In The News

HSBC to Double Offshore Jobs

Mark Bendeich March 16, 2005
Global banking giant HSBC plans to shift a large number of Western clerical and call-center operations to lower-cost areas, according to a top executive. In the next three years, HSBC may employ as many as 25,000 workers in Asia, offshoring thousands of jobs in a move that would save the company over US$1 billion. Though outsourcing has raised many eyebrows among skeptics – US and European...

"We Don't Need Any Partners in Germany"

Carsten Knop March 4, 2005

Don't Blame Wal-Mart

Robert B. Reich February 28, 2005
Multinational giant Wal-Mart is notorious for its anti-union stance and questionable labor practices. But, as Robert B. Reich opines, "Isn't Wal-Mart really being punished for our sins?" Reich suggests that US consumers, in their quest for bottom-dollar bargains, continue to shop at low-price retailers – thereby enabling their practices. In the competition to stay afloat,...

Fakes!

Frederik Balfour February 2, 2005
Counterfeiting is a criminal activity that costs the global economy billions every year. The manufacturers of fake goods have become increasingly professional, their wares often indistinguishable from the real things. And by slipping counterfeit products – or parts of products – into the supply chain at different stages, they have slipped seamlessly into the world market. China is central to...

When Life, and Not Just Carnival, Is a Gas

Andy Webb-Vidal January 26, 2005
With the discovery of large natural gas reserves, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean island state, has transformed into the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas in the Americas. Already, foreign companies like British Gas are building the largest natural gas production units ever constructed. With foreign investment pouring in at an unprecedented rate, the Trinidadian government must wisely...

South America Seeks to Fill the World's Table

Larry Rohter December 12, 2004
Though the United States remains the world's largest exporter of agricultural goods, it faces a stern challenge from Brazil. Agriculture has boomed in Brazil in recent years thanks to market-friendly economic policies and increasingly sophisticated methods of cultivation. Many Brazilian farmers have settled what has been termed Brazil's "untapped frontier" – its vast tracts of...

The Patent Controversy

Rajeev Dhavan December 10, 2004
As India's Parliament rushes through the Third Patents Amendment, the important social justice and equity issues are being ignored, says the author in India’s newspaper, The Hindu. The pressure to pass this law before January 1, 2005 came from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the US, which hold the implicit threat of retaliation and non-compliance under WTO provisions. However, argues...