Discussions

1. The greater the risk, the greater the potential reward. One company that is a global player is AT&T. Recently, AT&T announced an interest to buy Time-Warner company for $85,400,000,000.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-ceo-says-time-warner-deal-not-about-raising-prices-1477421070

The core of AT&T's technology is to connect people in the same town to the next state to the next country. Superficially, this merger will create a larger powerhouse, offer more value for shareholders. What will end up happening if the deal is approved is that consumers will have less choices, not more, if the Sherman Act of 1890 is not enforced. On one hand, more people worldwide will have access to the Time-Warner-AT&T collection of products, on the other hand, there will be less choice.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/antitrust-laws

2. Class, thanks for the insightful remarks on global linkages. Class, we can consider a recent event in an example with Brexit. Britain's departure from the EU amplifies the risk/reward associated with economic unions between countries. As I spoke with an Uber driver from Romania while I was in London during the summer, he expressed his frustration with Brexit. His contention was that England wanted to have more control to deport foreign workers.

Generally, with global linkages, it is necessary for the country to conduct an inventory of needs and wants. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a controversial union with our neighbors Canada and Mexico. Class, it is also important to do a risk assessment on the political impact, economic and cultural market. There are substantial risks on cultural awareness and sensitivity. Cultural awareness and sensitivity are certainly important to ensure global success. For example. cultural ethnocentrism presents a challenge, since it is the tendency to believe that aspects of one's culture are superior to another. The prevalence of consumer ethnocentrism makes the task of global linkages more difficult, since it comes at the detriment of potential partners.

3. lass, companies involved in international trade conduct continuing scans of the enduring sets of environmental factors, which include the following: cultural, social, technological, economic, competitive, and regulatory forces.

Particularly, marketers must be very sensitive to the cultural and technological environment of different societies if they are to initiate and consummate mutually beneficial exchange relationships with global consumers.

4. Very good, Shumirai and class. A controversial trade treaty is TPP.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the largest regional trade accord in history, would set new terms for trade and business investment among the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations - a far-flung group with an annual gross domestic product of nearly $28 trillion that represents roughly 40 percent of global G.D.P. and one-third of world trade.

Supporters say that it would be a boon for all the nations involved, that it would "unlock opportunities" and "address vital 21st-century issues within the global economy," and that it is written in a way to encourage more countries, possibly even China, to sign on.

Opponents in the United States see the pact as mostly a giveaway to business, encouraging further export of manufacturing jobs to low-wage nations while limiting competition and encouraging higher prices for pharmaceuticals and other high-value products by spreading American standards for patent protections to other countries.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/business/tpp-explained-what-is-trans-pacific-partnership.html?_r=0