What Does the WTO do?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations.  At the core of the WTO are agreements, negotiated and signed by most of the world's trading nations.  These documents provide legal ground rules for international commerce.  Their goal is to help the producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct business in the global marketplace.

The WTO supplanted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in early 1995.  The WTO has three main purposes:

Medical Tourism: The Christmas Gift for Global Healthcare

Co-written with James G. Dale

Consumers and providers of medical services in the United States search for opportunities to cut costs. Increasingly, it is possible to find lower-priced care alternatives abroad.

Culture Dimensions

Cultural awareness is key in any international business activity.  Cultural divides should be accounted for in marketing, negotiations, product design, and other important decisions.  One must analytically consider the best way to promote a product given the target audience.

It is argued that differences among cultures can be explained according to four dimensions of culture:

The End of Corruption?

I just attended a breakfast meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The meeting was sponsored by Transparency International and focused on the need to continue reducing global corruption.

Several thoughts stand out:

Some Video Comments on the New Global Realities

Here is a video in which I comment on the effects of the recession on global business and decision making.

Marketing Management Column #2 - Part 2

A continuation of my second column in Marketing Management. 
Read it after the jump.

Marketing Management #2 - Part 1

The first part of my second column in Marketing Management. 
Read it after the jump.

Small Businesses Still Important

This is a preview of my new book, Global Business: Positioning Ventures Ahead to appear with Taylor and Francis in June of 2010. I will be posting little snippets from the book every once in a while. I encourage you to read, comment, share, and your thoughts to the comment section. And look for the book in June.
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The Commerce Department’s Exporter Data Base reveals that companies with fewer than 500 workers accounted for 97 percent of all U.S. exporters.

Zeit für Führungsstärke

Der zum Präsidenten Barack Obama wird Schrittmacher sein nicht nur für die USA, sondern auch für Menschen in der ganzen Welt.

Change Agents

A person or institution who facilitates a change in a firm or in a host country is a change agent.  Products or brands can act as change agents, able to alter held values or behavioral patterns that eventually result in the blurring of cultural distinctions.

In China and Hong Kong, for instance, McDonald's has altered some age-old eating habits and preferences, especially among the younger generation.  While there are many concessions to local cuisine, the most popular menu items are burgers and fries.  The fast-food chain has disciplined its Chinese customers to an entirely new dining routine - as in the United States, they wait in an orderly line, serve and seat themselves, and even clear away their trays afterward.