Analyses
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North and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing a demographic youth bulge. However, there is a severe mismatch between the skills possessed by young workers and those demanded by employers. The education system needs to be restructured to build the skills needed to compete globally. Over the last decade, six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, there are troubling indicators that this exponential growth has not resulted in robust growth of “good” jobs. In other words, those offering higher wages and better working conditions – especially for the young. Youth Bulge Exacerbated by a delayed demographic transition, the share of...
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Forests / Guyana / Indigenous Rights / Latin America / Mining / Oda Almås / Rainforest / Save the rainforests / South America / Focus Article / Global Change / Americas / Environment & SustainabilityBy Oda AlmåsIn light of increasing gold prices on the world market, the actual commitment under-pinning Guyana’s agreement with Norway to save its rainforests, which also includes an obligation to protect the rights of indigenous peoples, can be questioned. The unprecedented high price of gold on the world market is leading to rapidly increasing pressure on land that may contain the precious metal. In Guyana, as in a number of other Latin American countries, this price development has led a large portion (10%) of the workforce into mining. In 2012, the country reported its highest gold production in history, increasing some 20% from 2011. The mining sector now accounts for as much as 10.7...
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Arab Spring / Business / Cross-Cultural Communication / Employment / FDI / Global Dexterity / Impact Investing / Jean AbiNader / Social Contract / Workforce Development / Finance & Economics / Focus Article / Middle East / Business & Entrepreneurship / AfricaThe role of workforce development in crafting solutions should not be overlooked or minimized as simply giving people jobs. Jean AbiNader analyzes the importance of job skills training in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), global dexterity, the renegotiation of the social contract, and impact investing in a post-Arab Uprisings environment. At a recent corporate presentation in the Maghreb on the potential transformational effect of foreign direct investment (FDI), I focused on two points: the notion of impact investing and the corollary dynamic of how FDI impacts human development beyond the benefits of economic growth. The participants were company leaders and employees discussing...
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Asia-Pacific / Cyber-Espionage / Fraud / Identity Theft / RSIS / S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies / Senol Yilmaz / Singapore / Focus Article / Business & Entrepreneurship / AsiaCyber-espionage is a real and growing threat to businesses and economies in Singapore. Some counter-measures can be taken by the private sector. But the government plays an important role in protecting its businesses from cyber-exploitation. By Senol Yilmaz Over the few decades, Singapore’s economy has moved up from a mere producer of material goods to a creative inventor of ideas. This success stands on two main pillars: Firstly, heavy investment has been made in education as well as research and development. Secondly, the rigorous protection of intellectual property rights has reassured investors that their patents, trademarks, and trade secrets are safe, and that their investments...
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Alexander von Hahn / anti-blasphemy laws / Memorial Society / Moscow / NGO Berlin Conference / nongovernmental organization / Politics / Russia / Russian NGOs law / Europe / Focus Article / BRICAs the “anti-blasphemy” bill passes the State Duma, prison sentences and fines for public insults and humiliation of divine services, as well as believers’ feelings, have become real. With the Russian state becoming increasingly anachronistic and failing to deliver on its promise of social modernisation, Alexander von Hahn sees the country’s nongovernmental organizations taking the initiative into their own hands. Russia's new law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was recently criticized at the United Nations by the US, which called it to be rescinded. While opening the first German-Russian NGO conference in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Guido...
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Andrew Haldane / Dodd Frank Act / Financial regulations / Glass Steagall Act / Irish Prime minister / John Bruton / prime minister / UK tax system / United States / Europe / Finance & Economics / Focus Article / Business & EntrepreneurshipBy John BrutonFormer Prime Minister John Bruton asks, why are modern business regulations so complex? I believe that, across the Western world, we may be reaching some sort of limit in the complexity of rules governing business. The response to the financial crisis has been ever more complex rules, that only a tiny number of professional advisors could ever hope to remember, or understand properly. In the United States, the Glass Steagall Act, introduced to regulate banking after the Depression of the 1930s, ran to 37 pages. In contrast, the Dodd Frank Act, introduced in the wake of the recent crisis, runs to 848 pages of basic text, plus 30,000 pages of implementing rules. In the United...
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Crowdfunding / Hollywood / Kickstarter / Knowledge@Wharton / Startups / United States / Veronica Mars / Veronica Mars Kickstarter Campaign / WB / Focus Article / Business & EntrepreneurshipThe success of the "Veronica Mars" Kickstarter campaign has illustrated that crowdfunding is a reliable source of capital for both start-up businesses and established firms. The campaign to front a movie based on the cult television show "Veronica Mars" through crowdfunding broke records for the fastest project ever to raise $1 million on Kickstarter. It was the website's biggest film project so far, and it has the most backers of any project to date. What it probably didn't do, Wharton experts say, is throw open the doors of crowdfunding to major motion pictures. But that's OK: Crowdfunding is successfully helping entrepreneurs raise capital without the need...
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Adobe / Cloud Computing / Computing / Creative Suite / Knowledge@Wharton / Online Cloud Services / Photoshop / United States / Focus Article / Business & EntrepreneurshipAdobe is favoring subscription-based software and online "cloud" services. If support for the company's cloud transition sticks, other vendors may quickly adapt. Adobe, the leading software company targeting creative professionals, is exiting the shrink-wrap software business in favor of subscription-based software and online "cloud" services. While perhaps painful at first, the business model change will be ultimately beneficial for consumers and Adobe alike, and other software companies are likely to follow, say experts at Wharton. On May 6, Adobe said it would stop developing its flagship Creative Suite, which includes applications such as Photoshop, in...
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Argentina / Bogota / Catholic / Colombia / Dylan Herrera / Gay Marriage / Gay Rights / Heterosexuality / Homosexuality / Latin America / Peru / Politics / Roman Catholic Church / Spain / Venezuela / Focus Article / Arts & Culture / AmericasA campaign against discrimination has been launched by gay activists in Colombia. Denying civil rights to a specific group in society, resembles the struggle against anti-Semitism and the African-American civil rights movement. In 2005, the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in Spain approved gay marriage. The big question was whether the approval was going to be the small landslide that would cause the avalanche in Latin America, the stronghold of the Catholic Church. December 2009 saw Mexico City become the first city in Latin America to approve gay marriage; although, this approval does not apply for all states in the country. The leading step taken by Mexico City...