Category: Economics

North and South Korea remain the only divided nation since the divisions caused by the Cold War. Nowadays on the news, we get the feeling that they’re going to launch missiles at one another any second from now….could this be the spark to unification….or total destruction?

Or will the result simply be another Cold War stalemate?

History would suggest to us that a stalemate full of war-like rhetoric is most likely to occur. Afterall, the ‘two’ nations are quite equal in terms of military strength. This is especially true since North Korea has developed a strong arms over the years, investing whatever money and effort they have into developing nuclear weapons. Though South Korea has not invested quite as much into arms, I do believe they hold significant arms traded to them by the Americans. As we have seen from the Cold War example, countries will attack for two reasons: either they have a significant advantage, or they were provoked significantly. This boat sinking thing is merely contributes to the already long held long term grievances that the two sides feel for one another. It will not cause a war to break out. Rhetoric will not either.

Besides, other nations will force these nations not to go into war. If South Korea initiates an attack, it is likely that the UN council and America will object to their actions and deny them weapons, perhaps even imposing economic sanctions at a time of economic hardship. If North Korea initiates, then the UN and America will intervene to save South Korea. It’s a lose-lose situation for both sides to attack.

Rationally, I think there’s no reason for them to fight a war with one another, but it all depends when each side has had enough of the other. How tolerant can the Koreans be of each other’s arrogance and ignorance? Only time will tell.

Quite interesting…I found this all on a note that my friend was tagged in.

“A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?
I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I’ve dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York CityGarden(? ), $250k annual income is not enough.

CEO”

Funny how this works out. Never rely on looks…it never lasts in the long run.

Life is but a perception of what we deem to be reality, so how can we truly know how others see the world?

The answer is – to share their experiences with them.

No, I do not intend for this post to be philosophical, but such knowledge is detrimental for our understanding of evolving outsourcing tactics. We tend to think of ‘outsourcing’ as large American companies choosing cheap labor in China and India over manufacturers in developed economies. However, this is normally not the case for outsourced researchers. HP, a large American IT corporation, did not choose to outsource researchers for being less expensive, but because outsourced researchers have gifted insight into large consumer markets.

Think about it this way, in terms of innovation, how can an American researcher know what Indian consumers value?

It’s the value which matters, isn’t it? Indian consumers are relatively poor, but they do still spend. They can afford cars. They can afford televisions. They can afford scooters. it all comes down to what is valued.

So if researchers are outsourced, then they can focus on what consumers value, and therefore bring about innovative implementations which agrees with corporate strategy – earn profits in the long run.

It is clear that globalization has made cultural understanding one of the most challenging but useful assets to possess. Business students, travel more! It will surely enrich your understanding and connectivity with the current world.

Most of us today remember Machiavelli to be a pragmatic man who taught us ‘means justified ends.’  Few forget that the end should always be virtu, or in other words, honor.

China’s booming economy is apparent, but are the means truly honorable?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjNaUHA2KrY[/youtube]

Perhaps what is more upsetting is the fact that pressures have been growing amongst families to do well. Computer giants such as Apple and Dell are growing tremendously in our digital age. It is saddening to reveal that the recent launch of Ipad has caused suicide rates in China to grow. On the one hand, I am proud that the Chinese economy is growing rapidly, but perhaps on a deeper national level, I am sad to see the lost lives of our silent soldiers.