about the most interesting parts of it…

Women have made great strides over the last century in areas where they were not historically equal to men; they gained the right to vote, they removed the barriers to traditionally male professions, and they changed the way society looked at them. Women are no longer viewed as primarily «emotional» creatures, but are judged on their individual qualities.

But the gender problem is still burning all over the world and especially in the countries of the former USSR, Belarus is no exception. The fact that there is still women and men’s work, and still separate play for boys and girls, show how these are apparent even today. By breaking down these stereotypes and allowing men - or women - to be as feminine or masculine as they choose give them a chance to be individuals. And that is why the United Nations Development Programme supports the idea of expanding the public space for women in Belarus.

This Project is for women aspiring to social, political and professional success; for men willing to support active women’ striving for self-realization and for anyone interested in the sustainable democratic development of Belarus.

Society creates artificial barriers in the way of women’s professional, political and social careers thus depriving itself of the great potential that this social group possesses. Gender equality is a prerequisite to the effective development of this country. The goal of the Project is to ensure the real access to the sphere of decision-making for Belarusian women.

In order to feel motivated, reach out and participate in the decision-making women must first attain self-affirmation. Up-to-date education, relevant knowledge and skills are all ingredients of success that would allow women to become leaders. The Project provides an opportunity to get the education that fits women’s needs, status and employment.

Providing equal opportunities means not only that women must be able to gain the education that would allow them to access such traditionally masculine spheres as big politics, serious business, higher levels of power. Equal opportunities are founded, first and foremost, on equal rights. The Project calls for expanding women’s impact on the legislative process to ensure the gender equality in the society.

Women who aspire to participate in decision-making face an invisible obstacle in the form of the public opinion. The stereotypical view on the limited role of women in the public sphere unfortunately still exists in our society. It cultivates in women the predisposition to passiveness and dependence, and, at best, provides them with a sort of a greenhouse – a limited scope of possibilities of personal self-realization.

Women who have strength, knowledge and ambition to participate in public life want to step outside the greenhouse and into a real world. Yet, too often they cannot declare their aspirations because of the social disapproval that would follow.

The Project aims at working with Mass Media to facilitate the change of public opinion and create a friendlier social environment for women. Creation of social advertising is one direction of work with mass-media. The social advertising, that were created during such cooperation, got two first prizes in nominations «Noncommercial printed advertising» and «Video advertising» in the Seventh world festival of advertising «Idea! 2006» and two first prizes in the fourth Kiev International Festival of Advertising.

It is important to consider the gender inequality as an economic problem, not only social one!

Women represent the biggest social - demographic group in Belarus. There are above 5,000,000 women that make up 53 % of all the population living in this country. Today women face with excessive loadings on work, growth of unemployment and poverty. In each branch of the economy there are significant distinctions in the incomes received by men and women. The average wages of women make 81 % from average wages of men. In spite of the fact, that women and men have the same educational level.

Thus, the gender problem is really urgent in our society because having refused from a social equality of men and women we refuse huge prospects of successful economic development of our country.

Achievements of mankind make our life more comfortable, but at the same time create a set of problems. The most difficult and global problems today are coupled with ecology. Huge money resources are necessary for solving these problems. Therefore our ability to benefit from the problem of waste recycling will allow us not only to solve one of environmental problems, but also to receive profit.

Only the tenth part of all waste products in our country is used for recycling. Annually Belarus throws out 1 billion dollars in a recycle bin.

Paper, glass, tree, polymers, metal - valuable secondary resources are simply thrown out and pollute the nature.

Separate gathering, sorting and industrial processing of waste products practically do not exist today in our republic. Two disposal plants in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) are closed, because they used out-of-date technologies. A single method of waste products utilizing that is used nowadays is waste burial.

The problem of dumps exists in many countries, but not all of them are capable to neutralize the damage effect of such «objects» on the environment and on population health. Belarus is no exception. City dumps are over flown, it is necessary to use new sites near Minsk, but accommodation of one more dump here is extremely undesirable.

In the developed countries simple waste burial is forbidden by law. In some countries, for example, Austria, Germany and Spain, burning of waste products is also forbidden. A primary method is recycling. For example, Japanese make uniform from crushed plastic bottles.

You see samples of such clothes:

In our republic such technology is not used.

To solve the «garbage problem» many countries undertake the following steps:

1. Change of the legislation in the field of ecology.

2. Separate gathering of waste products and their reuse. For application of this method it is necessary to carry out explanatory work in order to raise ecological culture in the society.

3. Attraction of external and internal investments into ecological projects.

4. Use of the latest technologies.

Belarus tries to use world experience to solve this problem.

Firstly, government and local authorities are elaborating special laws, according to which the responsibility for recycling of waste products is assigned to the manufacturers.

Secondly, about 150 containers of special design for separate gathering solid waste have appeared in Minsk this year:

Today glass, tin banks, paper citizens throw out in separate sections. But, unfortunately, the gathered waste in these containers is dumped in one common plastic package. And this experience represents only educational aspect.

Thirdly, the second tender on construction of a disposal plants was invited in Minsk. The first tender failed, because of out-of-date technologies of construction offered by different European companies.

Also it is important to mention the latest know-how of the Belarusian scientists. They have developed the technology of high-quality oil manufacturing from hard human refuse. But, unfortunately, this technology has not passed to the stage of manufacturing yet.

All these variants of problem solving are perspective enough, but nowadays their realization is coupled with various difficulties, therefore a primary method today is using presses for manufacturing of compact briquettes from garbage.

This manufacturing includes such processes as gathering of waste in separate sections and pressing. Then ready briquettes are transported to dumps. So, they occupy much less place and are safer for the environment.

The bottom line is that Belarus is still far from the developed countries in solving the «garbage problem». But we make steps to cope with it, using experience of other countries.

First and foremost, what are cultural differences? I wrote about it in one of my posts, but I hope that the following joke can help you understand this notion better:

Last month, a world survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world.” The survey was a huge failure…

In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.

In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.

In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.

In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.

In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.

In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.

And In the US they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.

:)     

Our world faces new challenges in the 21^st century. It is becoming increasingly connected and global and the role of international business is increasing. That is why cultural differences will affect us all more and more.

Up to 30% of companies have already admitted that the success of their international activities was deteriorated by cultural differences.

Nevertheless misunderstandings do occur. The following example can be given. This happened to the sales representative who was calling on a client in China. Hoping to make a good impression, the salesperson brought a gift to break the ice, an expensive grandfather clock. Unfortunately, the Chinese client was deeply offended because, in China, giving clocks as gifts is considered bad luck for the recipient.

Such problems arise because we ignore the fact that people from other cultures differ from us in many ways. They are religion and values, ideas of role and status, decision-making customs, attitude toward time, language and manners…

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to be continued …

So, there are a lot of trouble spots, but problems often located in only four areas:

The first is low profitability of the sales. So, you can solve this problem with decreasing of the prices and with good advertising.

The second is low quality of offered services and goods and poor range of products. So, you can solve this problem with increasing of the activity of R & D department.

The third is low qualification of personnel. This problem can be solved with organizing of additional courses for improvement of professional skill.

The fourth is bad customer care. For solving this problem you can use different methods, for example, granting of discounts and opportunities to buy on credit.

To make troubleshooting more effective there are also some tips:

1. First of all it’s necessary to locate the cause of the problem.

2. Then to get the facts.

3. Then to look at past history and to listen to experts’ opinions.

4. And at last to consider possible solutions.

In conclusion I want to add, that troubleshooting is so important in business, because these days business is extremely competitive.

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I’d like to end this topic with some interesting information about this problem…

The world community now understands that human trafficking is of high importance and some measures have been already taken by the UN organization and the governments of separate countries, but I think that it’s not so easy to stop it.

It was interesting for me to know that I also can help to stop human trafficking. You can ask my: «How? ». I will answer that you can do the following:

1. Educate yourself. Many people are surprised to hear that slavery still exists and that it happens within our borders. There is a general acknowledgment that education and employment opportunities can greatly aid in the fight against human trafficking.

2. Tell your friends and family. Once you know the facts, educate your family and friends about this human rights abuse.

3. Support anti-trafficking organizations.

4. Report a suspected case of trafficking.

5. Download the information from web-sites devoted to this problem.

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Lord helps those who help themselves

Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons is the modern practice of slavery. It is the third largest criminal industry in the world today, after arms and drug dealing. Traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits every year while victimizing millions of people around the globe. Victims of human trafficking are young children, teenagers, men and women.

Approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders world wide.

Due to physical and psychological damage caused to victims, they are not able to get a proper education. It leads to decrease in future economic possibilities. The productivity of such labor force is very low.

Human trafficking also reflects living standards of the countries; it is obvious that people from developing countries with a high rate of poor people, unemployment are highly subjected to become victims of human traffickers. Moreover, from other side, this can result in increasing of poverty, the number of illiterate people, in decreasing of GNP, trade turnover, and index of human development…

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To be continued…

The advertisement is engine of business. I can’t get rid of it especially while seeing TV. This evening I was trying to see the film «The butterfly effect» with Ashton Kutcher (a cool movie, you will feels tingles down your spine), but a lot of ads were preventing me. >:-/

«You have no rights, no friends …no life» - terrible words from social advertisement devoted to human traffic. This problem is usually considered to be social, but I think that it’s also an economic one. And there is good reason to believe in it…

A friend of mine made a report devoted to human trafficking to present it during the Student Conference. She began her speech with the following words:

« You may say that no sensible person would think that slavery could exist in the 21st century. But I am here to prove you that it does exist and we should be aware of this problem and be ready to solve it. »

But still, why human trafficking is closely connected with the development of international business?

International business is an economic activity carried between nations. It deals with producing, selling, and buying various goods and services. As well as other activities international business is conducted by people, so labor resources play the key-role in it, define its intensity and affect the final results. Nowadays labor market is facing such a problem as human trafficking.

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To be continued…