In The News

Ford Looks Abroad for Half of Parts

Daniel Howes September 14, 2005
When auto executive Mark Fields takes his position at the head of Ford's North and South American operations next month, he will face losses of US$1 billion per quarter and corporate debt rated "junk." To spur the company's recovery, industry analysts have revealed that Ford will double the number of parts that it outsources to low-cost countries. According to Detroit News...

"The UK failed the globalization challenge"

Liam Halligan September 12, 2005
Heeding the private sector's enthusiasm for India and China, Western leaders are now recognizing the growing commercial importance of the Asian giants. Yet political interests do not always align conveniently with economic ones. Earlier this year, the EU, under the leadership of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, placed limits on Chinese textile imports, blocking 80 million euros worth of...

Hurricane Raises Fears of Global Energy Crisis

Thomas Catan August 31, 2005
As flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans, Louisiana, the full scope of damage due to Hurricane Katrina has yet to be discerned. Nine oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico – 12 percent of US refining capacity – are now closed. As a result, gas prices in the United States spiked immediately after the storm, but some observers worry that the impact will be more drastic. "It is now...

Enduring an IT Eclipse

A. Sheshabalaya August 30, 2005
In recent years, Bangalore has outpaced Silicon Valley in the global innovation race. This is not a temporary blip, writes author Ashutosh Sheshabalaya, but a fast-evolving reality to which the American IT industry must adapt for the long haul. While offshoring is hardly a new phenomenon, it was previously restricted to back-office support functions. This is no longer the case: IBM and Hewlett...

The Legacy of Lee Kyung Hae

John Feffer August 29, 2005
The organic farms that line the Han River in South Korea may be the country's agricultural future – and sadly, they tell the story of its troubled past and present. More broadly, the Korean agricultural crisis is a story of small farmers forced to negotiate among the shifting currents of globalization. The industrialization of South Korea's agriculture, the Green Revolution, rendered...

Prices Transform Oil into a Weapon

Ian Bremmer August 29, 2005
Alongside the fear that high oil prices will dampen global economic growth lies another serious threat: It is increasingly likely that certain oil-producing states may use the valued fuel as a political weapon – and effectively so, according to Ian Bremmer. Given the current state of global markets, any interruption of output will likely drive up prices. At the same time, petro-states are...

Bra Wars: Europe Strikes Back

Larry Elliott August 26, 2005
As of August 22, 2005, six categories of Chinese textile exports had met or exceeded EU quotas – spurring two days of talks in Beijing between the trade partners. The current limits were initially designed as stopgap measures, to allow EU producers to adjust to the January 2005 expiry of the the previous global quota regime. In the longer term, it is unlikely that Western producers will be...