COURSE EVALUATION

To start I want to recognize that I liked a lot the mothodology and content of the course, because It gave us the oportunity of exploring a region deeply and also learn about the investigations of our classmates, who also did exelent jobs, and showed us the most important facts and characteristics of the world in general. To reforce this presentations, the teacher complemented in the next following class with topics that werent touched and with others also very important, giving a complete general view of the countries or continents.
With the presentation we also had the opportunity of researching the topics that were of our interest, we didnt had to follow some specif themes, we had the freedom to choose and I liked this a lot because we presented actual topics and that were interesting for us. The presentations invited us to participate because each one had to invent an activity or game and usually they were very good and fun.
The research proposal is an important investigation and with a methodology that we hadnt worked before so it was very interesting. After lots of mistakes finally I think that I learned how to do the academic references... this was very important at the moment of a grade.
I liked a lot the always disposition of the teacher to answer our questions and give us orientations in our research proposals.
It is a very interesting course were you learn a lot, I recomend it for anyone who wants to also have a good experience of the cultures of the world

INDIA

India was a United Kingdom colony, it is one of the countries with more population in the world, it has the 15% of world’s population. It has borders with Pakistan, Nepal, and China. It is one of the economies with major economic growth and one of the most promising big economies of the world.

In India you still can see a lot of women discrimination. Even for foreign women it is recommended to avoid initiating handshake with Indian men and to avoid public contact with them. Titles are very important in India and touching someone else’s head should be absolutely avoided.

Questions:

1- According to Gangury.Scrase & Scrase (1999) had globalization in India provided significant improvement of living for lower income workers by 1999? justify.

The globalization has influence pretty much the social life within India,culturally and also economically, but what they call liberalization in kind of contradictory, no matter the lower income salaried workers thanks to the liberalization evoque an improvement in the way of living and and inprovement in standars of living, but the real truth is that liberalization, bring mor poor to the poorest, but only favor a real minority of whealthy people.

2- How is the situation for workers in India today? provide references.

Thanks to the foreign investment and the implementation of multinational enterprises the quality of labour is really improved and also availlable across the country.
"Compliance with various social security acts among the units was not satisfactory. Among the various social security acts, the incidence of compliance was highest in the case of the Employees’ Provident Fund Act. Coverage under the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme was the lowest. In terms of the benefits under these acts, homeworkers were at a disadvantage vis-àvis workers on industrial premises. Coverage of the former category of workers was much lower by the units which employed them, compared to those working in industrial premises. Among the units covered under the Employees’ Provident Fund Act, 46 per cent of the units extended the benefits to homeworkers. As for bonus payments, 55 per cent of the paying units also paid them to homeworkers. Similar percentages for the units covered under the Gratuity Act and the Group Insurance Scheme (Employees’ State Insurance Scheme) are 25 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. Among the units paying DA as a separate component, 49 per cent were paying to both industrial and home workers. Only 62 per cent of those units offering maternity benefits to female workers were offering such benefits to homeworkers. The high proportion of female workers among the homeworkers (compared to those working in sheds/industrial premises) explains their relatively higher share among those getting receiving benefits. Workers working in the industrial premises were better off than the homeworkers in terms of coverage under these benefits."

Taken From:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/papers/food/wp202.pdf

3- How cultural globalisation has effected India in the last 2 decades?

In the last 2 decades India has change culturally a lot, because values has change and has been transformed by expousure to the western media in other words they have a expousure to the television, but far away from there, thanks to the foreing investment and teh mixture of cultures that comes from abroad, Indias has become a diverse country. Also mixture has evolved in the major cities avoiding the forced marriage, for the notion of free love, divorces are starting to show up, and also relationship outside the marriage are taking place.But the clear thing that makes people think that Indian culture is changing is that values and belief like, idealism, karma, dharma, vegetarianism, religios are in decadence thank to the westernization.

Taken from:
Gangury-Scrase & Scrase (1999)://sociology.snu.ac.kr/isdpr/publication/journal/28-2/5Ruchira.pdf

4- Describe India's Green revolution.

This term comprends from 197 to 1978, and from 1947 and 1967, the efforts towar a food self sufficiency didnt filled the expectations. Efforts on expanding the farming areas were largely concentrated until 1967. No matter that deah thanks to the starvation still shown up. If this would be perfect people should grow in a faster rate taht a food production, this was the case of Malthusian economics, and allso called for a fast action to increas yield, and this action is what is know the green revolution.

No matter this, is good to know that "green revolution" is a general term which is applied to a successful agricultural experiments is not specific to India. No matter that India have been the most successful one.

The "green revolution" in compound of three main elements:

1. Continued expansion of farming areas
2. Double-cropping existing farmland
3. Using seeds with improved genetics.

Taken from:
India one stop. (2000). "Green Revolution". http://www.indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm#What. Accessed 18 May, 2009.

5- Did the british Raj enriched or impoversih India?

During this period, the country suffer of famine, a lot of people die, but this wasnt the only problem deseases start killing people along the country and cholera began being a pandemic. The country starts with a social and economic disaster.

Image: https://download.yousendit.com/U0d5WmdndWNHa09Ga1E9PQ

LATIN AMERICA

In this class we talked about latin America and the diferences of the countries even though we are in the same continent.
In Latin-America it does not exist politics coordination between the States. It does not exist a “Latin-American consensus”, each nation has its own criteria to solve the problematic and to take decisions.
In Latin-America there exist 3 political regimes:

• Center Left: The countries are Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Gutemala. Political formations of moderate left, moved away of the revolutionary left or the Communism, includes the social democracy, the social christianism and the socio liberalism, defends the mixed economy and regulation of the market to guarantee equality.
  


• Radical left: The countries are Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba. Their policies turn around the equality, based in Stalinists, Marxist, Leninists theories and Trotskism, total opposition to Capitalism, tendencies to Populism, distribution of the richness only freed to the free game of the forces of the market, only will produce inequity that will take to low income sectors of the population to be excluded.
  Latin-America is facing a phenomenon of authoritarian governments with authoritarian regimes that are applying undemocratic practices , the State is everything and only it defines who is friend and who is enemy.
  


• Center right: The countries are Colombia, Peru, Mexico. They have more preservative ideas, although without going to the ends, they are not radically conservative, they are in favor of the free market.

In Latin-America exists diversity in politics, in the way the countries are being governed, but it is important to mention that in the next two years could happen a very interesting political change in the region, due to the elections in many of the countries.

Latin America has some Integration Agreements like ALADI, CARICOM, CAN, ALCA, MERCOSUR, SELA.
The population of Latin America is a composite of ancestries, ethnic groups, and races, making the region one of the most diverse in the world. The mixture of indigenous and European cultures created the mestizo.

QUESTION: According to Burlyai (2001) how has been the process of integration in Latin America? :

The process of integration has been every time more economic dependent "in the U.S, and this will lead in the mid and long term to a closer orientation on Washingtons policy course. Some particular importance attaches to integration processes in latin America, process based on the "open regionalis" principle as well as a wish for greater diversification of extra-regional ties.

Latin America Integration Association (LAIA) is one of the conduits for initiative, is one of the boggest and most authoritative regionnal organisations geared mostly to he creation of a Latin America common market.Latin America has show some interest in scientific an technical sphere, is know that is looking for differente aliances and common work with different countries.

The western Hemisphere aspires to becoming the world first area of "solid integration" creating Inter America Free trade zone on 2005, From Alaska to tierra del fuego"

Bibliography: Integration Processes in the Western Hemisphere. International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy & International Relations, 2002, Vol. 48 Issue 5, p36-43.

2- According to at least other 3 additional academic sources, please explain how regional (economic or political) agreements in the Latin-American region have affected the way of doing business in the region. (Provide full reference)

All the regional agreements have affected Latin America’s way of doing business reinforcing each countries political view. The agreements have consolidated and have made more concentrated the different political blocks. Colombia and Mexico with an international perspective that grasps scenarios beyond Latin America. With their liberal policies and world wide relationships. And countries like Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, with their socialist tendencies, enclosing and consolidating themselves as the new main actors in the Latin Americas.

Even so, we can observe agreements such as the Trade Benefit programs (like CAN) that have helped in great manner the development of several industries within the Latin American sphere.

In the present time it is common to analyze the importance and great role that different Free Trade Agreements are having in the foreign national policies as ways to progress, but again, each country by itself.

It would be an interesting strategy to face FTA’s with Latin American countries as consolidated blocks offering to the international community such as USA or EU or even ASEAN more stability and opportunities.

Mexico for example has opted for completely solitaire move. It decided to be separated from Latin America and be part of North America thru agreements such as NAFTA, with excellent results for it.

But this regarding the Northern Latin American countries. The MERCOSUR with members with such potential like Brazil, Chile and Argentina, show a more cooperative strategy, reinforcing and gaining stability and international credibility due to their combined strengths.

Bibliography:
Schelhase, Marc. 2009. "The regionalisation of organised business interests in the Mercosur: an empirical case study and some theoretical observations." International Studies Association. Page: 1-29.

Burlyai, Jan. 2002. Integration Processes in the Western Hemisphere. “International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy & International Relations”., Vol. 48 Issue 5, p36-43

Bussey, Jane. 2008. "Businesses want stability in Andean trade pact." Miami Herald.

Image: www.ohio.edu/latinamerican/IMAGE/LA.jpg

MAIN ISSUES FOR EUROPE

1) How is the EU leading the fight against climate change?

The EU implements a series of measures that according the United Nations convention to combat climate change and the Kyoto Protocol, sets examples to the rest of the world on efficient ways to manage and prevent the long term situation of climate change. Some examples of these, can be the programs on how to measures the effective efforts to reduce the emission of CO2 and increase the implementation of biofuels to power industries. One of the most exemplifying reason on why is the EU leading the fight against climate change, is how its industries pushed the reduction rate on the emission of CO2 from 5%, set on the Kyoto Protocol, to an average of 8% on the entire European industries.

2) How is Europe managing its migration flows?

The east of Europe is the major border of migration of the continent, they estimate that 1.600.000 migrate annually illegally and others estimate that this number ascends to 3 million. To prevent illegal migration what they are trying to do is to promote legal migration. In Moldova they established an office where they offer legal papers and jobs to the migrants who fulfil all the requirements of the office. The illegal migration occurs a lot by Chop that is located y Ukraine border and by Odessa, and it is a problem because it causes conflict and persecution.
To manage this flows, they created the Border Guards. Their main function is to control illegal immigration by fighting against criminal networks that benefit from trafficking people. They also have detention centers for illegal migrants where they fast return them to their country of origin and they give them advises and contact them with employers

3) What are the main challenges for an ageing workforce in Europe?

Europe is becoming a place where there is not enough people to work, to run a country, to pay for the maintenance and development of the continent, and to produce. The life expectancy is going higher, so the main issue of this problem is economic; they are going to need more money to pay for the pension and retire of all these old people.
To win this battle, they have to promote the health, the skills and working capacity of all citizens as they age and like this, the old can be active workers instead of retired. They also have to create suitable working conditions and employments for older people.

4) How European business could overcome the challenges of balancing the interests of cultural diversity and nationalist interests?

In the specific case of Europe, and to be even more precise, the EU, nationalist interests aren’t at all, what they could have been at some time. The European nationalist interests, look upon the interest of a numerous of countries that all have decided to work together. It is responsibility of each European leader to show to the world the prominence and efficiency of the European workforce, by this we all summing a workforce so broad that could easily enrapture almost 15 strong and economically sustainable countries. So actually which and where can the difference from nationalist o diversity interests are seen? But it is the characteristic of the European leaders what make them so special and gives them that extra something capable of managing the situations they do. Diversity, for any company that orderly and properly manages its flow of creation, is well known to be a great asset, for European companies this isn`t the exception, in all knowing that Europeans by culture are a society driven by well calculated times and precise actions, are also experts in efficiency and doing the job well done. So, it isn`t very difficult for a European manager to balance its nationalist and diverse interests, because its only interest is ending the day with another dollar, without it mattering where was it produced.

SIRYANA

This movie is one of those that require a lot of attention to understand how all the stories that are tell in it are related to each other as the movie goes on. Syriana is a very good example of how government and companies’ decisions can affect the people around them even though they aren’t connected directly to them.The truth about the market of oil is something that almost anybody know and understand, that universal fight to exploit this resource has bring a lot of consequences in the economy of several countries for many reasons: if they are the countries with his resource they have to make the hard decision of how are going to exploit this oil, and if it is someone from outside, who, because from this decision all his commercial decision are going to be affected, so in this case the decision of let Killen company exploit this resource will affect not only their economy but also the economy of United States because of its intervention in this difficult Market, but like Danny Dalton of the movie says: “Corruption ain’t nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. “This movie also teaches us something that we have always known but not always apply. Do not judge people that you don’t know, and in this case with the prince we learn that even in a big scenario this will apply too. We also see how this apply when Bob Barnes realizes that the company that hi has been working his all life is lying to him and it isn’t the first time, and you see how big is the disappointment when you see that the reasons that you work for aren’t real.We can also see how no matter what we think discrimination in these times is still real and affect a lot of people in different countries and doesn’t let them have normal lives.

Image: http://case.oncle-tom.net/images/Cinema/resume-mars-avril-mai-2006/syriana-affiche.jpg

OCEANIA

In this class we learned about some countries in Oceania like New Zeland, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

NEW ZELAND: Its capital is Wellington, Its Government: parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy and the head of State: Queen Elizabeth II .
His culture is derived from British roots. Māori culture has undergone considerable change since the arrival of Europeans; in particular the introduction of Christianity in the early 19th century.
Sport has a major role in New Zealand's culture. The rugby is one of the most important sports.
New Zealanders are: sophisticated, highly educated urban dwellers and are members of multicultural society.
In business agreements and proposals must state all points clearly. All terms and conditions should be explained in detail. Start your negotiations with a realistic figure. Since this is not a bargaining culture, Kiwis look for value for their money.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: its capital is Port Moresby. The Government is Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary System the head of State: Queen Elizabeth II.
People typically live in villages or dispersed hamlets which rely on the subsistence farming of sweet potatoes and taro, It is estimated that more than 1000 different cultural groups exist in PNG, and most groups have their own language.
In certain parts of the country a groom must bring a bride price to the wedding ceremony. In some cases this is paid in golden-edged clam shells.

AUSTRALIA: Its capital is Canberra, its Government: Federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy its Monarch is Queen Elizabeth II.
Australians prefer people who are modest, humble, self- deprecating and with a sense of humor.
Negotiating with them: Australians are very direct in the way they communicate.There is often an element of humour, often self-deprecating, in their speech. Punctuality is important in business situations. It is better to arrive a few minutes early than to keep someone waiting.
Australian leaders show higher levels of egalitarianism in their cultural and leadership.
They have some agreements to increase their foreing relations like :
•ASEAN
•ANZUS
•Commonwealth of nations
•WTO
•OECD

QUESTIONS:
What were the main findings on Baird et al (2007)?
"The most prominent characteristic of Australian organizational culture was Outcome Orientation (Performance Orientation in Sarros et al., 2002), followed by Respect for People, with Stability and Innovation being the least prominent characteristics in both studies. The high ranking of Outcome Orientation, a cultural factor characterised by values of having high expectations for performance and being results and action oriented, bodes well for the
success of Australian business if, as theorised, organizational culture is an important determinant of managers’ and employees’ work attitudes, decisions and behaviour and, ultimately, an organization’s financial performance.
Less auspicious is the low ranking of Innovation, a cultural factor characterised by a willingness to experiment, being innovative, being quick to take advantage of opportunities, and risk taking"

How does the culture of Australian organizations relate to their strategy?
"Organizations of the prospector strategic type were characterised by organizational cultures higher on Innovation and Outcome Orientation than defenders, and defenders were characterised by cultures higher on Stability.
The implication for organizations is that we provide empirical support for the theoretical contention that culture needs to be aligned with strategic type, and that organizations seeking particular strategies need to consider the issue of whether their culture is conducive to, or can be moulded to be conducive to, the desired strategy."

Bibligraphy: The culture of Australian organizations and its relation with strategy. International Journal of Business Studies, 15 (1). 15-41), Baird, Kevin; Harriso, Graeme & Robert Reeve. 2007 pag 19-22

How does Roy Green (2009)’s article relates to Australian culture and Australian organisations?
"Australia's national innovation system is the recognition that a revival of productivity growth - and future competitive advantage for Australian firms - will largely be driven by knowledge and innovation. There is no point in establishing any new innovation policy architecture unless it promotes enhanced innovative capability and performance, including carbon neutrality, at the level of the enterprise and workplace, support for organisational innovation is particularly cost-effective because it addresses the challenge of linking short-term recovery to the longer-term development of a more dynamic, competitive and environmentally sustainable, knowledge-based economy."

Bibliography: Innovation the key to recovety. The Australian. 1st April 2009, Green, Roy (2009). pg 1-3

AFRICA

In this class we discussed Africa and its people wich are the 14.8% of the world's human population. Although it is the 2nd largest continent, its population density in some regions is rather low. This is due in part to the Sahara Desert, which occupies one-fourth of Africa's landmass and is not suitable for habitation.
Many people tend to generalize Africa as if it was one. But for a better understanding of Africa, It is very important to point out that Africa is a continent and not a country. More than 2000 ethnic groups live in Africa, each one with its own diverse culture and ideology.

*The climate of Africa ranges from tropical to subarctic on its highest peaks. Its northern half is primarily desert or arid, while its central and southern areas contain both savanna plains and very dense jungle (rainforest) regions.

Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continent, due to a variety of causes:
-Spread of deadly diseases and viruses (HIV, malaria),
-corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations, failed central planning,
-high levels of illiteracy,
-lack of access to foreign capital,
-frequent tribal and military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide), vand, malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation, as well as poor health.
Africa is also the richest continent for diamond mining, accounting for roughly 49% of world production.
Their cultura is characterized by conflicted responses to Arab nationalism and European imperialism.
Their religion is closely associated with African peoples' concepts of ethnic identity, language and culture, their beliefs and practice have also had an impact outside of Africa. Just as trade from Asia and Europe helped to facilitate the spread of Islam and Christianity in Africa.

QUESTION: What is the place of Black Africans on Management today?

"Since 1994 South African companies made efforts to include in management structures people from the multiplicity on ethnic gropus in the country. The country has witnessed a new wave of black ownership and control of business. Although they have been changes in the previously disadvantage groups, management structure are still the domain of white males.
Estimates indicate that 2.5% of management positions are ocuppied by Black Africans"

Bibliography: Thomas, Adele & Bendixen, Mike. 2000. The Management Implications of Ethnicity in South Africa. Journal of International Business Studies, 31 (3): 507-31, pg 3-4

NORTH AMERICA

In this class we talked about Canada, Mexico and United States.

United States consists of 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii. The Government: The President and vice president are elected by the people, to a four-year term; limited to two terms and the presidential election is held every four years; members of the Senate are elected for six-year terms, members of the House of Representatives for two-year terms.
We also discuss some of their culture
•Food – Influenced by the European immigrants with for example fried chicken, pizza and hamburgers.
•Obesity – One of the largest health problems in the United States today
•Increasing the amount and quality of physical education and activity in schools and childcare programs
•Increasing access to safe, accessible places for physical
•Since 1900, USA has dominated the global film industry
•Work is success and with a high tempo
•The success of the individual is what counts
Hard work but with a sence of humor

Is the largest economiy of the world, is a very important nation for international trade and multinational. Their biggest export partners are Canada and Mexico and the main products are industrial supplies, production machinery and equipment.

Canada: Is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. The constitution is the supreme law of the country, and consists of written text and unwritten conventions. Their economy:
•Is one of the world's wealthiest nations.
•Since the early 1990s, the Canadian economy has been growing rapidly, with low unemployment and large government surpluses on the federal level.
As with other first world nations, the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about three quarters of Canadians.

Canadians are more reserved and polite than Americans, and take matters of etiquette a little more seriously.
Business communication is quite direct in Canada, but more reserved than in the United States.

Mexico: Is located in middles America, their government is based on a congressional system, whereby the president of Mexico is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party electoral system.
•Is 10th to 12th largest in the world.
•The economy contains rapidly developing modern industrial and service sectors, with increasing private ownership.
•Punctuality is expected of foreign businesspeople. Your Mexican counterpart may be late or keep you waiting.
•Spanish is the language of business. You may need to hire an interpreter (preferably a native speaker who understands the language as it is spoken in Mexico).

QUESTION:Compare the process of standardization across inter and intra cultural relationship in Canada, Mexico and United States?

Type 1 (United States and Canada)
"Intra-cultural research within a Type 1 culture indicates that trust relies on the formation of one partner's expectations about the motives and behaviours of another.
Within this cultural type, members do not inherently trust one another to behave non opportunistically. Within inter-cultural relationships, when an out-group member, or one who is not perceived to be part of an individual's relevant membership group, establishes a long-term relationship with a Type 2 culture member they may become accepted and treated as an in-group
Members in Intra-cultural relationships show that relationships between Type 1 culture partners demonstrates that commitment among members leads to greater satisfaction. They found that the stronger a partner's commitment to the relationship, the less likely he/she was to end the relationship.
The consequences of trust and commitment conceived in intra-cultural relationships, in this culture are transferable to other nations within a cultural type, but are not entirely appropriate in other cultural types.
The development of trust and commitment in inter-cultural channel relationships may create in-group status for Type 1 culture partners. Inter-cultural relationships have significantly stronger consequences for commitment, suggestive of a more intimate relationship, which in turn changes the responsibilities, and applicable influence strategies, of a participating channel member"

Type 2 (Mexico)
Inter-cultural: "Type 2 cultures, through their inherent interdependency, place a high degree of trust in, and are strongly committed to, other in-group members, are stronger and more intimate than relationships formed within Type 1 cultures. When an inter cultural relationship is formed, the Type 2 culture member will tend to view the relationship under the same commitment expectations with the new partner as with other in-group members, employ obliging, avoiding, integrating and compromising styles to resolve conflict and to preserve relationships. Intercultural relationships formed between members from a Type 1 culture and a Type 2 culture is more intimate than intra-cultural relationships formed in a Type 1 culture. When an inter-cultural relationship is formed, the Type 2 culture member may accept the out-group member into the in-group, they are strongly committed to other in-group members.
When relationships are formed in an inter-cultural level Type 2 culture partners are more tolerant of their partners"

Bibliography: Griffith, David A. 2000.Journal of International Business Studies, 2000 Vol. 31 Issue 2, p303-324

QUESTION: How does culture influence on managerial choice in United States?

It influences the firm's environment and human international relations. "Hofstede based on cultural means explains that a better understanding of cross-cultural business phenomena needs to include cultural heterogeneity, conceptualized as intra-cultural variation, as an important variable of study. The majority of business literature comes from the United States is well known, and ethnocentrism may pose some difficulties in applying this literature to other countries.
The development of constructs and concepts is highly influenced by the culture and the Language in which they are developed. The firm is the unit of analysis; specifically, firm ownership issued to extrapolate cross-cultural differences in managerial choice. This choice is based on the subject studied-employee benefit plans"

Bibliography: Oliver, Elizabeth Goad; Cravens, Karen S. 1999. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 30 Issue 4, p745-762,

EUROPE

In this class we talked about the ancient empires and cultures of Europe:

• Greece: The Greeks belonged to a number of tribes with different languages. Sporting contests were held every four years in his sanctuary at Olympia in honor of Zeus, the Father of the Gods, they stated that the people, that is, the city’s inhabitants, should decide the city’s affairs themselves, two thing united the Greeks: their religion and their sport.
• The Romans: They never gave up. Not even when their city was captured and burnt to the ground by tribesmen from the north called Gauls, in 390.
  By 395 CE, the Roman empire didn’t only have two capitals, it had two states:
  *the Western Empire, consisting of Italy, Gaul, Britannia, Spain and North Africa, where people spoke Latin
  *the Eastern Empire, consisting of Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece and Macedonia, where they spoke Greek.
  In both states Christianity became the official religion from 380 onwards.
  -The western empire falls.
  -Dark Ages? This is the name given to the period which followed the collapse of the Roman empire when very few people could read or write and hardly anyone knew what was going on in the world.

The rebirth:
Suddenly, in about 1420 CE, the Florentines noticed that they were no longer the people they had been in the Middle Ages, people suddenly felt they were witnessing a rebirth or Rinascimento of the ancient.

QUESTION: What is the challange of the European Union companies?

The real challenge for these companies is face the diversity challenge,
Europe is in a much more complex situation that all the companies in the world that also face this challenge.
"Diversity issues, according to any human resources management or organizational behavior textbook, traditionally include local minorities, gender, disability, sexual orientation and the like. Obviously, Europe faces all of these, but if we see Europe as a single economic entity, unlike other economies, it also faces diversity issues in several additional dimensions.
There are significant differences in national culture across a wide spectrum of issues, including perspectives on time, individualism versus collectivism, tolerance of uncertainty, emotional expressiveness and gender-role differentiation.
There are also important religious differences a dominant religion has an unavoidable impact on the way people work in organizations, affecting values, beliefs, attitudes and behavior.
Europe is also multilingual, and there is still no common language that can be used with equal ease in its different parts."

Bibligraphy: Vries_Insead_Korotov_2006,The future of European buiness leadership, pg 3.

MIDDLE EAST

The Middle East has mainly a hot climate and in many areas it has arid lands due to extreme heat. Still there is also fresh weather in the Mediterranean coast. Is a strategic land economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive. It also has a very diverse population. Some of it ethnicities are Arab, Persian, Armenian, African, Turks, Greek, African and Jewish.

The economy of this region is very diverse, iy has positive growth. The country with the highest GDP per capita is Qatar with USD 103.500 for 2008 and the one with the less GDP per capita is Yemen with USD 2400. The largest Economies in the region are: Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The women in Meddle East are still very discriminated and women are barred from some professions, there are new opportunities in entrepreneurial ground. Although important achievements have been made by women like: Advances in the Chambers of Commerce and
OECD’s Centre for Entrepreneurship.

We also discussed some of the most important facts of the principal countries:

DUBBAI: has a Class-based society, Football and cricket are the most popular sports in Dubai.

QATAR: His bases its government in the Sharia Law and the majority of its citizens follow Hanbali Madhhab that is a school of religious law that teaches the body of the religion (Sharia). All the citizens are regulated by this law. The majority of the citizens are Sunni Muslims (Wahhabis) but there is a large minority of Shi'a Muslims.

YEMEN: About one-fourth of the gross domestic product is derived from agriculture. However, the nation imports more than sixty percent of its food needs. Religiously speaking Yemenis observe the Five Pillars of Islam, including five prayers a day and a daytime fast during the month of Ramadan. The weekly day of rest is Friday.

ISRAEL: His capital is Jerusalem, the government is a Parliamentary Democracy. Most of the population has similar living standards, is the 2nd country with highest US cooperation

QUESTION: How the Islamic finances affects the Middle East completely?

"Anyone who seeks to work in the Islamic world should be interested in this area, because it s booming, understanding Islamic finance is highly valued in the marketplace.

Islamic finance resurfaced in the 1970s and was updated in the wake of the oil boom in the Middle East.
Today, there`s an increasing number of financial products and services available that are
compliant with Islamic finance. Rising petroleum prices, increased attention on the Middle East as a result of politics, and competition between Bahrain and Dubai for the title of Middle Eastern financial center are other factors contributing to the economic surge"

Bibliografia:
http://web.ebscohost.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/ehost/delivery?vid=15&hid. Dimeglio 2007, pg 2

SOUTH ASIA.

As we saw in class, this subregion includes the Four of the Five “Tigers” or also known as NICs.
We discuss the general facts and the business culture of the most important countries of this subregion:
MALAYSIA
Is a multi racial country, the Chinese control the economy, they have a balance between the social and the politics. The business culture is dominates by religion in the country imposes several restrictions, especially to women. However, they have an important role in the world of business, Like the weather is warm and wet the people wear clothes made of light cotton. The women should wear long sleeve shirts and long skirts, in discreet colors. They do not drink alcohol, and do not eat pork .
SINGAPORE
It's one of the countries with more growth and development, The incomes are mainly the result of the manufacture and exports of high technological products, financial services, and the tourism. In the business culture the traditions and the religion interferes constantly in the business environment , business card are essential for the business meetings, the business dinners are well received, nevertheless you have to consider which kind of food is forbidden by the different religions.
INDONESIA
In the business culture they attempts to accelerate the negotiations could be seen as if the other one is hiding something, the negotiation with Indonesian are very slow, they try first to establish a solid relationship with the people they are business with. Due to this negotiation style they lose a lot of business opportunities.
THAILAND
Thailand was one of East Asia's best performers from 2002-2004 . Their business culture is based on history and religion
VIETNAM.
Is a member of the Asean and joins the WTO, deep poverty.

QUESTION: How is the relationhip between China and Vietnam actually?
"The Vietnamese government is nervous about public criticism of China. It recently banned a bi-weekly newspaper called Du lich (Tourism) for three months for running a series of articles about territorial disputes between the two countries. The explanation is that China is Vietnam’s biggest trading partner. Vietnam also runs a massive trade deficit with its neighbour and has been pushing China’s government to invest more in the country to offset the deficit. With foreign direct investment 40% lower in the first quarter of 2009 than it was a year before—and most rich nations short of cash—Vietnam needs Chinese money now more than ever. "

Bibliografia:http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13527969

CHINA

In this class we discussed about the people and the grwoth of the economy in the Republic of China through the transition to capitalism.

They stared talking about the background of China, some important data are:

*Overpopulation

*Big and cheap labor force.

*Totalitarian government.

*Human right accusations.

*Low cost in manufacture.

We also talk about the problems that China has been trough to achieve the economic Growth they have now, like the pressure of USA, taxes, antitrade policies. Besides the pressure of countries like USA, the capitalism has had some influences in this country:

*GDP in 2020 could be of 4 trillions of USD, 4 times de actual size.
*Medium class (USD $18-36,000) growth of a 40% for 2020. Total of 520,000,000.
* Economic growth of 9% per year since 1978.
*40% of the worlds iron is being consumed by China.
*60% of GDP is private companies.
*2004 The parliament said; “the private property is untouchable”. New rich people appeared.

In trade with China you have to take in account
*Socialism vs capitalism: that its still not a totally capitalist country in all their regions, therefore you have to be careful when doing business
*Good image vs Bad experience: Not all that shines is gold. Sometimes good prices are not enough to do business, lots of their products have bad quality

QUESTION: Is now China reaching out to the world?

"A more potent story that is only just starting to be articulated is that China is going out to the world. Indeed, China is rising—some say has already risen—to become the newest great power. Do not yet think of it as a global one. Even if commercial and diplomatic tentacles stretch increasingly round the world, the main site of China's power, for decades to come, will be in its Asian backyard.
America, more than most countries, sees Chinese power as coercive. For now, though, it is clear that President Hu Jintao and the rest of the Chinese “fourth-generation” leadership are seeking to soothe neighbors—even Taiwan—by emphasizing money and ideas over guns.
With a trade-to-GDP ratio of around 70% and a sea of foreign investment, China is one of the world's most open economies. Much of the growth in America's bilateral deficit with China reflects a shift in low-cost manufacturing from other parts of Asia to the Chinese mainland.
China's presence as a commercial force is rapidly being felt around the world, through its growing investments overseas and through an apparently insatiable hunger for resources to fuel the industrial revolution at home."

Biblografia: http://www.economist.com/specialreports/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8880918

EAST ASIA

In this exposition they gave us a great introduction to this beautiful region of the world.
Historically, many societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, and East Asian vocabulary and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script.
The combination of language, political philosophy, and religion (as well as art, architecture, holidays and festivals, etc.) in this sub region overlaps with the geographical designation of East Asia for the most part.
We describe some of the most important political entities of this region like:
People Republic of China
•Japan
• South Korea (Republic of Korea)
• North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)
• Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Mongolia
• Siberia, Russia (considered either East Asia or North Asia)
They explained to us the generalities of this countries and their economies, they also talked about the importance of knowing how to negotiate with people from different places.
For example when you are doing business with japanese we should: Show gratitude, Only call Japanese by its first name if him invite you to do so. Do not apologize if you do not really mean it.
Doing Business with Koreans: They generally like to discuss business with people of the same rank that they belong in the company, they like business people to say nice things about Korea, they negotiate thinking about the benefits for its country, for the company and for the group.
The differences between Amercian and Japanese management style :
•Japanese style more effective: concern for staff, skills and style
•American supervisory style should change from authoritarian to democratic approach.
•Japanese management styles is being adopted in different countries because of its success.

QUESTION: Which are de most distinctive points between Japanese and Korean management?
"There are three important points:
1. The lifetime employment system in Korean firms is flexible. Korean workers tend to change job more freely.
2. Top management in koreas forms tend to be authoritarian, and important decisions are made mostly by top management
3. Most large Korean firms belonging to Chaebol are managed by the family members of the founders"

Biblography:Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies, pg 4.

PARAISO TRAVEL

This movie is a very good example of how people do anything to accomplish the "american dream" and once they reach it is not like they though.

We can see from a very good perspective what is the reality that people that try to go for "el hueco" have to deal with in their travel to United States, the horrible things they have to do and how they are deceptive by the same people that promise them the arrival.

Although some people may think that this is a love movie because man does anything to be with a girl, is a more complex history where we can see the true behind illegal immigration. We can see some people getting trough the desaster like "la caleña" finding what she thinks is the perfect job, but we also see how the dreams of many are kill even before they get into United States and once they get there everything is even worse.

The protagonist of this movie is a clear example of how people dont appriciate why thay have in their own country and try to make the best of it, instead they rather go for the familiare American Dream that according to them it will lead them to happiness.

This is a really good movie because it give us an inside of an imigrant in USA, how they can go to sleep with hungry, struggles to get a job and find a decent place to sleep (if they arent deported first), but it also show us that no matter where you are you have to do what you can to survive, and think in what your people, your city teach you can help (like selling things in the bathroom) and if you are lucky you will find people to help you, only to find out that is people from the place you left because it wasnt enought...then you miss home.

MIGRATION AND EXPATRIATES

In this class we difined migration as the movement of people from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up permanent or semipermanent residence and Expatriates as a person who lives or works outside of his or her own home country on a non-permanent basis.
We also talk of some types like internal and external migration, emigration, immigration, step migration, chain migration.
People Migrate because of two factors: Pull or push.

• Some push factors are: economic, political, cultural, and environmentally based. Not enough jobs, few oportunities, pollution, slavery.
• Some pull factors are:
  economic, political, cultural, and environmentally based. Job opportunities, security, family links, enjoy, education.

We discuses the meaning and importance of Remittances: Transfers of money by immigrants to their home countries. Three largest recipients of remittances among developing countries: India, China and Mexico.

The problem with remittances is the lack of control. There isnt a system to the accountancy of all the remittances flows, is Outside the conventional banking system and Money laundering and terrorism financing.

QUESTION: What was the reason of the liberalization of Canadian inmigration policy?

"Was the result of the country’s greater post-Holocaust commitment to equality and human rights. It was also, quite fundamentally and perhaps inevitably, a concession to “push” factors—
here making some restless to leave home, and there making others content to stay—
operating in the post-war world.
Post-war immigrants have tended to come from developing societies: these societies produce the kind of human capital that has sought out Canada and that Canada has in turn sought out. Developing societies—or those already advanced societies beset by war, economic recession, or political instability—have, in the last quarter century, produced a match between local “push” and Canadian “pull” factors which has engendered human movement."

Bibliografia: Verbeeten, David. 2007. The Past and Future of Immigration to Canada. Journal of International Migration & Integration, pag 6.