BA 447 Topics in International Business Day 2

Plan Ch 2 & 3 –Flatteners and triple convergence Term project – ISSUES Form groups

Flat World Playing field has been flattened – traditional advantages accruing to one country or another are being challenged Other countries can compete for global knowledge work as never before intellectual work, intellectual capital, can be delivered, distributed, produced, and put back together again... with relative freedom in the way we do work

Flatteners: platforms for collaboration 11/9: the fall of the Berlin Wall – political systems that were once closed opened up –Key was Berlin wall and eventual collapse of Comecon (Eastern Europe under Russia) –Centrally planned countries like China and India followed 8/9: Netscape goes public – –Browsers as gateway to Internet (Microsoft missed this initially) –Dot com bubble allowed massive investments in the internet hgithway – fiber optic cables, switches, etc.

Flatteners: platforms for collaboration Work flow software: allows software installed in different computers and in different places to work with each other –Data description languages –Wild Brain –Pay-pal

Flatteners: new forms of collaboration Open sourcing Outsourcing Offshoring Supply-chaining In-sourcing In-forming Steroids

Flatteners: new forms of collaboration Open sourcing Outsourcing Offshoring Supply-chaining In-sourcing In-forming Steroids

Three Converging Developments Creation of a global, Web-enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration Creation of new technologies are combined with new ways of doing business, as companies adapt 3 billion people join the party

New “Arrivals” Population data – We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. –Not everyone has access yet –Microsoft: in China, 1 in a million can mean a total of 1,300,000 –Bangalore: “we are hungry for success” Its dominated by, but not all India –Map of IT businesses

Exercise Given the forces shaping this “flat world:” –Provide at least one example of each of these forces from your readings or direct experience. State a concern you might have with this notion of a “flat world”: consequence on your immediate future? your community’s future? –Strategies to respond to these challenges?

Term Project Find a multinational company to study –Availability of information – understand its supply chain, major products, markets –Interesting to you and your group –Avoid the following: GE, Nokia, Sony Identify an issue: see if you can frame it into a question or succinct title –Relevant to multinational company? How? –“Conventional wisdom” or popular interpretation of the issue –Understand its history, roots, which part of the globe is it relevant, etc.

Issues that other students have studied E-waste Terrorism WTO: Airbus vs Boeing Nestle and unethical advertising in developing countries

Other issues not studied Energy and Crude oil outlook Who are activists and what do they want? For example, Greenpeace? Anti-global trade coalition Terrorism other than al-quaeda Role of multinationals (American and other nationalities) in opening up China. Changing geopolitical roles of the US and developing countries like China Increasing role of the economy and global business in political decisions

Form groups Common interests Common meeting time Exchange contact info