In The News

Seize Golden Opportunity of Rapid Globalization

Dave Young March 8, 2006
Current debates on China focus on its growing economic strength as a threat to the West. But China, moving from a rural to an urban economy, can also offer opportunity for the West. Over the next five years China will build more than 300 new cities, requiring expertise on infrastructure, financing and environmental protection. With China’s growing influence, the author says, world financial...

A Year Abroad (or 3) as a Career Move

Hillary Chura March 8, 2006
More US students are adapting to a globalized economy by working abroad. A surprising benefit is success in the job market after returning home. Teaching in a foreign country, bartending, taking care of children, typing or even traveling and picking grapes can demonstrate resourcefulness and other skills that employers find valuable. Organizations that help students work abroad estimate that 35,...

EU Fund to Ease Globalization Pain

James Kanter March 2, 2006
The Global Adjustment Fund is proposed as a new measure to help Europe’s economy absorb the effects of globalization. The fund will assist retraining and relocating workers whose jobs have been eliminated in ways demonstrably tied to global trade dynamics, such as outsourcing. The proposed fund comes as Europeans express increasing alarm at the prospect of foreign economic influence,...

China Winning Resources and Loyalties of Africa

FT Correspondents February 28, 2006
In the early 15th century, well before Europeans set foot on the continent, Chinese traders and explorers landed along the coast of Africa. Centuries later, China and Africa continue to renew these ancient ties. Since 2000, China-Africa trade has quadrupled in volume, signaling a mutually-beneficial relationship. The continent offers China both a market for its goods and vast supplies of untapped...

An Age-Old Salt Lake May Yield a Washday Miracle

Marc Lacey February 21, 2006
The otherworldly microbes in Kenya’s Lake Bogoria have proved instrumental in perfecting many worldly goods. Genencor International, Inc., has patented and used enzyme samples it purchased from scientists who visited the lake to enhance such mundane commodities as detergent and blue jeans. While Genencor touts the commercial success of innovative science, however, Kenyans demand that the...

The Big Squeeze

February 21, 2006
The fight for survival by age-old icons of business and culture is not limited to the US. Volkswagen and other carmakers in Germany and France question whether they can provide mass domestic employment while competing against firms with lower labor costs in Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and China. One study reports that one in seven German jobs is “directly or indirectly...

Fuss About China Is Overdone

Guy de Jonquières February 20, 2006
The world has become “mesmerized” by China – hungry for its market and fearful of its increasing strength. In this article, Guy de Jonquières speculates about the possibility of an economic downturn for China and what that might mean for the world at large. Such an event, while unlikely, could emerge with “internally generated upsets” such as a property market crash or social unrest. His argument...