Due to the increase in meat consumption in China, the need for soybeans has widened. The main country where the Chinese have looked is Brazil and are interested in purchasing hundreds of thousands of acres. When they were refused the land, the new strategy was to feed money into the agriculture industry in Brazil to give farmers the capital needed to triple soybean production.
globalEDGE Blog Archive July 2011
Publish Date:
Currently in Hungary, the car industry accounts for a quarter of their industrial output. Germany’s Audi has just announced an over $1 billion expansion plan which will strengthen an economy that is struggling for growth. Hungary has become a center of production for export to the rest of the EU, just like the neighbouring Czech Republic. This isn’t just a big deal because of the amount of money being put into the project, but it also shows that these plants can become increasingly important over time as they do more than just simple assembly work.
Publish Date:
Technological innovation has helped countries grow and has aided businesses in generating profits for many years. However, in India recently, technology has even found a way to help feed India’s poorest. In the country of India, those living below the poverty line are allowed to buy basic food such as rice, sugar, and wheat at highly subsidized rates at government-run Fair Price shops. The shoppers at these stores have a plastic card with their photograph on the face of the card. After purchasing food, shoppers scan their smart cards and then the shop owner asks for something else—their fingerprints.
Publish Date:
With costs rising for many businesses, companies are looking for ways to save money and lower costs. Outsourcing may be the best way to do just this. The Philippines has recently become an important destination for international companies wanting to outsource their call centers. For many years, India has been a top choice country for outsourcing but the tides are beginning to change. With high number of fluent English speakers coupled with clear and neutral accents, the Philippines has attracted many companies that are looking to outsource their call centers.
Publish Date:
In 1982, China was just beginning to open up to capitalism when the government decided to use a plot of land in a rural town of Yiwu to use as an open-air market. What started off as a rural, poor city has turned into a vibrant Trade Mart which now covers 988 acres. To put this into perspective, you could fit 10 Mall of America’s in the same space.
Publish Date:
There have been massive efforts recently to improve the quality of China’s polluted air by blending low-polluting imported coal with dirtier-burning domestic coal. Experts argue that while this will positively effect the air quality in the near-term, it might contribute to faster global warming in the long-term.
Publish Date:
Starting July 1, 2012, the biggest polluters in Australia will have to pay a pollution tax. The tax, AD 23 (USD 25) per ton will be charged to companies that produce at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Publish Date:
The rainforest of Borneo in the growing country of Malaysia is said to be the oldest rainforest on the planet, 70 million years older than the Amazon. Hundreds of species of plants and animals inhabit the forest of Borneo with many new species still being discovered each year. Borneo, with its dense forest and uncountable number of unique species, is one of the world’s greatest natural treasures. Malaysia, determined to develop its growing economy, has difficult choices to make about how to ensure the safety of its natural resources.
Publish Date:
28 percent of all US organizations are using cloud computing according to a software supplier based out of Illinois that conducted a poll last month. Many other forecasters, such Gartner, are estimating that the cloud computing market could be a $150 billion market by 2013; A pretty sizable amount indeed for a still-growing sector.
Cloud computing did not have such an optimistic outlook just by being the new technological bubble. The implications cloud computing bring to international business vary and are far reaching. The changes have already started occurring with many organizations switching to cloud file storage, email, and web and video conferencing.
Publish Date:
Some time ago, a female finance manager in the USA said to me "It doesn't matter who you are or how smart and hard-working you are, the business world you will get to know as a woman is different than the actual business world." These are definitely not the most encouraging words, but it is no secret that to this day it is still much more difficult for women to advance in the business world. For females, the competition takes a different shape. No matter the difficulties however, women in the Middle East have found a solution in enterprenureal finanace.
Publish Date:
Most people think of China or Japan as the most prominent auto manufactures in Asia. That has certainly been the case for the past years but now the country of India is becoming a major manufacturing hub for the continent. Nissan’s Indian factory is less than a year old and covers 600 acres making it one of the company’s largest plants worldwide. Nissan is just one of the many major Asian auto companies that have set up manufacturing hubs in India.
Publish Date:
India, the world’s tenth largest economy according to the International Monetary Fund, is seeing troubling signs in the short-term outlook. Recently, India has seen a slowing growth rate in GDP, increase in inflation to 9.1%, and a decrease in local investment. Many economists attribute these worrisome signs to the corruption and scandals plaguing the growing nation. In recent months, the central government has been struggling to get the economy back on track.