Tag Archive for 'Globalisation'

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The Resurgence of South Korea’s Financial Industry

Published on September 16, 2008 in International Business and International Finance. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Bloomberg has written up a report on South Korea’s ambition to build up world class financial institutions and capabilities.

In 1999, Kim Jung Yul sat at a table negotiating the sale of Korea First Bank to San Francisco-based Newbridge Capital LLC as it sought cash to stay afloat during the Asian financial crisis. Nine years later, he’s scouting for a Korean buyer for a U.S. bank.

“This is the chance of a lifetime for Korean companies to enter the U.S. market,” said Kim, who was an official at state- run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. when it sold a controlling stake in Korea First Bank to Newbridge. “We were naive back then,” Kim said. “We paid a high price to learn from the crisis, and it’s time to put what we’ve learned to use.’”

Will GE Weather the Storm?

Published on July 18, 2008 in Global Strategy and International Business. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

General Electric LogoThe pressure to lift the share price is building. But CEO Jeff Immelt’s options are limited. After a historic first-quarter fumble (earnings miss of 7Cents below expectations) GE met targets for Q2 FY2009. But the market didn’t reward GE. The battered stock price rose just 2Cents on the day’s news, to US$27,66. Since the beginning of the year it’s down 25%, compared with a 15% drop in the S&P 500-stock index.

Now, GE’s CEO Immelt is fighting to revive faith in the sprawling US$173 billion conglomerate, even as forces are working against him. The credit crisis and GE’s April 11 earnings miss have put him under tougher scrutiny than at any time in his seven-year tenure as CEO. Investors are questioning the size and complexity of the company, and want him to move faster to shed assets.

Immelt is acutely aware of the pressure, even as he continues to build GE for the long term. He has overhauled the business portfolio, buying US$88 billion of assets in high-tech growth areas like alternative energy and bioscience while dumping more than US$55 billion of less attractive plays such as GE Plastics. With respect to the need for a better diversified income ratio. Immelt says “asset disposals and the boom in infrastructure should bring the ratio back to about 60% industrial and 40% financial by 2010″ (now half the net).

Immelt says he doesn’t plan to change his strategy—other than raising his cost—cutting targets by $1 billion to $3 billion for this year. While he may not like the economic climate, he’s confident that the shares will ultimately reward solid execution. In the meantime, he’s doing what he can to help GE thrive. “Everybody would like to see the stock price higher,” he says, “me at the front of the list.

* Slideshow: GE’s Generals (Overview of General Electric’s five legendary CEO’s over the past 50 years.)
* Slideshow: GE’s Sprawling Empire (Overview of General Electric’s (GE) business segments)

Chinese Telecom Market Liberalisation?

Published on July 10, 2008 in Emerging Markets, Global Strategy and High Tech & Media. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Chinese Telecom Market LiberalisationTo date foreign Telecom players like SK Telecom (S-Korea), Telefonica (Spain), and Vodafone (UK) have been limited to minority stakes of under 7% in Chinese telecom operators.

However brighter times for foreign telecom operators may lie ahead! Owing to the ongoing Chinese telecom industry restructuring (consolidation wave) and a planned infrastructure revamp (issuing of 3G Network licenses). As Chinese Telcos are not primarily looking to attract more capital the latter can provide opportunities for foreign players. Respectively for foreign telecom operators that are already engaged in 3G networks in their home markets.

Foreign telecom operators have the technology and experience their Chinese counterparts lack.

“We should attract more foreign investment when we roll out 3G and use other people’s money to build the networks,” says Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications professor Lu Tingjie (source).

Sunrise over China?

Published on June 8, 2008 in Emerging Markets. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

China\'s Bright FutureIs all the negative publicity around China over the last few months truly justified? If you look above the surface the answer may be yes. However much change in happing in China below the surface as well. For example China is increasingly opening up to international media: BBC website ‘unblocked in China’.

Although this great initiative there is still a long way to go for complete freedom of speech in China: Stories China’s media could not write. Nevertheless, generation Y in China seems to have much more in common with generation Y in the West as initially thought by most Westerners: China and its Talent, and Modern China.

From a macroeconomic perspective China is well positioned to live upon its potential somewhere within a decade and half a century. Thus somewhere between the medium run (>1decade) and the long run (>half a century) source.

On the medium run the supply side (technology advancement, capital usage, labour force skill fullness) matters more then the demand side (consumer confidence, interest rates).Taking in account the aforementioned, the future seems to be bright cos of the entrepreneurial spirit of China’s generation Y: China’s young entrepreneurs.

Global Recession?

Published on May 5, 2008 in Emerging Markets and International Finance. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Global Recession?The International Monetary Fund has come out with its latest set of forecasts of the world economy. The report says at one point:

“The IMF staff now sees a 25 percent chance that global growth will drop to 3 percent or less in 2008 and 2009—equivalent to a global recession.”

Since when is 3% growth equivalent to a “global recession”? According to my textbook, periods of negative GDP growth are called recessions.

By this “new’ definition, the world economy has been in recession 1980-83, 1990-93, 1998, and 2001-2002. In other words, 11 out of the last 28 years. There are no negative years of world growth.

Here are the IMF’s latest world growth numbers, and forecasts out to 2013.
Annual World Economic Growth

How GE Embraces the Forces of Globalisation

Published on February 19, 2008 in Emerging Markets, Global Strategy and International Business. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GEIf you are interested in globalisation, you can hardly ignore the experiences of General Electric. Claudia Deutsch has written a fascinating article about the giant company’s journey from scepticism, to facing up to globalisation’s challenges, and now to become a truly global business in all facets.

“They are managing their worldwide organization as a network, not a centralized hub with foreign appendages,” said Christopher Bartlett, a professor at the Harvard Business School who has written several case studies on GE.

“Everyone talks about outsourcing manufacturing, but it is the high-level R&D jobs that are the great marketing tools, and I’m a salesman, remember. I know that you don’t get to sell things for long unless you are part of the culture into which you are selling.” Immelt said.

For example, GE Healthcare unit has already moved its headquarters to the London area, and another may follow soon. London, it turns out, is a better hub for global operations than Connecticut. If the whole company eventually follows, it won’t be the first time a Fortune 500 company has left the United States – and it certainly won’t be the last.

Something to be proud of…..

Published on November 3, 2007 in International Business. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Global Development

According to research conducted by the Center of Global Development (a think-tank), the Netherlands has the most effective policies to help the developing world. The report grades 21 rich countries on how well they support development. Each is assessed on seven areas including aid, trade, migration and the environment.

Netherlands is shortly followed by Denmark, Norway and Sweden. However there is still much room for improvement. Needless to say, rich countries can never do too much in improving the life of the lesser gifted ones.

Netherlands must make great improvement in the area of

Global India

Published on September 10, 2007 in Emerging Markets. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Global India
Interested in India and it’s prosperous economy at large? Bored about superficial information, lacking depth and insights? The Times Online has devoted a special section entirely on India at large!

India’s economy is the second fastest-growing in the world, reporting GDP growth of more than 9 per cent a year, not far behind China, with more than 11 per cent growth. The United Nations predicts that by 2050 India will surpass China as the world’s most populous nation, partly because of China’s one-child policy and an improvement in India’s infant mortality rate. In this special section we explore the stories behind the facts. [Source]

Global Cities

Published on August 12, 2007 in Emerging Markets. 0 Comments Tags: .

Currently Tate Modern (London) is hosting an exhibition on “Global Cities”. The exhibition explorers ten dynamic international cities upon five perspectives: speed, size, density, diversity, and form. When wandering around the exhibition it truly gave me stuff to think about.

More info on the Tate Modern “Global Cities” exhibition can be found on their website (includes video footage as well)
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Global Cities 1

Global Cities 2

Global Cities 3

Global Cities 4

Global Cities 5

Dynamic Urbanism

Published on July 31, 2007 in Emerging Markets. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Fast Cities

Every year Fast Company ranks cities across the globe along 9 categories: Creative-class Meccas, Green Leaders, Culture Centres, Global Villages, High-Tech Spots, Unexpected Oases, R&D Clusters, Urban Innovators, and Startup Hubs. This year’s list can be found here.

Surprisingly European cities are underexposed and so called “emerging economies” are represented well across all categories. In my opinion the list of high-tech spots is quite surprising.

Additionally, as the author Andrew Park points out “You’re smart, young, newly graduated from a university with the whole world before you. You could settle in a small town with well-tended lawns, pancake suppers, and life on a human scale. Or you could truck it to the big city, with all its din and dog-eat-dog lunacy. Your choice?”

Exactly this choice is occupying my mind lately as I will graduate in one month! Shall I move to one of the Creative-class Meccas, Startup hubs, Global Villages or start off my working career in a more familiar sphere?

Fast Cities Promo