Business in the 21st Century
From APEC HRDWG Wiki
As part of International Education Week 2010, APEC has expanded on several themes of the "Language Education: An Essential for a Global Economy," seminar to provide a guide for students and instructors interested in the critical importance of business language for strengthening business relations in a global context. These themes include Business in the 21st Century; Cross Cultural Awareness for 21st Century Business; Language for 21st Century Business; Business Language Learning; and Business Language Policy.
This page discusses the rise of international business as the dominant form of business transaction in the 21st Century. We learn that as well as being interdependent upon one another for our survival, the best business dealings often result from negotiation and trade across borders.
Although advancements in communications technologies such as cell phone, email, and the Internet facilitate our ability to engage in international business dealings, these same advancements simultaneously exacerbate the differences between individuals, societies, and cultures, often creating barriers and obstacles to engaging in business that were not present just a few years before. As businesses globalize on an ever increasing scale (a shoe for an Australian brand might be designed in France, manufactured in China, and sold in the UAE), it is extremely important to understand not only our increasing interdependence upon one another for the future prosperity of our economies, but also the role and value of cross cultural communication and negotiation in facilitating successful business transactions.
Several factors are responsible for creating the "Global Village" in which we live today, for leading the internationalization of business which has transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Without ever leaving our homes, we are unwitting participants in the growing global economy. Our coffee beans might come from Africa, our shoes from North America America, our shirts from Asia, our jeans from South America, our automobiles from Europe etc. We do not have to wait to read the news the next morning to know what is taking place in the "Village." Our Internet newsfeeds update every minute, and we can watch events in remote places as they are taking place. Some of the factors that influence global business and trade are creation of new international trade agreements, the growth of multinational corporations, the privatization of state-owned enterprises, and the transition of former command economies to free market enterprises.
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Key Topics
- Globalization results in collaboration and competition between businesses, organizations, and peoples all around the world
- Increased communication is necessary between diverse partners
- A thorough understanding of cross-cultural competencies allow partners to speak to one another, and have a healthy and open business relationship free of misunderstanding and inadvertent offense
- It is important to develop sensitivity toward others and questions ones own assumptions about people from other cultures
- Economies may need to diversify in order to remain competitive. This need for diversification may result from a decline in natural resources, challenges due to international competition, or changes in an economy's security position
- Changing national trends and initiatives may lead to foreign investment, partnerships, and mergers & acquisitions among businesses and organizations
Scenario
The following fictional scenario demonstrates the key topics in 21st Century Business that students of International Business may encounter. It is provided as a starting point for discussion on these important issues.
Situation
An APEC member, whose news media sold more daily newspapers that any other economy in the world, faced a shortage of paper pulp. Initially, this demand was met by importing paper pulp from a nearby Economy, rich in natural resources such as forests. This arrangement continued for many years, until the felling of the forests over time lead to desertification, and the Economy could no longer export paper pulp on a massive scale. At the same time, a desert-based Economy with limited forestation sought input and advice from forest-rich economies in the means of paper production. These economies provided them training in paper pulp technology. The desert-based Economy, whose citizens were highly educated and skilled, successfully innovated the paper pulp technology they had learned and adapted it to rice straw technology, thereby transforming waste products from into a valuable commodity. The desert-based Economy understood the potential of this technology to facilitate international business and trade, and transferred it to rice-rich economies in Asia, including the APEC member's paper provider, whose forests had been depleted.
Prior to engaging in these myriad international transactions, the ministers of the various members above sought the advice of outside consultants, experts in the fields of international business and trade. They also engaged in the process of training and educating their managers, many of whom were entering into international business dealings for the first time. These managers were taught the customs and values of the other member countries, informed of the nuances of the local languages, educated in the business policies of the various industries such as paper and straw, and because English was found to be the most suitable language in which to conduct these transactions, taught the industry-specific words and terminologies in the English language that would be most important to engaging in mutually beneficial and meaningful business transactions. Although the members varied widely from natural resource rich in a particular area, to knowledge rich in another, each economy had to teach its members the various aspects of conducting international business, the protocols and customs common to all economies of the "Global Village."
Points to Consider
- What was the role of globalization in encouraging the above international business partnerships?
- Will demand for newsprint decline because of current trends that encourage electronic media and "going green?"
- What are the potential effects of a decline in the demand for newsprint on the above economies?
- What is the role of globalization in your daily life? Look at five products that you most commonly use and think about their travels as they left the company's design studio and entered the retail store where you purchased them.
Lessons Learned
- The new world order has resulted in increasing dependency between nations, states, economies, and peoples. It is hard to imagine a world today in which we might live in isolation from one another, in an economy that contains all the resources required to produce with the greatest efficiency all the products we require for our daily lives.
- Beginning with the barter system, in which a cow might be traded for precious metal, milk traded for flesh, to the development of currency as a medium of exchange, the world continues to grow smaller before our very eyes.
- If the APEC member had not had such a great demand for paper, their partner might not have benefited from the rice straw technology developed by the desert economy. Although it is hard to imagine that developments in one economy, play a huge impact on the lives of millions of residents in another, that is the very nature of the "Global Village" mentioned above.
- What other examples from your daily life, in which innovations in one region benefit the people in another region far-removed?
Resources
- Skills for Success in Multinational Business - A collection of resources and interviews about the competencies, skills, and knowledge necessary for the modern business environment, developed by the Center for Applied Linguistics
- Video from the APEC-RELC International Language Seminar presentation "Trade Specific Language Learning in Higher Education"
- Cultural Interviews conducted by the University of Texas - Austin through their Center for International Business Education and Research. These interviews show native speakers discussing various aspects of business, and provide transcripts for the listener to follow. Some interviews conducted in languages of APEC members include:
- Related Tips for Teaching 21st Century Workplace Skills
See Also
Cross Cultural Awareness for 21st Century Business
Language for 21st Century Business
Back to Business Language for a Global Economy
Other Content for International Education Week 2010
