Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson on Wednesday hailed globalization and free trade as beneficial for all but insisted that national policies were needed to ensure social safeguards.

Being able to combine free trade with a competitive industry and at the same time maintaining and developing a secure safety net and a good education system, that is I think a challenge,” Persson said.

“If we manage to do so, then I think there are opportunities for everyone in globalization,” he told reporters in Stockholm after a meeting with the OECD’s Canadian Secretary-General Donald Johnston.

The two men discussed the program for the annual OECD ministerial meeting in Paris next week, to be led by Persson under the heading “Enabling Globalization”.

Persson’s attempt to put a more humane face on globalization – the trend toward market-driven free trade – after years of massive demonstrations around the world to protest of what many see as its ruthless nature.

The topic has been especially hot in Europe since the EU expansion last year, which sparked fears in many old member states of an influx of cheaper labour from the new, mainly Eastern European members.

Read more

It is pure Western arrogance to go to Asia and expect to do business as we do in the West. Even with the best intentions, what works in the West can result in failure in the Far East.

We need to learn how to communicate with Asians, particularly as China becomes an economic powerhouse. We can’t do that without understanding some of the dramatic differences in our cultures.

Read more

With more and more college graduates entering the “real world” each year, it’s becoming harder to stand out on resumes and applications. USF’s study abroad program gives students the opportunity to get an upper hand on the competition at an affordable price.

“In this global world and international market place, every employer or graduate school, professional school, everyone is looking to hire or to take into their graduate studies programs people with international dimension to their education,” said James D. Pulos, assistant director of study abroad. “In reality, having done an international program, short term, summer or full semester, makes a student more marketable. It puts them at the top of every employer’s list. It’s one of the most important things now — the diversity issue, having internationalization. It’s a way to actually quantify it on your transcript.

“It’s a wonderful experience to travel overseas and backpack through Europe, but you can’t necessarily show that to an employer. If you can show them a transcript, you can quantify it. Soon, people will be in the minority if they don’t have an international dimension to their education,” Pulos said

Read more

As China moves into compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) requirements, the freedom of international transport and supply companies to operate in the country has dramatically increased, catalyzing a host of changes. The principal effect is to bind China irreversibly into the global supply chain for industrial products.

Read more

It is widely believed that the Chinese are eating our lunch. Their factories hum and belch smoke, while ours go silent and send up weeds in the parking lot. This phenomenon is commonly called “globalization.” But it is also commonly misunderstood.

In the reverie of modern Americans, globalization means the rest of the world sends you things you don’t have to pay for. The burden of today’s little essay is two-fold. The first part is easy; we point out that anyone who thinks such a thing is a fool. The second point is harder – and more important.

The world has been globalized for a long time. An Englishman in 1910 could sit in his parlor off St. James Park and drink tea that came all the way from Ceylon in cups that came all the way from China. Then, putting down his drink, he could pick up a Cuban cigar, put it to his lips…and perhaps sprinkle a few ashes on the carpet that he had bought in Egypt…or the leather boots he had ordered from a shop down the street that sold Italian goods. He could buy stocks in New York as easily as he could pick up oranges from Spain or the latest French novels to make their way across the channel.

But as Niall Ferguson points out in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, globalization is not without its disappointments. In 1910, England had been a great world power…and one of the world’s greatest economies…for two centuries. But global competition had recently edged the British out of the top spot. American GDP surpassed it at the turn of the century. Germany marched by a few years later. Relatively, England, that “weary Titan,” was in decline.

Still, why would the English complain? They lived well – perhaps better than anyone else. Even if they didn’t, they thought they did. The rest of the world was content too. People liked buying and selling. People in Europe liked globalization, because it brought them oranges in the wintertime. People in the warm latitudes liked it – now they had someone to sell their oranges to. Even then, people spoke of the “annihilation of distance,” and assumed that more miles would be destroyed in the years to come.

Globalization is nothing more than the extension of the division of labor across international boundaries. Our little village in France has the vestiges of a self-contained community. As recently as the end of WWII, almost everything people needed was produced right there. The farms grew wheat. Farmers raised vegetables…and cows…pigs…chickens. There was a machine shop…a forge…a woodworking atelier. There still remain the ‘Versailles’ boxes, in which lemon trees were planted. The boxes allowed the trees to be moved into heated space in the winter. Otherwise, they would freeze and die.

But as distance was annihilated, commerce in lemons was born. There was no longer any need to plant lemon trees in transportable wooden boxes when the lemons themselves could be shipped, quickly and cheaply, by the millions. One country can produce lemons. Another can produce machine gun cartridges.

Individuals…towns…enterprises…regions…can divide up the labor, work more efficiently, and produce more things at lower cost. Everyone involved gets a little richer.

Read more

The Advanced Language Program in Lexington– an effort that aids police officers in providing services to a growing Hispanic population — has been named one of 18 finalists for the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award.

The awards, often referred to as the “Oscars” of government, are given by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government. The Lexington program is eligible to win a $100,000 grand prize.

Lexington, like many other cities around the country, has experienced a significant increase in Spanish-speaking residents in recent years. The Advanced Language Program addresses the language barriers and the lack of cultural understanding of new residents for law enforcement officers.

The program involves two key components: language training and cultural immersion.

Read more

Hispanic students are the largest minority student group at [Weber State University], according to spring 2005 institutional data results. Hispanics are also the largest minority in Utah, comprising 27 percent of Ogden’s population.

Hispanic students have the highest dropout rate in Utah schools.

Jim Martin, a member of the Utah Achievement Gap Coalition, said Utah has one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation. The UAGC was founded in October 2004 to address the achievement gap, the many inequalities that exist in education among underrepresented groups, specifically students of color.

The UAGC’s position statement stresses that achievement gaps are a national and state problem requiring immediate attention. A National Assessment for Education Progress test results showed, students of color scored at least one grade level below white students on all measures of achievement and in all disciplines.

Read more

It may not be the height of cultural globalization, but it must be close – a Filipino trio of guitars and bass belting out 1960s Latin and pop tunes in perfect Spanish on a steamy tropical night in a communist Asian country on the hotel rooftop restaurant that was once the wartime haunt of U.S. officers, GIs and news correspondents.

Their names are Ludovico Mendoza, Raulico Pelaez and Constantino Cinco, and – after being spotted in a Manila hotel lounge by the general manager of the Saigon Prince Hotel – they have been plying their trade in Vietnam for the past 10 years.

Read more

When it comes to golf, 1.3 billion Chinese can’t be wrong, can they?

Well, mostly yeah, apparently.

The European Tour has five events scheduled in China this year, an attempt to bring the world’s most populous nation into the golfing fold, whether the residents are ready or not.

Last week at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing, overall attendance seemed fairly sparse, yet interruptions by camera-toting fans were plentiful and winner Adam Scott bravely fielded questions from the star-struck and confused media on issues that were downright comical.

Read more

Some 45 years ago, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev paid his first visit to the United States. It was a turbulent encounter for both Khrushchev and Americans. Khrushchev scoffed at American economic prosperity, deplored Hollywood’s tastelessness, and predicted communism would bury capitalism. (Some prediction!)

Seeking to deflect criticism of Russia’s lack of freedoms, he was on the offensive. At a state dinner hosted by President Eisenhower, Khrushchev got into an exchange with Vice President Nixon about the US press, suggesting that it was a submissive handmaiden of the American government. Present in the room was the editor of The Christian Science Monitor, Erwin Canham. Pointing to Canham, Nixon explained that he couldn’t possibly control the editorial policy of the Monitor, Canham’s newspaper. Khrushchev responded dismissively: “I don’t believe you.”

In the Monitor
Thursday, 04/28/05
How one school system took on steroids
Hopes for recovery amid San Diego’s mess
Goal: educate world’s kids with $100 PCs
Las Vegas glitz dulled by growing pains
COMMENTARY: There’s no place like home for take-the-kids-to-work day

Read these and the rest of the Monitor’s headlines by e-mail.
Subscribe for free.

E-mail this story
Write a letter to the Editor
Printer-friendly version
Permission to reprint/republish

Incredibly, almost half a century later, Russia’s current leader, Vladimir Putin, was as similarly defensive about Russia’s lack of media independence, and as similarly lacking in his understanding of American freedoms. At his meeting in Europe with President Bush earlier this year, President Putin argued that if the US press was so free, how come Mr. Bush had been able to get rid of Dan Rather and those other pesky CBS reporters? The Russian’s apparent belief that in the US, the president could fire reporters filled Bush and his staff with incredulity.

These two little anecdotes, more than four decades apart, underline a continuing lack of comprehension at high Russian levels of what democracy really means, and how it works.

It is a misunderstanding that bedevils the US-Russian relationship as Bush preaches the values of democracy, and Putin proclaims them but edges away from practicing them.

Read more

The Vacation Spanish Blog was updated today. The URI is www.vacationspanish.com. New content added today includes:

* Table of Contents
* Acknowledgements
* Excerpt
* Sample Chapter
* Bonus Chapter
* Reviews & Endorsements
* About the Authors
* About the Publishers
* Contact

Please feel free to add your comments.

The Vacation Spanish Blog was published yesterday. The URI is www.vacationspanish.com. Please feel free to add your comments.

Christopher Hurtado’s Blog was published yesterday.

Common Sense Advisory has published a new Quick Take. Last month we wrote that Lionbridge acquired Berlin-based Logoport for its translation memory technology and that Irish language service provider (LSP) Transware PLC bought globalization management (GMS) supplier Global Sight. The Lionbridge deal makes sense, while the Transware purchase seems misguided. In this Quick Take we lay out what makes one deal better than the other. (Renato Beninatto)

Hispanic Marketing SIG – “The Case for Hispanic Marketing: A conversation with Alex Lopez Negrete”

When:
April 28, 2005

Where:
Renaissance Hotel Greenway Plaza
Plaza Ballroom, 20th Floor
6 Greenway Plaza East
Houston, Texas 77046

Parking Information:
Parking is available in the Greenway Plaza Garage below the hotel entrance.

Schedule:
7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast and Registration
8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Discussion

Program Description:
Hispanics are the fastest growing population segment in the U.S. With more Hispanics in the U.S. than Canadians in Canada and with $700 billion of purchasing power, Hispanics are one of the most attractive markets in the country. However, very few companies are taking advantage of the great opportunities and untapped revenue streams that Hispanics represent. Alex Lopez Negrete will have an informal discussion about why Hispanic marketing makes business sense for many companies. In an innovative event format, a business journalist from the Houston Chronicle will pose provocative questions and facilitate the dialogue.

Speaker Bio:
Alex López Negrete
President, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer – López Negrete Communications

Since he founded López Negrete Communications in 1985, Alex López Negrete’s passion and vision for Hispanic marketing has steered the firm to become one of the country’s most influential Hispanic marketing consultants and partners. His agency continues to grow, with over $80 million in billings for 2003 and more than 90 employees. Alex credits his success to building a team of multi-cultural, multi-national, bilingual and bicultural communications professionals who possess different and complementing talents and expertise. The López Negrete team has won literally hundreds of awards and accolades over the years and was recently awarded the Silver Medal, the highest honor granted by the Houston Advertising Federation. Alex is this year’s National President of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies.

Admission & RSVP:
Advance Registration: AMA Members $25; Non-members $45; Students $18.
At the door: AMA Members $35; Non-Members $55

Register online at www.regonline.com/23330. Simply click the link, and follow the directions. If you get an error message when you click this link, cut it and paste into your browser. Pre-payment will be accepted online. Please RSVP by 12 p.m. on April 26.
No shows will be billed for this event. If you cannot attend after you register, please return to the online registration and cancel your registration. You may cancel your registration up to the time we close our registration. Walk-ins will not be guaranteed seating.

For questions or comments regarding registering online, please email Rodi Franco at [email protected]

Contact Name and Email for Additional Information on the Event:
For more information on this event, please contact Manuel Delgado at [email protected] or 832-242-2600 or Christopher Hurtado at [email protected] or 281-658-6002.

Map:
Click here for directions.