The Global Economy and Business

Partnering with another business can be complex. It takes time and effort to build the right relationship. Problems are likely to arise if:

 

the objectives of the venture are not 100 per cent clear and communicated to everyone involved;

there is an imbalance in levels of expertise, investment or assets brought into the venture by the different partners;

different cultures and management styles result in poor integration and co-operation;

the partners don’t provide sufficient leadership and support in the early stages.

 

Success in a joint venture depends on thorough research and analysis of aims and objectives. This should be followed up with effective communication of the business plan to everyone involved.

 

A joint venture is a legal organization that takes the form of a short term partnership in which the persons jointly undertake a transaction for mutual profit. Generally each person contributes assets and share risks. Like a partnership, joint ventures can involve any type of business transaction and the “persons” involved can be individuals, groups of individuals, companies, or corporations.
Joint ventures are also widely used by companies to gain entrance into foreign markets. Foreign companies form joint ventures with domestic companies already present in markets the foreign companies would like to enter. The foreign companies generally bring new technologies and business practices into the joint venture, while the domestic companies already have the relationships and requisite governmental documents within the country along with being entrenched in the domestic industry.
The reasons behind the formation of a joint venture often include business expansion, development of new products or moving into new markets, particularly overseas.
Your business may have strong potential for growth, and you may have innovative ideas and products, but could still benefit from:

more resources;
greater capacity;
increased technical expertise;
established distribution channels.

Entering into a joint venture is a major decision. This guide introduces the advantages and disadvantages.
Businesses can often achieve unexpected gains through joint ventures with a partner. Businesses of any size can use joint ventures to strengthen long-term relationships or to collaborate on short-term projects.
A successful joint venture can offer:

access to new markets and distribution networks;
increased capacity;
sharing of risks with a partner;
access to specialized staff and technology.

A joint venture can also be very flexible. For example, a joint venture can have a limited life span and only cover part of what you do, thus limiting both your commitment and the business’ exposure.
Joint ventures are a popular form of co-operation between businesses in different countries in areas such as transport, tourism and hotels.

I will sit for my end-of-year examination this Monday. And I hope that I will pass it. Three more exams are left…

This year was very difficult, but at the same time very interesting for me. My favourite subject is Business English, it consists of different courses and this year we studied a new course called «Time Management». When I read its name for the first time in our timetable, I thought that it would be a usual lesson for improvement of our theoretical knowledge in the sphere of management, a lesson with a number of books and a lot of homework. It turned out, that I was wrong, but not in all…

We were offered a new method of teaching: we were teachers and pupils at the same time. And we didn’t lose this opportunity. We were given a chance to use all our knowledge and skills in practice – therein lays the most important thing. We understood what it is to be a teacher. We collected useful and interesting information, prepared our own lessons, tried to attract students’ attention, to make them speak and found out that it’s not easy. And as for volume of homework, I was right!

This course had its goals and there were some problems in their understanding, but now they are clear for every body. As I see them, the most important are:

to develop our skills as future leaders;

to teach us to speak in public;

to improve our language and spoken language;

to provide us with interesting and useful information;

to increase our vocabulary;

to make the atmosphere in the group more favorable;

to teach us listen an understand different views and thoughts of others.

It was new for us both in the information and knowledge we received, and in the way the lessons were conducted. Of course, sometimes the information wasn’t very interesting, it was too informative, or vise versa – it was simply uninformative. But we did our best! The lessons made us understand different views, thoughts of the group, combine them and to choose this or that way of solving the problem. Good talks in our group were due to the round table – the way our desks were situated – it made the atmosphere in the group more open and sincere. Sometimes the opinions of different members of the group didn’t coincide, but that made the lesson more interesting. They tried to convince the group in their «correct» standpoint.

The best lessons of course were conducted by those students, who were well informed of the subject they had to prepare and by those, who tried to combine theory with practice. The theory alone is only facts and it is very dull and it makes the lesson not interactive. Interaction was very important in the lessons of «Time management» and only interesting subject and different tasks could give it.

I hope that I will the opportunity to tell you about my own lesson, which I prepared for my group at university, but now unfortunately I’m pressed for time with my exams…:(

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n the world shrinking with e-mail, fax, and teleconferencing, your single most critical factor for success in managing yourself and others is how well you develop and use your own personal ability to communicate. Men and women who most successfully profit from their ability to send and receive all kinds of information orally and in writing face-to-face, across a desk, before a group, around the world…

East or West — home is best

 

The latest research of many scientific centers proved that the tendency towards the transfer to large cities and metropolises of the key efforts aimed at improving living standards and environment, increasing the competitive potential of economy and struggle for outlets will prevail in the 21^st century. The globalization process will facilitate the creation of global cities, the centers managing the world economy, financial markets and science intensive productions. Some megalopolis of the world became    city-states. Foe example, the following cities:

1. New York

2. Chicago

3. Washington

in United States of America

4. London

in United Kingdom

5. Berlin

in Germany

6. Rome

7. Milan

in Italy

8. Moscow

in Russia

(Would you like to continue this list???)

These tendencies, which were described above, prompted the necessity to elaborate the concept and strategic plan of a sustainable development of the city of Minsk (the capital of Belarus) by the year 2020.

The Minsk development concept fits in the formula «Five cities in one». The first component of the concept is «The city of health and high social standards». It means the top priority of the technological and socio-economic progress in Belarus’ capital city is not the development of production or technological values, but the Human Being and his/her physical and spiritual health in a safe and favorable environment. The following conditions are to be met to ensure this component:

- clean water,

- clean air, warmth in houses,

- good nutrition, etc.

The second part of the concept – «The city of knowledge and science intensive technologies» – includes the development of the educational, science-innovation complex, creation of a state-of-the-art information structure, restructuring of the industrial complex, technological upgrade of construction and power engineering and encouragement of foreign economic activity.

The third basis of the sustainable development of the city of Minsk is «The city is the center of international communication». It envisages further development of external transport functions, the culture component, tourism, and city media. Besides the economic benefit the communication progress results in a huge advantage for international and human communication in the modern integrated world.

The fourth strategy of Minsk’s sustainable development - «The city favorable for business and attractive for investments» – envisages the creation of such conditions as a favorable tax climate, land relations that correspond to market relations and establishment of the real estate market.

The fifth component of the Minsk development concept is «The city developing democracy with a wide representation of citizens». It aims at elaborating the rules of living in the city, methods of city administration and the interaction between the city authorities, population, companies and organizations, as well as ways to effectively perform the functions of the capital of the country.

«Sustainable development of the city» is not a new tag for old ideas, but a completely new approach directed towards the next generation. Sustainable development is necessary not only for regional, but also for global development, because the ultimate goal is to coordinate the interests of generations, develop social cooperation, improve living standards and become more responsible on a global scale.

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There is no place like home

Achievements of mankind make our life more comfortable, but at the same time create a set of problems. The most difficult and global problems today are coupled with ecology. Huge money resources are necessary for solving these problems. Therefore our ability to benefit from the problem of waste recycling will allow us not only to solve one of environmental problems, but also to receive profit.

Only the tenth part of all waste products in our country is used for recycling. Annually Belarus throws out 1 billion dollars in a recycle bin.

Paper, glass, tree, polymers, metal - valuable secondary resources are simply thrown out and pollute the nature.

 

Separate gathering, sorting and industrial processing of waste products practically do not exist today in our republic. Two disposal plants in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) are closed, because they used out-of-date technologies. A single method of waste products utilizing that is used nowadays is waste burial.

The problem of dumps exists in many countries, but not all of them are capable to neutralize the damage effect of such «objects» on the environment and on population health. Belarus is no exception. City dumps are over flown, it is necessary to use new sites near Minsk, but accommodation of one more dump here is extremely undesirable.

In the developed countries simple waste burial is forbidden by law. In some countries, for example, Austria, Germany and Spain, burning of waste products is also forbidden. A primary method is recycling. For example, Japanese make uniform from crushed plastic bottles.

    

 

You see samples of such clothes:

     

In our republic such technology is not used.

To solve the «garbage problem» many countries undertake the following steps:

1. Change of the legislation in the field of ecology.

2. Separate gathering of waste products and their reuse. For application of this method it is necessary to carry out explanatory work in order to raise ecological culture in the society.

3. Attraction of external and internal investments into ecological projects.

4. Use of the latest technologies.

Belarus tries to use world experience to solve this problem.

Firstly, government and local authorities are elaborating special laws, according to which the responsibility for recycling of waste products is assigned to the manufacturers.

Secondly, about 150 containers of special design for separate gathering solid waste have appeared in Minsk this year:

 

Today glass, tin banks, paper citizens throw out in separate sections. But, unfortunately, the gathered waste in these containers is dumped in one common plastic package. And this experience represents only educational aspect.

Thirdly, the second tender on construction of a disposal plants was invited in Minsk. The first tender failed, because of out-of-date technologies of construction offered by different European companies.

Also it is important to mention the latest know-how of the Belarusian scientists. They have developed the technology of high-quality oil manufacturing from hard human refuse. But, unfortunately, this technology has not passed to the stage of manufacturing yet.

All these variants of problem solving are perspective enough, but nowadays their realization is coupled with various difficulties, therefore a primary method today is using presses for manufacturing of compact briquettes from garbage.

This manufacturing includes such processes as gathering of waste in separate sections and pressing. Then ready briquettes are transported to dumps. So, they occupy much less place and are safer for the environment.

The bottom line is that Belarus is still far from the developed countries in solving the «garbage problem». But we make steps to cope with it, using experience of other countries.

 

 

 

Religion and values

North Americans can be used as an example. They think that if you work hard and achieve success, you will find favour in the eyes of God. They tend to assume that material comfort is a sign of superiority, that the rich are a little bit better than the poor, that people who work hard are better than those who don’t. They believe that money solves many problems. They assume that people from other cultures share their view. In fact, many societies condemn materialism and appreciate a carefree life-style.

The idea of role and status

Culture dictates the roles people play, including who communicates with whom, what they communicate and in what way. In many countries women still do not play a very prominent role in business. As a result, female executives from Belarusian firms may find themselves sent off to eat in a separate room with the wives of Arab businessmen, while the men all eat dinner together.

Decision-making customs

As for decision-making customs, Greece can be a good example. There making deals slowly, after a lengthy period of discussion, spending time on every little point is consid­ered a mark of good faith. A Greek executive assumes that anyone who ignores the details is being evasive and unreliable.  As for Belarus decision-making process here is very bureaucratic and entails dozens of documents to be signed. That’s why decisions are not always taken in time.

 

Perceptions of time

Differing perceptions of time is another factor that can lead to misunder­standings. An executive from Latin America attaches one mean­ing to time, while an executive from United States   attaches another. 

Let’s say that a salesperson from US calls on a client in Mexico City. After spending 30 minutes in the outer office, the person from Belarus feels angry and insulted, assuming, “This client must attach a very low priority to my visit to keep me waiting half an hour.” In fact, the Mexican client does not mean to imply anything at all by this delay. To the Mexican, a wait of 30 minutes is a matter of course.

There’s another interesting fact. The Japanese, knowing that North Americans are impatient, use time to their advantage when negotiating with them. This is expressed in such a way: “You Americans have one terrible weakness. If we make you wait long enough, you will agree to anything.”  :)

Language

Turning to language it should be said that if you deal closely with foreign companies you’d better pay particular attention to accurate translation, so that you were understood correctly. Sometimes the translations aren’t very good. For example, the well-known slogan “Come alive with Pepsi” was translated literally for Asian markets as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. The results were unfortunate.

 

Social behaviour and manners

The last difference is social behaviour and manners. Let’s say that a Belorussian businessman going on a foreign business trip to Germany. He has a meeting with a Marketing manager, a woman. In order to establish a business relationship with her, he is giving a woman a red rose. Though he’d better not, as far as it is consid­ered a romantic invitation in Germany.

It goes without saying that we may never completely overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, but we can communicate effectively with peo­ple from other cultures if we work at it. Some tips for successful communication can be suggested here.

The best way to prepare yourself to do business with people from another culture is to study their culture in advance. Reading books and articles about the culture and talking to people who have dealt with its members, preferably people who have done business with them can be very helpful. You should concentrate on learning something about their history, religion, politics, and customs, without ignoring the practical details either. In that regard, you should know something about another country’s weather condi­tions, health-care facilities, money, transportation, communications, and cus­toms regulations. You should also find out about a country’s subcultures, especially its business subcul­ture. Does the business world have its own rules and protocol? Who makes decisions? How are negotiations usually conducted? Is gift giving expected? What is the appropriate attire for attending a business meeting?

Some companies are really worried about the problem of cultural differences. That’s why they are trying to deal with this problem but not avoid it. In some large ones Human Resources Department is already organizing intercultural training. It can also be a good practice to adopt an international code of intercultural business communication. This will result in better communication, closer contacts and more ethical decision-making worldwide.

 

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First and foremost, what are cultural differences? I wrote about it in one of my posts, but I hope that the following joke can help you understand this notion better:

Last month, a world survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world.” The survey was a huge failure…

In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.

In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.

In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.

In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.

In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.

In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.

And In the US they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.

    

Our world faces new challenges in the 21^st century. It is becoming increasingly connected and global and the role of international business is increasing. That is why cultural differences will affect us all more and more.

Up to 30% of companies have already admitted that the success of their international activities was deteriorated by cultural differences.

Nevertheless misunderstandings do occur. The following example can be given. This happened to the sales representative who was calling on a client in China. Hoping to make a good impression, the salesperson brought a gift to break the ice, an expensive grandfather clock. Unfortunately, the Chinese client was deeply offended because, in China, giving clocks as gifts is considered bad luck for the recipient.

Such problems arise because we ignore the fact that people from other cultures differ from us in many ways. They are religion and values, ideas of role and status, decision-making customs, attitude toward time, language and manners…

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to be continued …

It’s no doubt that money is a very important issue in everyone’s life today. I even would like to add that money was and will be a very important issue.

But why do I believe in the vital importance of money in the live of our society? So, first of all it’s a real fact that money or if to be more executive the quantity of money determines the statement of any national economy. Nobody will deny that economy in its order determines almost all spheres of our life. And most scientists suppose that just economy create ideology, culture, religion and people’s viewpoint. For example capitalism originated such a religion as Protestantism, which preaches accumulation of capital as one of people’s aims.

But we can say about vital importance of money speaking only about the whole mankind, and not about every person. Because our opinions, interests and values are so different: some people consider money as the main value, others – as the main evil. However nobody wants to live on a shoestring, everybody wants to lose a quid and find a fiver. Also I must admit that some people can’t make both ends meet and are down and out because of money.    

Today is the first summer day. My congratulations!!!

All who have economic education study economics. But what do you know about the history of economics?

So, in the 1500s there were few universities. Those that existed taught religion, Latin, Greek, philosophy, history, and mathematics. No econom­ics. Then came the Enlightenment (about 1700) in which reasoning re­placed God as the explanation of why things were the way they were. Pre­Enlightenment thinkers would answer the question, “Why am I poor?” with, “Because God wills it.” Enlightenment scholars looked for a differ­ent explanation. “Because of the nature of land ownership” is one answer they found.

Such reasoned explanations required more knowledge of the way things were, and the amount of information expanded so rapidly that it had to be divided or categorized for an individual to have hope of knowing a subject. Soon philosophy was subdivided into science and philos­ophy. In the 1700s, the sciences were split into natural sciences and so­cial sciences. The amount of knowledge kept increasing, and in the late 1800s and early 1900s social science itself split into subdivisions: economics, political science, history, geography, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Many of the insights how the economic system worked were codified in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, written in 1776. Notice that this is before economics as a sub discipline developed, and Adam Smith could also be classified as an anthropologist, a sociologist, a political scientist, and a social philosopher.

Throughout the l8th and 19t centuries economists such as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx were more than economists; they were social philosophers who covered all aspects of social science. These writers were subsequently called Clas­sical economists. Alfred Marshall continued in that classical tradition, and his book, Principles of Economics, published in the late 1800s, was written with the other social sciences in evidence. But Marshall also changed the question economists ask; he focused on the questions that could be asked in a graphical supply-demand framework. In doing so he began what is called neo-classical economics…

One way of describing the function of the office is the administrative back-up for the organisation. Everyone involved in a business operation has to refer to the office from time to time. Even in the first minutes of the day the office comes alive. The salesperson telephones from a customer’s shop to find out some details about prices, or discounts, or delivery dates. A customer telephones to find what has happened to the order he sent in last week. The short-listed applicants for the new Quality Control Manager’s job turn up for their interviews with the Personnel Manager. The company secretary arrives earlier than usual to ask whether the agenda for the Board of Directors’ meeting later in the day has been typed yet. And the office junior brings in the morning mail which he has opened and sorted, and which now needs to be distributed to the various managers. There is a great variety of tasks undertaken in the office and the staff engaged in these operations need to know a great deal about the business. For example, when customers visit the office or telephone, they naturally expect the staff who deal with them to be knowledgeable. They expect their enquiries to be dealt with courteously, promptly and competently. Receptionists may occupy a comparatively lowly position in the organisational hierarchy, but they create the vital first impression which often determines whether we get the order or not.

The importance of the office is obvious. It is the hub of the communications network for the whole organisation. Technology affects the whole of business, not least the office, and the concept of a completely paperless office is beginning to emerge. Already on many executives’ desks there are keyboards or other devices to communicate with the computers which control all the electronic de-vices in the office. Electronic files are replacing conventional filing cabinets, and copying machines are appearing together with a variety of printers able to print anything from letter-quality characters to four-colour diagrams. Telephone systems are now incorporating a host of facilities from an answering service to video-conferencing.

Video-conferencing involves executives separated by hundreds and per-haps thousands of miles, discussing problems face-to-face on television screens. This in turn conjures up the notion of clerical workers performing many of their daily tasks away from the office, so that offices of the future are not only going to be paperless. They are also going to occupy less space, require fewer staff and al-low much shorter working weeks.

These changes will affect a large number of people. The introduction of robotic production lines in factories and new technology in offices will change the way men and women work, and the roles they expect to fulfil. There have al-ready been great changes in the traditional patterns of employment due to new technology, and this seems likely to continue, with implications for both sexes.

Whatever happens as a result of the new technologies, the role of the office will be changed rather than diminished. Most office workers of the future will find themselves seated at multi-function work-stations able to exercise control over routine purchases, sales, market research, production runs and accounting procedures. In other words, we can expect a centralisation of decision-making powers, with the office becoming even more emphatically the very hub of the business.