In The News

Three Faces of Globalization

Franklin L. Lavin April 30, 2003
US President Bush and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong met in Washington to sign a bilateral free trade agreement between the two countries. This will contribute to the opening up of barriers to economic globalization and, as Franklin Lavin, US ambassador to Singapore, points out, improve existing cross-border cooperation in the construction of barriers to two other facets of globalization...

A New War Over Iraq

Joshua Chaffin April 27, 2003
Although the dust has barely settled from the fighting in Baghdad, international companies are already lobbying intensely for lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq. The extent of reconstruction, the risks involved, and the specific roles for local, national and international stakeholders is yet to be determined. The success of the reconstruction efforts also depends on the development of...

If Nike Defends Itself, Is That a Commercial?

Linda Feldmann April 23, 2003
Nike Inc. is the world's largest athletic footwear company. Nike, with its 900 factories in 51 countries and more than 600,000 employees, is currently embroiled in a Supreme Court case in the US. This case stems from a 1998 lawsuit, in which San Francisco activist Marc Kasky charged that Nike had made false statements about sweatshop conditions in its Asian factories. Mr. Kasky asserted...

Corporations as Good Global Citizens

Susan Ariel Aaronson April 8, 2003
Global corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often agreed about in theory, and has informed the policy of some governments. However, its implementation is still far from ideal. While some countries make no effort to promote CSR, even the ones that do have left the terms of compliance uncertain. CSR principles are often mandated, but corporations are rarely monitored. A number of European...

French's Unmentioned British Flavor

Floyd Norris March 28, 2003
American resentment over political issues has begun to take its toll on goods and services imported from countries such as France and Germany. French’s Mustard's ‘All-American’ publicity campaign aimed to distance its company (British-owned, in fact] from any connection to France – except the name. On French’s website, however, there were no American flags waving in the background, so as to...

No-Smoking Signs Spread Slowly Across Africa

Marc Lacey February 2, 2003
In the United States and Canada, restrictions on smoking and tobacco advertisements have been commonplace for years, but not so in Africa. In Uganda, British American Tobacco, a multinational corporation, provides thousands of jobs and is an important source of revenue in a struggling economy. Smoking is popular among Africans, but a few anti-smoking activists and lawyers are trying to change...

Hybrid Cars Are Catching On

Danny Hakim January 28, 2003
In a global economy in which national boundaries hold little meaning for multinational corporations, American businesses are being forced to deal with competition from abroad. Japanese hybrid automobiles have begun to gain popularity in American markets, and American automakers, fearful of ceding yet another market to Japanese companies, have responded by announcing plans for the development of...