cool global BIZ

A New Age of Cross-Cultural Business, Innovation & Globalization

CoolGlobalBiz.com is a business blog by former USA Today reporter Edward Iwata and featured on GlobalPost.com (About and Commerce) and Alltop.com (Economics).  CoolGlobalBiz.com explores the nexus of business and culture, the cross-border fusion of the U.S. and world economies.  Kingdoms rise and fall, cycles come and go, but the global economy still reigns.  Companies evolve as borders dissolve.  Markets merge, cultures and currencies converge.  You say euro, I say peso / You say dinar, I say dollar.  Cross-cultural executives and entrepreneurs are the mad innovators, the new arbiters of cool, and they're at the vanguard of the new business diversity, global-style.  This transcends the Shakira-zation of the world, the ethnic flava of the month.

  

Every few generations, we're rocked by economic and cultural upheaval, from the Industrial Age to the Information Age.  Now we're at the cusp of another eye-popping epoch, an era of global innovation, integration and institutional change -- a cultural and money mashup unlike anything we've seen.  The seasons are turning, turning.  This ain't your Daddy's economy.  The world: curved or flat?  No matter, the convergence of business and culture won't wane.  For better and worse, the new global order has arrived.

(Photo, above:  Cambodia Temple Near Rolous Group by Taiger808, under Creative Commons license on flickr.com)

Will Silicon Valley's Tech Economy Last to Infinity & Beyond? Tech Giants Lead Another Recovery

"Four Tubes in a Row "by Mike Cohn, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

AS CISCO SYSTEMS, Intel and other U.S. tech titans spearhead another economic recovery, I wonder how long Silicon Valley and the U.S. tech realm will reign as the world's preeminent force for business growth and innovation.  Scores of tech watchers have debated the question over the past couple decades, and time-honored "Whither Silicon Valley?" stories by the media surface every 5 or 10 years.  (I plead guilty to writing a couple myself, including "Tech Industry Struggles To Cope With Its Losses" in USA Today, when many thought the growth of the New Economy and the dot.com boom would never end. It's fascinating to see everyone's observations on tech a decade ago.)

IN THE NEW global era, the valley's legendary economy may well have peaked and likely won't return to its glory days, when the defense, semiconductor, and computer industries rocked the global economy.  No great industry lasts forever, and their lifespans stretch 50 to 60 years or so before they start slowing.  Doesn't mean the valley will fade like downtown Detroit, as the U.S. auto industry matured and foreign automakers stormed the gates.  For sure, the next huge thing in nanotech, biotech and clean tech will keep armies of U.S. engineers and scientists employed for decades.  But with the juggernaut of globalization in tech research & manufacturing & e-commerce, with the cross-border spread of the global workforce and knowledge economy, can't imagine the valley spawning another generation of legendary companies the likes of FMC, Fairchild Semiconductors, Lockheed Missiles and Space, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM in San Jose, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Google, EBay, and others.  You pick: the rock-solid revenue and earnings of those companies, or the helium-like valuations of the whole Web 2.0 universe?

THE ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION of the world -- which tech visionary and author Kevin Kelly has called "a Tectonic upheaval in our commonwealth" in his New Rules for a New Economy book and blog -- won't slow or stop, short of global catastrophe.  Can't see one region, any region, shaping the planet the way that Silicon Valley and its companies have done over the past half-a-century.  So, like sports fans enjoying future Hall of Fame athletes, enjoy the great valley and tech companies while they're still bastions of Corporate America, the Four Horsemen of our economy.  (See BusinessWeek, "The Four Horsemen of the New Economy" by Spencer Ante.)  A generation or two from now, when their histories are being written, they'll look very, very different.

 

"Density" by Marcin Wichary, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

 

 
"Computer History Museum" by dmealiffe, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

  

 

 "The Meaning of Life" by jurvetson, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com. 

 
 

 

 Dr. Darshan Brar working in an IRRI greenhouse (167ps_01109) by IRRI Images, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

 
"Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Metro Station" by Wolfgang Staudt, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

 

"Nanobamas" by oceandesetoiles, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

And So It Goes: Davos 2010 and Financial & Banking Reform -- Not!

From TheDeal.com: "Barney Frank, Davos and Global Financial Reform" by Suzanne Stephens. Former Florida congressman James Bacchus is speaking.

AND SO IT GOES, as Kurt Vonnegut used to write.  Little progress at Davos 2010 or anywhere else discussing global banking reform, or the policing of financial mandarins in any way.  No surprise, of course.  Little sweeping regulatory change by anyone on Planet Moolah since the fall of 2008, when the frightening scope of the financial crisis first emerged, and the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, and the U.S. Congress struggled frantically with the beast.  Three clear points stuck in my mind back then, as the business media cast its eyes on the monster and said, Oh shit:

(1) NO CHANGE.  Little, if anything, will change on the global regulatory front in oversight, transparency and enforcement.  That's human nature and the unstoppable tide of business and the economy.  Money shall rule, and always will rule.  (2) NOBODY KNOWS.  No one really knows or is telling the whole story, given the self-serving versions spouted by key players in the drama.  There are financial records, memos and emails, legal depositions, and other juicy documents hiding in safes and locked offices that no one -- save a few attorneys, trust fund trustees, private clients, and their gods -- will ever see.  (3) FUNNY, THAT DODD GUY.  Hey, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd was right.  As lawmakers slapped together bailout legislation in September 2008, as e-mail drafts of the proposal flew back and forth, a droll Dodd chuckled in a late-night phone interview and said, "I imagine we'll be talking a lot about this."

THEY'RE STILL TALKING today, with no sure roadmap to ensure that the system won't melt down again.  Well ain't that a bitch.  At Davos, writes SkyNews blogger Mark Kleinman: "One person present at today's meeting said he believed that this week had represented a significant step forward for banking reform 'because there is now a consensus that consensus is necessary.' "  Encouraging.  It's like kids playing in the sandbox, agreeing not to argue.  Except that the economic well-being of several billion people is at stake.  The monster lives.  Makes you want to jump on the next space shuttle, don't it?

• Forbes.com, "Not a Bang, Not a Whimper" by Evelyn Rusli.
• SkyNews.com, "Davos 2010: Some Progress on Bank Reforms" by Mark Kleinman.
• SeekingAlpha.com, "Upcoming Default Tsunami Grabs Power from Banking Industry" by Toni Straka of The Prudent Investor.
• BuzzMachine.com and HuffingtonPost.com, "The Disrupted of Davos." by Jeff Jarvis.
• CoolGlobalBiz.com, "Will Obama's U.S.-style Corporate Governance Go Global?" by Edward Iwata. 

 

More Creatives, More Neocha.com, Please

"Neo Shanghai" by Danwei.org and Adam Schokora/Ginger Xiang of The Shanghai Beat.

A SPATE OF recent stories in China on Neocha.com (company website and Twitter), a social-network site in Shanghai for China creatives that was founded by Sean Leow (LinkedIn), a Chinese American from Silicon Valley and an econ graduate from Duke University in the United States . . . Launched in 2007, the site brings together artists, musicians, designers and filmmakers to share and promote their work . . .  Last year, Leow and partner Adam Schokora, formerly of Edelman Digital for China, founded the NeochaEdge consulting firm . . . Neocha is seen as a bridge between indie Chinese creatives on the street and mainstream corporate marketers and advertisers such as Nike and PepsiCo . . . More cha, please, and don't chill those voices . . . Hope they keep growing, as the New Asia and China keep evolving.

• China International Business, "The Coolest Cup of Cha" by Blake Stone Banks.
• Tech Beijing, "Sean Leow, Founder and CEO, Neocha."
• NeochaEdge,com, "Shanghai Daily Talks to Sean Leow about Creative Chinese Youth."

"Neocha.com Team" by leowsean, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

Can Bill & Melinda Gates Be Cloned, or What Would You Do With $10 Billion?

Watch live streaming video from worldeconomicforum03 at livestream.com

Davos 2010 - Press Conference: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledges new commitment to vaccines - Fri Jan 29 2010.

THE SLOGAN OF the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: "All Lives Have Equal Value" . . . In their latest act of global grace, the Gates said today at the World Economic Forum in Davos that they would donate $10 billion over 10 years to research and deliver vaccines to ailing children in poor countries . . . Nearly 9 million kids won't die of diarrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and malaria if they get vaccinated this decade . . .  “Vaccines are a miracle," Melinda Gates said. "With just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime." . . . Generous U.S corporations gave $300 billion-plus in 2008 to worthy causes, says the Giving USA Foundation and Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy ("U.S. charitable giving estimated to be $307.65 billion in 2008"), and the Gates keep raising the bar for the United States and the world . . . In Act Two of his life, Bill Gates has evolved from a filthy rich brainiac and conquerer of the tech world to a righteous global role model, and it has been truly extraordinary to see . . . Can this man and his spouse be cloned? . . . Their crusade is worth emulating.

• Seattle Times Business of Giving blog, "$10 Billion Vaccine Pledge Shows Gates' Power to Set Global Agenda" by Kristi Heim.
• PerezHilton.com, "Bill Gates Plans to Save 8 Million Lives with $10 Billion!".  
• Gates Foundation news release, "Bill and Melinda Gates Pledge $10 Billion in Call for Decade of Vaccines."
• World Economic Forum news release, "Despite global economic setbacks, partnerships further millennium development goals."
• Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, "Disaster Giving: Haiti Earthquake Relief."

 

What's Cooler? Apple's iPad, or a Couple Billion Women Fighting the Global Gender Gap?

"Colorful Islamic Malay Women" by Vin Crosby, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

FOR BUDDHA'S SAKE, enough of the iPad, no matter how cute or cool it may be . . . Unless CEO Steve Jobs and Apple donate 10% of all units to those in need (emerging countries, poor entrepreneurs, struggling non-profits, low-income neighborhoods and schools), why should we care about the latest tech toy? . . . Will Apple's iProducts -- and other pricy consumer gadgets -- really change the world? . . . Or is it sugar water for the middle-class masses and Third World elites? . . . The brilliant Jobs should follow the soulful examples set by Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, George Soros, John Bogle, Sir John Templeton, Charles and Helen Schwab, and other altruists who define grace through their contributions.

HOW MANY MEDIA stories, how much tech and business talent, have been devoted to yet another consumer gizmo, when more urgent matters loom large? . . . Imagine all that world-class brainpower devoted to the greater good, not the next fiscal quarter or stock-option grant . . . Among other pressing socioeconomic issues, there's a global gender gap, which the World Economic Forum and a cadre of multinationals and NGOs are working on . . . The magical, transformative revolution will take place there . . . Save the sea bass and argula salad for later, and read all about it:

• WomenENews, "Gender Issues Must Move to the Heart of Davos Agenda" by Roxanne Maxin Cason.
• BBC.com, "South Africa's Zuma Defends Polygamy."
• Financial Times Gapperblog, "Melinda Gates in Africa" by Melinda French Gates.
• Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.
• Ernst & Young, "Scaling Up: Why Women-Owned Businesses Can Recharge the Global Economy." 
• World Economic Forum, "The Global Gender Gap Report 2009."

World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2009 - Saadi Zahidi. Courtesy of World Economic Forum.