cool global BIZ

A New Era of Globalization, Cross-Border Business & Cultural Diversity

 

 

"Tower of Babel" by Peter Brueghel the Elder, from Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license.
 

CoolGlobalBiz is an independent, non-partisan blog that explores the nexus and cross-border fusion of business and culture. Links to CoolGlobalBiz can be found on Guy Kawasaki's online news directory Alltop (economics or small business) and other sites. 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 major epoch, an era of quickening change, innovation and global diversity. 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 world is here.

Founded by Edward Iwata, a California-based journalist, former USA Today business writer and author of Fusion Entrepreneurs: Cross-Cultural Execs & Companies Revolutionizing the Global Economy.

 

Listen Up, Execs and Shareholders: Corporate Philanthropy is Good for Business

 

EXCELLENT POST ON the business case for corporate philanthropy, penned by Matteo Tonello, director of corporate governance at The Conference Board. This is no puffy, feel-good analysis.  In "Making the Business Case for Corporate Philanthropy" on the Harvard Law School Forum blog, Tonello breaks it down and cites how corporations, shareholders and executives can gain from charitable giving. Tonello writes that his post is partly based on earlier Conference Board research and an academic paper, "Is Doing Good Good for You? How Corporate Charitable Contributions Enhance Revenue Growth," by Baruch Lev of New York University's Stern School of Business, Christine Petrovitz of George Washington University and Suresh Radhakrishnan of the University of Texas' School of Management.

Photo above: "Charity" by ContemplativeChristian (no real name given), under a Creative Commons license on flickr.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, August 25, 2011

 

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg: Will His Billionaire's Legacy Be Greater Than His Celebrity?

 

 "Zuckerberg Appears on 'SNL' Alongside His Cinematic Counterpart" by Charlie White of Mashable. The real Mark Zuckerberg appears at 2:03 and 1:10 minutes (Jan. 29, 2011), Video courtesy of NBC and Mashable.

 

Editor's note: This is an updated version of a post that first appeared in December 2010.

  

LET'S HOPE THAT the billionaire is doing it for righteous reasons, and not to repair his battered image, as some critics believe.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently pledged to give much of his wealth to good causes, following the leads of Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and other mega-rich folks in The Giving Pledge. The brilliant Zuckerberg is adored by the tech crowd, but he's been portrayed in The Social Network and legal documents as callous, arrogant and worse. If so, is he perched on his throne now, still huddled in his hoodie, sneering at the rest of us? Or, like a young Bill Gates, is Zuckerberg growing as a true business and philanthropic leader, the greatest example for his generation?

Global Multinationals Aim to Balance Good Business Practices and Human Rights

 

 

 

Child Labour - Indonesia" by Henri Ismael, under a Creative Commons license on flickr. Ismael is a photographer based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

HOW DO COMPANIES and policymakers best balance global business growth with basic human rights, from child labor to free speech? You'd need the wisdom of Solomon to satisfy everyone.

PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel: Smart Business Leaders Cannot Ignore Crimes Against Humanity

 

CAPITALISM AND THE social good are not irreconcilable, and free markets and human freedoms go hand in hand. Don't heed this low-rent blogger. Listen to Peter Thiel, the billionaire entrepreneur hedge fund guy, PayPal co-founder, Facebook director, Stanford University grad and longtime libertarian. Regardless of your politics, more should follow his contrarian lead: Think for yourselves. His simple message in a recent interview with The Street? There are no excuses for business leaders to stand on the sidelines and ignore crimes against humanity:

(Photo, above) Peter Thiel of Clarion Capital and the Thiel Foundation. Photo courtesy of the Thiel Foundation, under a Creative Commons license.

Corporate Social Responsibility Rising, Russia Open for Business & Other Global Reads

 

COMPASSIONATE CAPITALISM? -- Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey Hollender (Web site and Wikipedia profile) writes in CSRWire that the corporate social responsibility movement -- "committed to using capital to achieve well-being, sustainability and justice"-- is catching on globally. Hollender, who stepped down last year as Seventh Generation CEO, is a global authority on CSR issues and now advises the American Sustainable Business Council. His latest book is Planet Home: Conscious Choices for Cleaning and Greening the World You Care About.

• CSRWire, "Saving the World by Making Capitalism Work for Everybody" by Jeffrey Hollender.
   

"Forgotten Children of Vietnam" Enjoy Training From Orphan Impact and Intel

 

 

"The Chance to Survive" by Dai Sugano of the San Jose Mercury News in Silicon Valley. Video courtesy of the Mercury News.

 

MOVING STORY IN the San Jose Mercury News on Orphan Impact, a nonprofit that provides computer training to orphans in Vietnam. Tad Kincaid, founder of Orphan Impact, tells the Mercury News: "They are the forgotten children of Vietnam . . . We are teaching them 21st-century skills." The project is funded by private donors and corporations such as Intel, which donated laptops and sent technologists to teach the eager students. 

 

• MercuryNews, "Computer class gives Vietnamese orphans a window to the world" by John Boudreau.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, June 12, 2011 

 

New York Times' Kristof Poses Most Important Question: Can the Arab World Embrace Democracy?

 

   

"The Other Side of the Fear is the Freedom" by jonycunha (Jonatas Cunha), under a Creative Commons license on flickr. Cunha is a professor and photographer in Brazil.

 

 

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 27, 2011

POWERFUL OPINION PIECE this morning by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, posing the most basic and profound question of all regarding the Middle Eastern revolts: Can the Arab world embrace democracy? No truly modern and progressive society, no diverse and growing economy, will thrive over the long run without it. In "Unfit for Democracy?" Kristof writes:

 

"Is the Arab world unready for freedom? A crude stereotype lingers that some people —Arabs, Chinese and Africans — are incompatible with democracy. Many around the world fret that “people power” will likely result in Somalia-style chaos, Iraq-style civil war or Iran-style oppression . . . I’ve been humbled by the lionhearted men and women I’ve seen defying tear gas or bullets for freedom that we take for granted. How can we say that these people are unready for a democracy that they are prepared to die for?"

   

 

Forget the Super Bowl. Check Out the Laureus Global Sports Awards: "A Tool for Social Change"

 

Highlights from the Laureus Sports Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Video clip courtesy of CNN.com.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 8, 2011

WHILE AMERICANS WERE stuffing our faces and enjoying the Super Bowl (the Pack is Back!), the rest of the world was celebrating global athletes known to billions of sports fans and TV viewers. And all for a good cause. At the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal was named Sportsman of the Year. U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn won Sportswoman of the Year. And Spain's soccer team, winner of the FIFA World Cup last summer, received the Team of the Year Award. Little known in the West, Laureus and its foundation promote sports as "a tool for social change," funding social and sports projects worldwide, from a sports center for disabled people in Rwanda to a boxing and wrestling program in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

 

• SFGate.com, "Laureus Award Highlights Sports for Global Good" by Ann Killion. 
• TimeOutDubai.com, "Stars Descend on Abu Dhabi for Laureus Awards"
• CNN International, "Nadal, Vonn Win Top Laureus Awards."
• ESPN, "Slater Wins Laureus World Sports Award" by Megan Michelson.
• BBC, "Showtime at Sports Oscars" by Matt Slater.

 

Davos Man, Meet Davos Woman, Please. Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match

 

 "Telephone Switchboard Operators" by IronRodArt (Royce Bair), under a Creative Commons license on flickr. Photo courtesy of The Stock Solution at tssphoto.com.

 

"Matchmaker, matchmaker, / Make me a match,

 Find me a find, / Catch me a catch . . . . "

   - From "Matchmaker," Fiddler on the Roof.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, Jan. 21, 2011

WHAT'S WITH DAVOS Man? Doesn't he know that women hold up half the sky? Doesn't he know that more Davos Women will bring in more brains, more ideas, more profits? Plus, they're just better dressers than guys. If you're anyone who's anyone with hiring power, why screen out half of the world's talent and labor pool? Quotas, such as the one mandated by the World Economic Forum for this year's glitzy Davos gathering, may not be the best solution. No one wants draconian rules shoved down our throats. But short of overhauling the world's business, education and religious institutions, it's a start, eh? Do you want your daughters and granddaughters to work in a world that's unfair to the fairer sex? Wake up, wake up.

  

• TheDailyBeast.com, "Can Women Save Davos? Quotas Aren't Just Political Correctness" by Jesse Ellison.
  
• CNBC.com, "Davos Needs More Women Delegates" by Kim Khan.
  
• BusinessWeek.com, "The Search for a Few Good Davos Women" by Lisa Kassenaar.
  
• Harvard Business Review blogs, "The Best Way to Get Women into Boardrooms" by Athena Vongalis-Macrow.
  
• Kauffman Foundation, "The Decade of the Women Entrepreneur" by Shaherose Charania of Women 2.0, Sharon Vosmek of Astia, and Lesa Mitchell of the Kauffman Foundation.
  
• World Economic Forum, "Women Leaders and Gender Parity."