globalEDGE Blog Archive October 2020

The economic landscape has changed drastically over the last year. While there have been severe hits to industries such as travel and retail, others have seen increased growth. One of these thriving markets is e-commerce, with leading digital retailers like Amazon, which has seen tremendous growth since the middle of March. Specific medical industries are also thriving, with healthcare IT and medical textiles becoming exponentially more important to deal with issues brought on by COVID-19. While it is understandable that digital and healthcare industries are growing, there is a niche industry that has seen a surprising uptick in interest during 2020. The demand for the purchase and rental of private islands has skyrocketed at a time when most travel opportunities have been restricted.

Interested in learning more about international business?  Test your knowledge with the globalEDGE International Business Knowledge Quiz.  This quiz is the most recently updated portion of the site, with all questions on the quiz updated for the most recent data available.  To access the quiz, simply go to 'Tools and Data' and select 'Test Your Knowledge,' then click on the International Business Knowledge Quiz.  The quiz is also linked here.

At the most recent U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, chairman Jerome Powell announced that the Fed would be experimenting with the implementation of a “digital dollar.”  This news comes as an astounding 80% of central banks across the globe have already begun on the research, experimentation, and implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). 

Holiday season has always been a period of high spend. Retails are rushing last minute to increase their sales while consumers are all in the happy spirit of buying gifts for their loved ones. With desires from both the seller and the buyer, this is the perfect environment for buying. Brands around the world are preparing their products but this year will surely look different given the circumstances with COVID-19.

BTS, Justin Bieber, and The Rolling Stones; what do all these artists have in common? All have been forced to cancel or postpone their scheduled concerts or tours. These are just a few examples of the numerous concerts, festivals, and other large gatherings that have been forced to reschedule due to the pandemic and it’s sending shockwaves throughout the global music industry and more specifically, the music events industry.

The team here at globalEDGE has completed this year’s update of the website’s Course Syllabi page. This page features undergraduate, graduate and masters, and doctoral level syllabi for universities and other educational institutions around the globe. The purpose of this bank of syllabi is to assist educators in international business with the development and enhancement of their courses. Now that the update has been completed, educators throughout the world have access to some of the most recent course syllabi content that can be used to their advantage when creating courses of their own.  

Real estate is a massive market that contains multiple subsections such as residential real estate and commercial real estate.  With the current pandemic, many sectors of our economy have been left reeling.  Airlines have lost thousands of dollars, restaurants have found themselves under capacity by law, hotels are empty, and many more industries have been shaken by COVID-19.  But what about the real estate industry?  Today, we’ll take a look at the current state of the real estate industry around the world, as well as a few key trends to watch out for.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published its World Energy Outlook for the year 2020.  With the especially unique environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s outlook focuses on models that predict the pandemic’s potential implications over the next ten years.  This, along with the prospects for accelerated energy transitions, make up the two major themes of the report.

Around the globe, people enjoy the escapism, art, and joy brought about by the media and entertainment industry. In the United States alone, entertainment is worth $717 billion, a third of the entire world market. This monumental number continues to grow, with predictions that the industry will grow by over $100 billion more dollars by 2023. Which areas within this vast industry pull in the largest amounts of dollars?

In late September, Climate Week took place in New York City where a large “Climate Clock” was on display in Union Square. This clock revealed that we have less than 7 years to reverse the environmental damage humans have created. The clock was seen all over social media and was a brutal wake-up call for many. As a result of events such as this, many companies are taking large steps to become more sustainable.

The United States of America is a front runner for global markets. Fears are starting to impede countries on the changes the market might see with this year's presidential election in the U.S. There are many speculations that the election results will have a dramatic effect on our international markets. The novel Coronavirus has done a lot to the economies of countries all across the world. Like Germany and France, many of Europe are facing setbacks that will likely not recover until 2022.

On October 7th, two of the U.S.’ largest tech companies squared off in the Supreme Court via teleconference. Since 2005, Oracle and Google have been battling over whether common interfaces between software programs can be protected by copyright. The specific interface in question, known as an application programming interface, or API, lets certain software programs “speak” to Java programs. When Google developed the Android Smartphone over a decade ago, it used Java’s API, and because Oracle now owns Java, Oracle believes it’s owed money—$9billion to be exact. This has led to what some consider the copyright case of the century.

The Wine industry is taking an international hit, with it now being called, “the worst time since prohibition for fine wine producers”. With three main trends all converging, the wine industry is taking a serious hit. First, let's understand the industry as a whole.

Throughout the past six months, the coronavirus has impacted almost every industry around the globe. Whether those industries are small or large, very few have excelled financially when discussing this year’s success. Nevertheless, through recent announcements and quarterly financial reports, it appears that we may begin to see some economic upturn for the global automakers.

In current times, convenience has become a huge factor when consumers are scouring the market for goods and services.  People want groceries to be delivered to their doorstep, entertainment at the click of a button, and two-day shipping as often as possible.  Subscriptions are one area of convenience shopping that has gained popularity in the last decade.  Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and HBO dominate the television market.  More and more often, we are seeing families cancel cable in favor of one or multiple of these television providers, many of which are offered at a lower monthly rate.  These services also present a wide variety of shows and movies, making them more enticing to customers than traditional television.

Whether listening to their favorite music, tuning into informational podcasts, catching up on captivating audiobooks, or boosting the overall volume levels of a device, millions of consumers depend on speakers as a means to output audio.  Subsequently, speakers represent a critical tool for motivation, relaxation, and functionality in society.  This criticality is reflected in the global speaker market, which continues to grow with consumption trends, quality improvements, and innovation.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, few industries have been hit as hard as transportation. With the reduction in travel due to shutdowns, the airline industry has served far fewer customers. Last year, the TSA noted over two million travelers almost every single day. During March of this year, the number of travelers had been reduced to under 100,000 on some days. That is less than 5% of the same day one year prior. While there has been a slow increase over the last few months, there has not been a day with more than a million travelers since March 16th. In June, the International Air Transport Association even predicted the air transport industry to lose 84.3 billion dollars during this year alone. They state that the amount being saved in reduced costs is nowhere near the massive losses in revenue.