globalEDGE Blog - By Author: Valerie McNamara

This week marks the end of the Michigan State University Spring 2023 semester, which also closes another school year in the books for the globalEDGE blog team. globalEDGE Blogs will take a break from its regular schedule throughout the summer months, anticipating returning in September 2023.

In March 2021, China put a large tariff on any imported wine from Australia, it's the largest supplier. This blog covers the economic impact on the wine industry in Australia and China, the background to the current situation, and what lies ahead for the wine industry.

The international tax reform has been discussed for many years. However, we are now entering the year of its suspected implementation. So, what is the international tax reform, what will it mean for businesses, and what is still being debated on it?

The fashion industry is a renowned industry with a deep history. The market took a deep plunge in 2020 but is recovering to levels not even before the 2020 drop. However, the market shift towards sustainability surprises companies as many push to adapt.

ChatGPT: Have you heard of it? If not, you may be in the minority of readers, as this new technology is sweeping headlines and business meetings. And now, it may have disrupted the tech industry entirely, with some companies feeling a little more nervous than others.

Welcome back to the globalEDGE Blog! Our student authors have returned from their Michigan State University winter breaks and are excited to begin the Spring 2023 season of the globalEDGE blog.

We will be posting blogs every Monday through Thursday. Keep checking in to find new stories regarding international topics, including specific market overviews, analysis of growing industries, current events in business, and more!

This week marks the end of the Michigan State University Fall 2022 semester. Our student blog writers will be leaving the university campus for our winter break, and will be returning at the beginning of January. Over break, our team members will be traveling and spending time celebrating the holidays.

We would like to acknowledge a graduating student and our globalEDGE blog editor, Chloe Jaessing. Chloe is graduating this December with a Major in Finance from the Broad College of Business. She has been tirelessly working to keep the globalEDGE blogs up-to-date for all of our readers. To read some of Chloe’s blogs throughout the years, click here.

The globalEDGE blog will return January 16th, 2023. In the meantime, we hope our readers continue to enjoy all the other areas of the globalEDGE website!

Halfway through MSU's academic semester, in this blog, we will highlight key changes and updates our team has made over the last few months.

Twitter is a United States-based company that is the 7th most popular social media worldwide and the 9th most visited website globally in 2021. However, throughout 2022, Twitter and Elon Musk, a well-known multi-billionaire for his Tesla and SpaceX companies, have had an on-and-off acquisition deal for Twitter. This deal’s repercussions could change how businesses can effectively digitally advertise their products on the platform.

An energy crisis brewing in Europe could end many businesses and lead to a global supply chain disaster for an already struggling system. Two large industries affected by this will be the metals sector and the agricultural sector. With these significant sectors at risk, European governments are attempting to face this problem every day to see how they may be able to stop this issue as fast as possible.

Welcome back to the globalEDGE blog! The globalEDGE team is returning to our regular Monday through Thursday blog schedule.

Our student authors have returned to the Michigan State University Campus from their summer breaks and are ready to bring you more stories about the latest international business news. Keep checking in to find new stories regarding international topics, including specific market overviews, current events in business, breaking news, and more!

This week marks the end of the Michigan State University Spring 2022 semester, which means that this also closes another year in the books for the globalEDGE team. globalEDGE Blogs will be taking a break from its regular schedule throughout the summer months. This summer, our team members will be traveling, studying, and completing internships or full-time positions, all in the earnest pursuit of furthering our understanding of international business, which will be put to good use this Fall when globalEDGE Blogs returns.

The workers’ world has changed over the last year. From a transition to either remote work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, they have to go into your essential work to keep the world running during it or find a new place within the world of businesses. No matter what, the world has shifted just a bit - and these workers have noticed.

As the globalEDGE team returns from our short break, we have just one question for you: how much do you think you know about international business? The globalEDGE team has recently updated the International Knowledge Quiz with the latest data. Test your knowledge with a ten-question quiz covering everything from "which country has the highest export rate" to "which country is home to the largest seaport?". You will receive ten different questions each time you take the quiz, coming from our extensive question bank of over 100 hand-selected questions. Once you answer, you will receive more information after that question and a place to read more about the topic! So, if you think you're up to the task of seeing how much international business knowledge you know, take the quiz!

To find the quiz, go to our "Tools and Data" tab at the top of globalEDGE, click on "Test Your Knowledge," and then "International Business Knowledge Quiz." Or, click the link here.

Good luck!

We all learned about the industrial revolutions in our world history class - due to the increase in wealth from violent colonialism, Europe invested in technology and created the cotton mill and steam power in the late 1700s to early 1800s. And now, more and more technological revolutions have led us to this new, debated Fourth Industrial Revolution, a revolution that is radically changing every business sector.

As every country rides out the spiking of the Omicron variant, hopeful to see some type of stabilization from it, many have chosen to close their borders to people and businesses for a few weeks to avoid overwhelming hospitals. We’re seeing tighter restrictions and harder borders than we’re used to outside of the COVID-19 Pandemic world. As more variants continue to rise, it would be a good idea to look into how border closings affect businesses, customers, and how you may prepare your business for another possible closure.

Welcome back to the globalEDGE blog! The globalEDGE team is returning to our regular Monday through Thursday blog schedule.

The globalEDGE team has recently updated the United States State Trade Statistics with the latest data. For every state in the "Global Insights" tab, you can click on "Trade Statistics" in the left-hand column. For each trade statistic, you can find a particular state's exporter rank, importer rank, trade balance rank, total numbers and percentages for exports and imports, and the impact of international trade on the countries economy. You will also find an updated list of each state's top 10 exporters and importers and the top 10 types of goods imported and exported, along with the USD$ amount for each exporter, importer, and good. Overall, this is a great tool for understanding the United States market.

The COVID-19 vaccine has been a point of discussion for nearly two years at this point. However, there is a new version that is the current talk-of-the-town: COVID-19 Booster Shots. Today’s blog will discuss what these booster shots are, how they are being implemented, and what it means for some countries to have them when others don’t even have enough doses of the original vaccine.

As shown in a previous blog, global food prices are on the rise, and food security is an ever-growing concern worldwide. In China, there is a new issue. Last week, China urged local authorities to encourage families to stockpile “daily necessities.” Many citizens have seen this as a warning to them and have now induced panic buying.

Poland and the European Union are on a path for collision as the Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled that Poland’s constitution takes precedence over some EU laws. Specifically stating that the European Union’s efforts to interfere with matters of the Polish justice system violates the Polish constitution. Many are now speculating about a “Polexit” as tensions rise between Poland and the EU. However, the real question remains: Is Poland going to leave the EU?

The COVID-19 virus has been ravaging countries as many have recently failed to reach the World Health Organization’s goals for vaccination percentages, whether for lack of access, lack of easy spread of information, or the spread of misinformation surrounding vaccinations. There have been spikes regarding the Delta variant in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Australia, and some parts of Europe and Africa. However, throughout all of this chaos, there is new hope surrounding a new antiviral pill that could be a strong contender for treating COVID-19 without the use of injections.

Inspiriation4 has officially concluded after a three-day-long trip this past Saturday, September 18, 2021, at 7:06 p.m. (EDT). Inspiration4 was a commercial, tourist space flight enacted by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a United States-based company. This exploration has caught the eyes of many other countries and companies, as recent spaceflight has become an international news staple in the past few months. We’ll cover the recent space news, how companies are reacting, and what the next big plans are.

The housing market is an unforeseen casualty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the hot housing markets are a global phenomenon. In the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and South Korea, the housing markets are seeing a surge in price growth, in some areas reaching price overvaluation of more than 20%. More specifically, global house prices are now 22.4% higher than their level immediately after the financial crisis and up 29.2% in advanced economies. The Bank of Korea even warned that real estate is “significantly overpriced” in June 2021, along with discussing the growing household debt repayment burden. In the rest of this blog, we will go over the reasons for the increased pricing, how countries and global institutions respond to them, and the actions different countries have taken to lower the costs.

This past week, Apple unveiled their new line of products, including new iPads and iMacs. There has already been a lot of controversy in the business world about Apple's new unveilings, including a new product, AirTag, looking incredibly similar to the product Tile, and the new podcasting app on iPhones directly competing with Spotify. However, the latest software update to their products has more profound consequences for other well-known businesses, particularly Facebook.

The usage of ethically made materials has been one of the biggest issues in the fashion industry. In particular, fast fashion brands such as H&M, Zara, Shein, and Romwe have been targets to move towards sustainable fashion and more ethical consumption. The newest issue on this front is dealing with the accusations that recently surfaced regarding the H&M Group profiting off of forced labor of the Uyghur people in the Chinese territory of Xinjiang.

The issue of data collection is once again being posed, however this time it involves a very well-known gambling app company in Britain, Sky Bet. After fighting his gambling addiction, a man in Britain decided to pull a request for the private data that Sky Bet collected about him, revealing multiple personal information files including his banking records, mortgage details, location coordinates, and a full portrait of his different gambling habits. After he quit gambling, Sky Bet used the personal data they had of him to label him as a “win back” customer, creating targeted ads that have led to yet another controversy surrounding data collection and usage.

The issue of data collection, monopolies, and the power that private companies have versus what the government has access to has been a constant power struggle over the past 20 years as technology has become more and more accessible. One company, in particular, has been raising fears throughout many different countries: Google. Google currently has a 90% share of the market, raising concerns about it being a monopoly. In the United States, the Department of Justice and 11 states put forward an antitrust lawsuit against Google on October 20, 2020, claiming that Google is illegally protecting its monopoly. On the other hand, Brazil has been dealing with the ramifications of its antitrust lawsuit with Google since 2018. This is an update to antitrust cases that have been going up against Google throughout these past two years. The lawsuits in Australia and Spain were covered in an earlier blog. 

Notable strikes throughout the world are making significant changes and bringing awareness to market and business faults throughout different countries. This blog discusses the Indian Farmer strikes, the Alabama Amazon strikes, and the South Korea Courier strikes.

As the new year begins, many people’s resolutions may be to either re-evaluate what stock they are investing in or invest for the very first time. Now is the best time to start looking at predictions for how the stock market will look throughout 2021, and some hopeful versus risky stocks to invest in.

The coronavirus pandemic is seeing a large and hopeful light moving forward: the vaccine. Each country is putting together different plans to face the COVID-19 pandemic head on. Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States are among the first countries to start distributing the vaccines with varying methods. Canada and the UK are both identifying priority groups and using their national healthcare to evenly distribute the vaccine to healthcare workers and to the elderly. The United States has taken a different approach, allowing every state to define its own priority groups and how they will distribute the vaccines. The COVID-19 vaccine has been highly anticipated but has created new, unforeseen problems due to distribution and transportation. A few unexpected companies have risen up to match the challenges of distribution, storage, and space requirements.

As speculated for weeks, Salesforce recently finished the acquisition of the popular messaging app, Slack. The total cost of this purchase is $27.7 billion. This acquisition unites a giant in business software with a newcomer with the mission to replace office emailing. As of Wednesday, November 25, 2020, Slack Technologies had a value of $17 billion and a decreasing stock of -1.81%.

5G is the next generation of wireless networks expected to change our culture fundamentally. Due to its almost zero request time, 5G will be able to download a two-hour movie onto your phone in less than 10 seconds.

Have you ever gotten into an Uber or a Lyft and expected either a good or bad experience? This is because it is a gig economy company. This past week, Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have almost guaranteed approval on Proposition 22, which will change the way that these companies expand and treat their workers.

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.

Many markets are fluctuating through today’s current wants and needs in the world. One market that has grown is the tea market. But, even through it’s growth, this market is facing many problems.

While the coronavirus pandemic rages on, new battles are rearing their faces. As people search for more and more news about current events, they flock to online media sources. Traditional journalism is not happy. The most recent battleground for these face-offs has been Australia.

The most important thing to do in times of isolation is to still have some kind of connection. People are searching out their friends and family through video chat to check in and push towards having connections. Whether it’s FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, or another one of the hundreds of different video calling platforms, everyone seems to have a personal favorite. Video chatting is now becoming an essential part of society. And because of this, the video conferencing market is seeing an increase in consumption.

As reported by the global news, we are being faced with many different challenges. A global pandemic and fear of the unknown is prevalent. To prevent further spread of this disease, many countries have called for total quarantines. More than 25 countries have gone into some kind of quarantine, ranging from full quarantine to simply social distancing. During these stressful and uncertain times, something unexpected happened; shelters are running out of animals as people seek out animals to keep them company in quarantine. Specifically, people are looking into fostering pets for the time of quarantine.

Among the panic of the COVID-19 a very peculiar phenomenon is happening around the world: Panic Buying. Spain has called for calm, Europe is urging its people to buy rationally, and the United States is working through getting more supplies on its shelves. Panic buying is creating shortages of items around the world and is affecting the supply chains of many different products. But what exactly is panic buying and how is it affecting the markets and companies working within a specific industry?

Tomorrow is one of the biggest consumer holidays after Christmas: Valentine’s Day. It is celebrated in eight countries: the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, and Italy. And it’s not just for those in relationships anymore; many people are purchasing gifts for their friends, family, and pets. So, with all these purchases, the economy goes into a small boom.

An underground controversy right now is the tariff laws surrounding cherries. The cherry market is seeing a trend that many other states and countries are dealing with, specifically in dried cherries that are used for canning and juice. The decision made on this product could affect how the United States deals with foreign imports on a global scale.

The United States and China have been in a trade war since July of 2018 when U.S. President, Donald Trump, imposed large taxes on imported Chinese products. President Trump declared a 15% tax on many American goods, and Beijing has fought back with 5-25% taxes on American goods. These taxes have created tension between the two country's markets, making it harder for businesses to sell in either country. But due to new agreements, this trade war may be coming to an end.

Commercial Space Travel has been a dream for years. Most science fiction media would tell you that it’s all aliens and fantasy—but it has become the dream of many humans to walk on the moon. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), while usually in the spotlight when talking about space travel, is not the top organization researching private flight.

The state of our environment has become a hot button topic as many companies are turning to environmental sustainability. Each year there are approximately 14 billion pounds of trash dumped into the ocean. While many small non-profit organizations are setting out to try and fix this problem, it does not seem to be getting substantially better. China has 6 rivers in the “Plastic Ocean Input top 20”, 3 of which are in the top 4. This means these rivers are the top polluted rivers due to the ocean’s pollution. Other countries in the top 20 affected are Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Taiwan. Now large companies are trying to fix this problem by creating new products that integrate this ocean plastic waste into their new products. And it may actually be working.

On October 14, 2019, the United Kingdom’s Parliament was reinstated after a 5-week suspension. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is persistent in wanting the UK to secede from the European Union. During the Parliament disbandment, the Prime Minister was able to secure a deal, The Withdrawl Agreement Bill, with the European Union. Prime Minister Johnson wanted to put it through Parliament quickly and finally go through with Brexit. Parliament voted and approved the Bill, securing Brexit to go through in a week. But, Prime Minister Johnson told the House of Commons to vote on the Bill in a matter of hours. The House of Commons refused. Due to this refusal, the Bill now looks as though it won’t pass, so Prime Minister Johnson is calling for a general vote to re-elect Parliament. Prime Minister Johnson’s plan is to win a majority in Parliament and pass Brexit without a deal. With this Brexit scare seeming even more realistic every day, many companies around the world are making plans on what they will do when the UK finally secedes from the EU.

The iPhone 11 was recently released at another staggering retail price of between $699 and $1099. The iPhone 11 is claimed to be the most advanced phone that Apple has made, using their signature face-reading technology and increased camera power to draw in their customers. While there is still a strong demand for the newest phone by Apple, there is a new phone company that is making waves in the cell phone market.

This year Halloween doesn’t just have everyone scared from horror movies and ghosts, but also the newest Brexit deadline. The United Kingdom is projected to leave the European Union in just over a month, and they still have no planned deal for a quiet exit. With Boris Johnson suspending Parliament, the question stands of how a “No Deal Brexit” will hurt other countries and Globalization.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have been skyrocketing over the last ten years. With the emergence of Google’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and other informational AI's, companies continue to try and advance their offerings to be compatible with these tech assistants. The newest breakthrough in AI technology occurred just this week.