cool global BIZ

Global Fusion of the Workforce in Tech Land, or Can You Say Software in Hindi?

Wim Elfrink, Cisco System's chief globalization officer, on Cisco's "smart, connected communities." Courtesy of Cisco Systems, on YouTube.

WE'VE SEEN THE anecdotal signs for decades in the schools, offices, shopping malls, and neighborhoods of Silicon Valley . . . Now the latest data makes it even more official . . . The famed tech region keeps going global in a big way, says the yearly report on the state of the valley by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation . . . (See the news release,"Silicon Valley Faces Tough Climb Back From Recession," and the report, "Index of Silicon Valley 2010 ) . . . An extraordinary 60% of the valley’s scientists and engineers were born outside the United States, with nearly one-third of that workforce hailing from India . . . Talent from China and South Korea also keeps landing in tech land . . . Many, of course, are entrepreneurs firing up innovation and the economy.

EVEN MORE STRIKING: the number of patent collaborations between Silicon Valley and overseas inventors grew dramatically over the past decade, nearly tripling to 1,200 in 2008 from about 400 in 1998, according to analysis of U.S. Patent & Trade Office data by Collaborative Economics in Mountain View, California, U.S.A. . . . That's good if the cross-border fusion of technology and business helps U.S. and global startups and multinationals on a fair and level playing field . . . But bad if it helps protectionist nations, enemies and friendly allies swipe our technology . . . Good luck figuring out that one, Locke . . . You're a smart Asian brother, but where's the trade thing going? . . . The world is one big money mash-up, and our friends and foes are one and the same.

IN CONTRAST TO the very local report released today, the video clip above shows how a visionary tech giant, homegrown in Silicon Valley, is shaping the global future . . . Wim Elfrink, Cisco System's chief globalization officer, speaks from Cisco's Globalisation Centre East in Bangalore, India, on the "industrialization of the Internet," or the build-out of tech, energy, and transportion infrastructures in cities around the world . . . Tech and business watchers know all this, but not the general public . . . Cisco may well be the business world's most global corporate creature, although IBM, Nokia, Intel, General Electric and others would vie for that crown.

• San Jose Mercury News, "Now Would Be a Good Time to Panic Over Silicon Valley's Future" by Chris O'Brien.
• ZDNet blogs, "Tough Times Continue in Silicon Valley" by Tom Foremski.
• SFGate.com, "Why Silicon Valley Faces Fresh Threats" by Tom Abate.

Can Innovators Save Us? Kauffman Foundation: An Entrepreneur-friendly Climate is Crucial

CNBC interview with Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, on the state of entrepreneurship in the U.S.A.

HISTORY SHOWS THAT no economic kingdom lasts forever.  And the good old U.S.A. -- the greatest of all times, as sports marketing legend Muhammad Ali might say -- will be no different.  As some business leaders and scholars have been warning for years, the U.S.A. doesn't hold a monopoly on brainpower and hard work, and our kids and grandkids will be the outsourcing workforce for the Second World if we don't act now.

HOPING TO BOOST the U.S. innovation economy, the Kauffman Foundation -- the leading think tank on entrepreneurial issues -- is urging the U.S. government to grant citizenship to foreign students graduating from U.S. universities who want to launch new firms and create jobs. Among other ideas aired in Washington D.C. this week with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the Kauffman Foundation said that classes and fellowships in entrepreneurship should be offered to high-school and college students, and to doctoral graduates in science and technology.  Tax breaks and lighter regulation for startups and small firms also would help.  Carl Schramm, CEO of the foundation, said: "Unleashing these innovators, these risk-takers, these job-creators, is the best way to assure a sustained recovery and to assure that the state of our union is strong."

"Ali Center" by Krysta76, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

EARLIER THIS MONTH, the Kauffman Foundation reminded economy watchers and policymakers that most U.S. jobs in recent years have been created by young companies, and that immigrants have launched 40% of all new U.S. technology firms.  Robert Litan, the foundation's vice president of research, said that "the jobs and innovation that new firms bring reshape and accelerate the economy," and that "hundreds of thousands of Americans are poised to become entrepreneurs at any given time."  The best thing that U.S. policymakers can do to encourage entrepreneurs is "to provide a hospitable environment that helps more startups become fast-growing, job-creating companies."

• Kauffman Foundation report, "2010 State of Entrepreneurship."
• Kauffman Foundation news release, "Entrepreneurs Expect to Limit Hiring in 2010."
• Kauffman Foundation study, "Number of New Companies Created Annually Remains Remarkably Constant Across Time."

Western Union's Global Branding Campaign Says Yes! Si! हाँ! Oo! 唉! to Immigrant Consumers

Western Union and Publicis Hong Kong's "Yes!" global brand campaign.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA, U.S.A. -- During the frontier era of the American West in the 1800s, Western Union helped pioneers send telegrams to their loved ones many miles away by train or horse.  Today, the money-transfer corporation in Colorado sends billions of dollars in "remittances" from immigrants on all continents to their loved ones around the world.  "The multicultural consumer is front and center," says Gail Galuppo, chief marketing officer at Western Union.  “We’ve got quite a dynamic footprint."  Western Union's aim: to keep cultivating ties and doing business with many millions of migrants who will send U.S. $368 billion to their families in 2009, according to the Aite Group research firm in Boston.

 

As the global downturn lingers, Western Union is a positive tale. Western Union's $6 billion business reflects the growing immigrant economy and workforce, and the company remains bullish.  Total 2009 revenue may be dipping, but executives see current and future growth in Asia and moderate global revenue growth in 2010, likely outpacing World Bank projections.  Western Union also has reached its goal of 400,000 money-transfer agents and retail outlets worldwide.  And the promising market for money transfers by mobile phones looks good in the United Kingdom, Kenya, Indonesia and elsewhere.  In Western Union's quarterly earnings call Tuesday (see below), CEO Christina Gold told analysts that "we were delighted with the quarter."

 

At the recent ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference in Phoenix, Galuppo spoke about Western Union's acclaimed "Yes!" global branding campaign by Publicis Hong Kong, launched early this year.  The goal: to boost market share by sending an uplifting message to immigrant consumers, who often are rebuffed when they seek financing.  The print, online and broadcast campaign ran in 40 languages, and commercials were aired in the U.S.A. on Univision, CCTV, Al Jazeera and other foreign-language outlets.  Director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet and National Geographic photojournalist Steve McCurry jetted to Morocco, Singapore, Cape Town and Los Angeles to film and shoot the campaign.  Hindi Zahra, a Moroccan jazz-folk singer in Paris, sings the commercial's catchy song, "Stand Up."  Galuppo says:  "The Yes! campaign works globally, across all geographies and consumers."

 

Highlights from Galuppo's talk at the ANA marketing conference:

On marketing to many ethnic groups:  "We have a deep understanding of our core consumers . . . Mexicans in the U.S., Kenyans in the United Kingdom, Filipinos in Hong Kong, Chinese in the Congo . . . Our worldwide marketers are the first to see migration patterns change, and they immediately adapt . . . (Companies must) understand that the borders are truly fading."

On her diverse background in Chicago's Southside:  "I grew up in the inner city of Chicago, so I was born into (diversity) . . . One thing I've done is to truly embrace diversity hiring for my team, and I'm instilling (an appreciation of diversity) in my children."

On the global migrant workforce:  "The convergence of the movement of capital, the movement of people, and the movement of information is the driving force behind today's global economy.  The money that global migrants send home across borders is one of the largest sources of external finance for developing countries.  These immigrants . . . will be the roots of economic growth for years to come."

 

Gail Galuppo, Western Union's chief marketing officer, speaking with CoolGlobalBiz at the ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. (10-5-09).

• Western Union, "Western Union Reports Third Quarter Results"
• Seeking Alpha, " The Western Union Company Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript."
• Morningstar, ""Western Union Reports 3Q":
• United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), ""Sending Money Home" report on global remittances:

 

CNN Anchor Soledad O'Brien, Latinos and the New Multicultural Mainstream

CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien speaking at the ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. (10-5-09).

 

PHOENIX, ARIZONA, U.S.A. -- Countless studies, books and news reports boil down to this storyline:  While U.S. ethnic groups of all hues take pride in their ancestral cultures, the great crucible of acculturation melds all of us into Americans.  Perhaps moreso than President Obama and others, CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien symbolizes the New Multicultural America -- what former Time journalist Guy Garcia calls "the new mainstream."  O'Brien is black, Cuban, Irish and Australian -- check the "Other" box in the U.S. Census count.  O'Brien brought her starpower Monday to the ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, speaking about her cultural identity and her upcoming CNN special, "Latino in America," later this month.

 

O'Brien was preaching to the corporate choir at the ANA conference, made up of mostly minority managers and executives from companies large and small.  She and her producers face a tougher task with their broadcast viewers.  Diversity is a hellacious topic, and CNN needs to present a complex subject to a mainstream audience that often shies away from the explosive issue.  Hope that CNN covers the Latino culture in a hardhitting and unflinching fashion, but in an entertaining and non-threatening way that doesn't send viewers running for the remote.

 

First-rate and comprehensive coverage of the conference in the ANA Advertiser Magazine by editor Bob Barrett's crew and the Pohly Company.  See several interviews with multicultural marketing and diversity leaders, including Johnson & Johnson's vice president of global diversity Anthony Carter,  Western Union's chief marketing officer Gail Galuppo, JCPenney's senior v.p. of brand marketing Ruby Anik, and McDonald's manager of U.S. marketing Vivian Chen.

 

(Next: More from the ANA conference, including the global branding of a world-famous rapper and a century-old corporation at the vanguard of global e-commerce.) 

 

• CNN.com, "Soledad O'Brien Explores Latino Experience, Mixed-Race Heritage."
• Advertising Age, "McDonald's and Comcast Top Winners at Ana Multicultural Awards" by Laurel Wentz.
• ANA, "ANA Announces 2009 Multicultural Excellence Award Winners."
• Guy Garcia, "The New Mainstream: How the Multicultural Consumer is Transforming American Business."
• Guy Garcia and Time Warner Research Council, "Navigating the New Mainstream: Identity and Media in the 21st Century."
• Knowledge Wharton, "The New Mainstream: How the Buying Habits of Ethnic Groups Are Creating a New American Identity."
• CNN International, "Commentary: Mexican-Americans Have Deep U.S. Ties."

 

Entrepreneurship & the Global Economy: One American Family's Tale

 

Summer is festival time for the Japanese and Japanese Americans, who honor their ancestors with prayers and folk dances, with taiko drumming and rice dishes called o-bento.  This blog entry from last winter was my very first, and I'm re-posting it in honor of my late parents' anniversary and my family's ancestors.  It's a reminder of what is most important in life, beyond the next quarterly earnings release.

 

 

The quest to better one's life is universal.  Leaving rice farms and their loved ones in Meiji era Japan, my grandparents boarded ships to the U.S. before the first Ford Model Ts rolled off the assembly line.  Like the legendary industrialist  Henry Ford   (Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan), Japanese American entrepreneurs had business in their blood, and blood in their business.  My grandfathers and grandmothers raised a flock of kids, grew fruits and vegetables on leased land, ran a store near “Little Tokyo” (here) in downtown Los Angeles.  Despite legal barriers and brutal discrimination, Japanese Americans rose in the agricultural and florist industries, and launched restaurants, metal shops, tofu factories, commercial fishing firms and other small businesses.

 

Their saga reflects the spirit and work ethos of all U.S. immigrants and their kin, from 19th-century Irish laborers to 21st-century India-born entrepreneurs.  In our modern U.S. economy, immigrant-owned startups churned out $52 billion in sales in 2005, according to research (here) by Vivek Wadhwa, (here) Ben Rissing (here) and Gary Gereffi (here) at Duke   University (here) and AnnaLee Saxenian (here) at the University of California at Berkeley.  For old-schoolers who like digging through voluminous yet enriching history, my late uncle Masakazu Iwata, a UCLA-educated scholar and Biola University dean, wrote about Japanese American farmers in the two-volume Planted in Good Soil: A History of Issei in United States Agriculture (Peter Lang Publishing, 1992). (here)

 

 

("Evacuees of Japanese Ancestry Attending Memorial Day Services at Manzanar, California," May 1942, by the U.S. War Relocation Authority, courtesy of the National Archives.)

 

My folks left their store and farm work when World War II struck.  How do you value that economic loss?  While uncles served honorably in the U.S. Army, 19 family members -- nearly all U.S. citizens -- were bussed to the Manzanar military internment camp (here) in the high desert of California.  On work leaves from camp, my late father toiled in potato and sugar beet fields in Idaho and Oregon, and in the produce market in Chicago.  My late mother, a speedy typist, whipped out letters as a secretary for the U.S. War Relocation Authority.  Aunts contributed to the war economy by making camouflage nets.  How do you measure that productivity?  They kept on.  They persevered.  Seven times down, eight times up, goes the old Japanese folk saying.

 

After the war, Japanese Americans scattered throughout the Western U.S. I grew up in South-Central Los Angeles, a cultural fusion over the decades of middle-class European Americans, black migrants from the South and Latino immigrants.  The once-thriving Japanese American enclave in the Crenshaw district –with its down-home sushi joints, summer festivals and obon folk dances (See a similar obon dance in ObamaLand, Hawaii) -- was a cultural sanctuary and an economic hamlet for Japanese American small businesses.  But it died long ago, as my generation found the suburbs, middle-class jobs and interracial marital bliss.  The early waves of Japanese immigrants and their entrepreneurial drive symbolize the vast ethnic and demographic forces growing stronger by the day in the U.S.  Those same forces are cascading worldwide, transforming cities, nations, the economy.  The local tales and global story are playing out on millions of like stages.

 

(Crenshaw Square from ww.LAist.com.)

 

 

In a rite of passage, I spent part of my early career tracing the family arc, hounding my parents for shards of their personal histories.  Spring pilgrimages to the windswept Manzanar site.  A trek to Japan, to Buddhist temples and family farms in the green hills of Wakayama and Okayama.   Closure came with President Reagan signing the historic redress bill in 1988 that gave each interned Japanese American $20,000 for what legal scholars call the greatest civil rights violation of U.S. citizens in our nation's history.  A generation of economic dreams deferred, though not killed.  During pilgrimages, Grandma always brought cool water to the Manzanar cemetery.  The spirits are thirsty, she told my aunt.  Beyond the politics of identity, my soul-searching and dusty boxes of documents honored the ghosts and their legacies.  It was time to move on.

 

- Edward Iwata

(Cemetery monument at Manzanar military internment camp in California's Mojave Desert.  Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.)