In The News

Jobs Flight? Worry about Industry Flight Instead

Alvin Pang February 12, 2004
Singapore doesn't need to worry about workers leaving, but whole businesses. With a maturing economy based largely on IT, finance, and trade, Singapore no longer attracts budding entrepreneurs looking for the next big thing. And the current outsourcing debacle suggests that no oasis lies on the horizon. To stay competitive, Singapore needs to encourage younger firms to wade into...

The Strategic Straitjacket of Globalization

Banning Garrett February 11, 2004
Unlike during the Cold war, when competition was only between the US and the Soviet Union, today all globalizing nations are competitors. However, writes Banning Garrett, Director of Asia Programs at the Atlantic Council, these competing nations are also partners in today's globalizing economy, which is growing increasingly interconnected and interdependent. These new conditions of...

'Lean, Mean at 20

Matt Nauman February 11, 2004
Twenty years ago, automobile manufacturers in the US were far from 'lean' in their production facilities. In one California General Motors factory, workers were known for high absenteeism and a "militant" attitude. But that changed in 1984, says this Mercury News article, when Toyota and GM joined forces and decided to import Japanese management practices to an American...

'Offshoring' Has Its Trade-Offs

Steven Pearlstein February 11, 2004
The offshoring of US jobs is becoming a hot topic in political and economic debates. Earlier this week, President Bush's top economic advisor, Greg Mankiw, weighed in on the controversy by claiming that the offshoring of service jobs - like software design - to India and other countries can only make US businesses stronger. But that's not necessarily the case, says Steven Pearlstein...

Assembly Fails to Vote on FTA, Troop Bills

Lee Joo-hee February 10, 2004
South Korea's National Assembly was unable to vote on two bills – one on a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with Chile and the other on Iraq troop deployment – due to arguments over voting methods. During the debate, activists, mostly farmers protesting the two bills, had convened outside the Assembly building. A leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said that he opposed the...

U.S. Set to Get Tougher on Cuba

Nancy San Martin February 10, 2004
As part of its ongoing battle to isolate the communist regime of Fidel Castro, the United States plans to crack down on companies and people that do business with Cuba in contravention of US law. The US Treasury Department has identified ten Cuban companies that have helped US citizens travel to Cuba without the proper licenses as well as deliver goods via the Internet. At the urging of the White...

Democrat Hopefuls, Lawmakers Denounce Outsourcing

February 7, 2004
The outsourcing of high-tech jobs to the developing world has become a potent issue in U.S. electoral politics. As job growth remains stagnant, politicians are turning on corporations that outsource to save money and evade American taxes. John Kerry, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has criticized CEOs who move “profits and jobs overseas”. US politicians from both...