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Skills gaps, commercial espionage, language barriers, trade regulations, immigration reform and other difficulties require a constant pursuit of knowledge for businesspeople. But thanks to the ubiquity of the internet and social media, people and entities all over the world are more accessible. Baylor Business students are able to go on mission trips to underdeveloped countries every semester. Foreign students, like Sunkanmi Agbomeji from Nigeria, can continue their educations at Baylor and take their new expertise back to their home countries. Small businesses have access to premium products and skilled workers that they might not have had access to in recent years.
As the global marketplace expands, so does the Hankamer School of Business. In December, we broke ground on our School's new home, the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation. Thanks to generous donations from our alumni, we can continue to fulfill our mission to "cultivate principled leaders and serve the global marketplace through transformational learning and impactful scholarship in a culture of innovation guided by Christian values."
From small, family-owned businesses to large, multinational corporations, most businesses are active in the global marketplace in some respect. This issue will provide insights about the changing landscape and the implications of this vibrant business environment.
Terry S. Maness
Dean, Hankamer School of Business
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
A routine chat tipped off Hankamer School of Business Professor Les Palich that China's rocketing pace of economic expansion was about to cool off. About two years ago, he received a call from a colleague who was spending several weeks in the port city of Shanghai, as he does each year. The friend reported noticing a decline in freighter traffic from his spot overlooking the bay. "He said he had been there for five weeks and it was very clear that traffic was significantly lighter," recalls Palich, who holds the Mrs. W. A. Mays Professorship in Entrepreneurship. "Not too long after that call, things really started slowing down in China."
The anecdote characterizes several of the fast-moving, complex and often contradictory dynamics defining the current state of global trade in the turbulent wake of the financial crisis. This state is both a decidedly mixed bag and historically impressive.
"The current moment is neither the best, nor the worst, of times for the global economy," reports Herman Brown Professor of Economics Steve Gardner, who also serves as chairman of the department of Economics and director of Baylor's McBride Center for International Business.
Palich's Shanghai call illustrates the way advances in travel and communications technology have helped propel global trade. The leading indicator (declining freighter traffic) also shows how swiftly a country's economic situation – no matter how robust (and China's growth was historically staggering at the time of Palich's Skype session) – can shift on a dime. The fact that China's current gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of roughly 7.8 percent (a rate other companies would delight in posting) qualifies as a slow down (from years at 10 percent) attests to the contradictory and complex nature of the global economy. Finally, the anecdote highlights the importance China plays in the global marketplace, a factor that is not lost on Baylor University, whose business and education connections with the country date back to 1907.
A century later, a painful economic crisis began, and its ongoing wake continues to shape global trade in 2014. The Federal Reserve Board of Dallas recently estimated, "conservatively," that the crisis and its difficult aftermath cost the U.S. economy anywhere between $6 trillion and $14 trillion. The latter figure being roughly equivalent to one year of U.S. economic output.
"The current global economy is characterized by an unusual degree of uncertainty," explains Joe McKinney, professor of Economics in Baylor's McBride Center for International Business. "We are in uncharted waters with regard to the unconventional monetary expansions that have been employed as a result of the global financial crisis."
This monetary expansion in the U.S. concerns many economists, including Gardner, who sees a troubling parallel between the present moment and the late 1970s and early 1980s when relatively low interest rates–compared to the cost banks needed to pay to acquire funds back then–helped contribute to the U.S. savings & loan (S&L) crisis. Today, interest rates are far lower, and the number of 30-year loans with interest rates below 4 percent is extremely high.
"The likelihood that market interest rates will stay that low for that long seems awfully low," Gardner notes. Many lenders today are not concerned about these low odds because they sell these loans shortly after completing them. "This is similar to what got us into trouble before," Gardner adds.
The future of this current monetary policy, which has ripple effects around the world, represents a major source of uncertainty. The degree to which developing economies, including China, India and Brazil, implement reforms that enable market forces to play strong roles in their economies also qualifies as a major uncertainty. And uncertainty surrounds the future of the European Union's common currency, given the struggles of Greece, Spain and Portugal, in particular.
These and other factors help explain why the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the U.S. Conference Board have ratcheted down their estimates for global economic growth for 2014. As McKinney points out, the OECD late last year revised downward its 2014 estimate from 4 percent to 3.6 percent.
Despite widespread uncertainty, there is reason for optimism. By many longer term measures, the world economy has never been stronger. For example, the global rate of extreme poverty – defined as living on less than $1.25 a day – has decreased from 43.1 percent in 1990 to 20.6 percent in 2013, according to the World Bank.
"During the past 20 years, 13 countries have had annual economic growth rates of 7 percent or more, rates at which national incomes double in ten years or less," explains McKinney. "During the past three years annual growth rates of national income exceeded 7 percent for 31 countries, and [growth rates] exceeded 5 percent for 63 countries. Economic progress of this magnitude is historically unprecedented."
With progress, of course, comes change. One of the most influential challenges the world will deal with in the coming years and decades is the shift of economic influence toward Asia and China. Growing global trade complexity and an ongoing shift toward regionalism figure to be two of the most influential forces that will influence the global marketplace in 2015 and beyond. There are three key factors that affect global trade:
In response to financial downturns, most countries typically turn inward to shore up their own economies. "If it looks like all of your jobs are going overseas during a stretch of high unemployment," Palich notes, "politicians tend to take notice of that." This attention often leads to protective measures that appeal to political constituencies but hamper global trade.
From September 2012 to September 2013, global trade monitoring group Global Trade Alert (GTA) reports that 431 new protectionist measures appeared around the world. During that same time period, the GTA reports that 141 measures were instituted by governments to boost trade worldwide. This balance between protectionism and trade liberalization will help the state of global trade in the coming years.
In some respects and for some countries, conducting global business was easier in the middle of the past century.
Following World War II, only a small number of relatively similar and relatively wealthy countries had the capacity and need to form free-trade agreements. The largest impediment back then consisted of tariffs (taxes countries attached to certain groups of imports or exports), which were the primary negotiating point in putting together trade agreements under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Created in 1947, GATT was used until 1994, when it was replaced a year later by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
For more than a decade, WTO countries have been trying – fruitlessly – to reach a new multilateral trade agreement through negotiations referred to as the Doha Development Round. The reasons for this impasse are manifold. Less developed countries balk at U.S. subsidies to U.S. farmers, which prevent India, for example, from exporting agricultural goods to the U.S. For its part, the U.S. has a major issue with the way many developing countries regulate and enforce – or fail to – the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights. These are only two of the issues with which more than 159 WTO member countries with vastly different characteristics and needs are grappling.
"Today, you have a much larger group of countries that have a wider range of circumstances," Gardner explains. "Some are very rich, some are poor, some are developing and some are still going through transitions from having been centrally-planned economies to trying to become market economies. This means all of the issues that are being negotiated are much more complicated."
It also means consumer preferences, the availability of manufacturing materials, infrastructure quality, supply chains, and legal and regulatory requirements can vary – sometimes dramatically – country by country and region by region.
In the absence of large, multilateral trade agreements, "the world has increasingly been divided up into regional trading blocs," Gardner adds. These blocs include the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has understandably received renewed attention. In a Baylor University conference, "NAFTA in the Context of a Changing Global Economy" last October, Robert Zoellick, the former World Bank president and former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. State Department, laid out issues NAFTA should consider addressing if it is to make North America and its 500 million residents "well-positioned to contend with 1.3 billion Chinese – and other lands and peoples around the world."
Additionally, the U.S. is participating in both Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore, as well as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), negotiations on a trade agreement between the U.S. and the EU, billed as "the biggest trade deal in the world" on the European Commission's website.
While regional free trade agreements offer some progress in the face of the stalled Doha negotiations, they also pose problems. Each agreement features "different regulations and rules of origin that complicate the international trade environment for business firms and impose unnecessary costs on them," McKinney explains. Plus, McKinney continues, U.S. Congress has yet to give the President trade promotion authority that would be required to successfully conclude and implement current regional trade negotiations amid public skepticism concerning the benefits of trade liberalization. Despite those hurdles, notes Financial Times writer Shawn Donnan in a recent article mentioning the Baylor NAFTA conference, "This is the era of megaregionalism."
Other forces, such as the availability of natural resources, also shape global trade; however, most, if not all, of these forces combine to pose similar demands on businesses. Like global trade itself, these demands are complex.
The pressure to reduce costs is intensifying throughout the global business world, Palich notes, but so, too, is the need to produce more and better innovations (a process that requires investments). Technology and communications advances have made business innovation much more transparent; more companies around the world can peer into a market leader's products and processes, reverse-engineer what works best and quickly bring to market lower cost products and services (of similar or even superior quality).
Flexibility and/or agility are commonly cited by leading business minds as the most valuable organizational capability in the global marketplace. Increasingly, though, it takes even more to thrive in this global marketplace. "You have to be much more courageous than ever before to succeed at international business," Palich asserts.
Developing and applying that courage requires "stepping out of your own, and your company's, comfort zone," says Jim Anderson, manager of Baylor Business Global Connection for the McBride Center for International Business and adjunct professor of International Marketing at Baylor.
Anderson has managed and led global businesses for more than 30 years. Of all the key components that determine international business success, including the right market, the right product, the right logistics and risk management capabilities, Anderson says that market partners – finding a knowledgeable local company to work with under various structural options – often represents the most important success enabler. "Even the largest companies cannot get by without a market partner," Anderson says, adding that achieving a sufficient level of cultural awareness enables companies to select the best partners in new markets.
Particularly, this is the case in markets defined by complex regulations and heavy government involvement like China. "We all watch China very closely because they are so important to what we experience and what we do," notes Palich.
Some current and future leaders are able to watch and understand China more closely. Nearly 15 years ago, Gardner received an email from an 80-year-old woman in Shanghai. She was the daughter of the first Chinese president of the University of Shanghai, which worked with Baylor in the 1950s, and whose origins date back to 1907. The email encouraged Gardner, and the Hankamer School of Business, to rekindle its relationship, which is exactly what Gardner and Hankamer have done since then.
In 2007, Gardner and a contingent of Baylor University professors travelled to Shanghai to participate in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of what is currently known as the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, an institution founded by Baptist missionaries in 1907 as the Shanghai Baptist College. Gardner and his colleagues returned to China on an education delegation last summer. Additionally, Hankamer's i5 Experience is a five-week course focusing on technology entrepreneurship, China's culture, and history and multi-cultural teamwork.
"The good news is that there is all sorts of cooperation between the U.S. and China," Gardner adds, "and Baylor has been busy in that part of the world."
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
After leaving Baylor, alumni scatter all over the world to pursue their dreams. From Western Europe to the Middle East to South America, former Baylor Business students continue to "fling [their] green and gold afar." We reached out to four alumni who moved abroad for business to evaluate their experiences outside of the U.S.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
There has been a great deal of chatter over the last few years about whether International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, are going to become the official standards of the United States. The whims of politics, though, have rendered the eventual decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a little less certain than it seemed a decade ago. Such is the effect of changes in leadership and the appetite for additional reporting changes after those wrought by the rule making activities following the 2008 financial meltdown.
But whether the SEC requires IFRS for U.S.-listed companies is a bit of a moot point. IFRS are already here. Many U.S. entities, organizations that have to report financial information, are subsidiaries of companies listed on international exchanges requiring IFRS or with IFRS reporting requirements in a non-U.S. regulatory regime. U.S. entities may be traded on such international exchanges. The U.S. standard setter, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), has worked closely with its international counterpart, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), to jointly develop and improve several key standards. And for several years, the SEC has permitted foreign private issuers traded on U.S. exchanges to file IFRS financial statements without reconciliation to U.S. standards.
Thus, it is important for anyone reading and comparing financial statements to gain a working knowledge of some of the major differences between IFRS and U.S. standards, known as U.S. GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles).
A common misconception is that U.S. GAAP are "rules-based," despite their name as generally accepted accounting principles, and IFRS are "principles-based." A related idea is that IFRS allow companies to be more "aggressive," while U.S. GAAP are more "conservative" and thus result in better information. Neither is particularly true.
U.S. GAAP have often served as a model for the development of IFRS over time – either as one to emulate or to avoid. While there are many similarities, there are also many differences, and both have changed over time as the boards have continued to improve the standards.
What follows is a brief discussion of two of the bigger, but lesser-known, differences in the standards.
An entity records and reports a liability when it owes something to another entity or individual. The FASB's Conceptual Framework definition of this financial element is: "Liabilities are probable future sacrifices of economic benefits arising from present obligations of a particular entity to transfer assets or provide services to other entities in the future as a result of past transactions or events." The IASB's Conceptual Framework contains a virtually identical definition.
Sometimes it's unclear whether a "present obligation" exists. Sometimes the dollar amount of the obligation is uncertain. The entity's accountants must apply professional judgment to determine whether and how to record a provision, a sort of "just in case" liability. U.S. GAAP and IFRS handle such situations differently.
Under both U.S. GAAP and IFRS, an entity first figures out whether it is probable that it will have to pay something. For example, if an entity's normal mode of manufacturing results in environmental damage, there might be laws in place that require the company to repair the damage. The company knows it has a future obligation—if it manufactures anything in the future it is (more than) probable that it will have to pay something. Since the company doesn't yet know for sure how extensive the damage will be, it has to estimate the repair bill in order to record the provision.
The key differences here are what "probable" means and how to estimate the dollar amount. U.S. GAAP does not define the term "probable." IFRS defines it as "more likely than not," which means a probability greater than 50 percent. Under both sets of standards, if the "probable" threshold is reached, the entity must record the most likely estimate of what it will have to pay to settle the obligation. If all estimates are equally likely, U.S. GAAP requires the entity to record the minimum estimate; IFRS requires the median estimate. Entities reporting under IFRS standards typically have contingencies reflected in their balance sheets sooner and for a greater amount.
An asset is the opposite of a liability; rather than a "sacrifice," it is a future economic benefit. As the benefits are used up, the asset is expensed on the income statement. For some assets, this happens quickly. For others, such as buildings and equipment, it takes much longer. Entities depreciate such assets, recognizing a bit of depreciation expense in every period on each period's income statement until the expected benefits are exhausted.
Neither set of standards gives a lot of detail on how this process should happen other than that it should be reasonable and systematic. If practicable, depreciation should mimic the pattern of consumption; if the entity expects to get most of the benefit early on, it should recognize more depreciation expense early on. Most entities, though, evenly distribute the benefit over time. To figure out how much to depreciate, the entity needs to estimate the useful life of the asset and how much it thinks it will be able to sell the asset for when it's done (called "salvage value" under U.S. GAAP and "residual value" under IFRS).
The biggest difference is that IFRS requires component depreciation. With this system, an entity needs to break its large assets, generally purchased in one large bundle, into component pieces based on estimated useful life. For example, a building might be comprised of the main structure which will last 20 years, a roof which needs to be replaced every 10 years, and air-conditioning and electrical systems to be replaced every five years. Under IFRS, each of those components must be depreciated separately, requiring separate estimates of useful lives and of residual values.
U.S. GAAP permits entities to use component depreciation, but none do. When a major renovation takes place, like the replacement of a roof, the entity figures out whether the renovation will extend the useful life of the asset or just allow it to continue operating until the original useful life is over. If it's the latter, the entity expenses the entire renovation. Under IFRS, that major renovation would have been a separate component, and so the entity would record a new depreciable asset.
Another big difference involves "salvage value" versus "residual value." Salvage value, under U.S. GAAP, is what the entity thinks it can sell the asset for at the end of the useful life. Often, the answer is zero, because any other number is too difficult to reasonably estimate. For example, estimating what a 20-year-old building will sell for in 20 years can be challenging. Residual value, under IFRS, is what the entity could sell a similarly used-up asset for today. In other words the estimation would change to what a 20-year-old building is selling for now. This answer is a little easier to estimate.
The net effect of all of these differences isn't clear. Depreciation expense is not always smaller under IFRS than U.S. GAAP, or vice versa. The difference is more about what's being estimated and when. IFRS requires more estimation about current conditions at the time of the asset's purchase, while U.S. GAAP requires more estimation about the future and as things progress over time.
These are only two examples of differences in the standards. There are many more. Some of those are going to be reduced over time, as with the boards' current joint project on revenue recognition. Both sets of standards began with broad revenue recognition guidance, applicable to all types of companies and requiring a great deal of judgment to apply. Given the importance of revenue as the first line on the income statement, the SEC wanted to prevent companies from being overly aggressive with this number. The U.S. standards thus accumulated a large number of highly specific pieces of guidance. The piecemeal approach, though, led to some very similar transactions being reported very differently depending on the company's industry. The IFRS standard, meanwhile, was criticized for remaining overly broad and allowing companies too much leeway. The new standard that resulted from the joint project, which will replace the current guidance in both sets of standards, requires a single revenue recognition process general enough for all companies but with enough structure to satisfy critics of current IFRS.
There are also current similarities in the standards that may become differences over time, as with the boards' current joint project on financial instruments. Originally, both sets of standards were very similar; the IASB adopted the majority of the existing U.S. standard when it wrote its version. The FASB is moving slowly with its changes. It is leaning toward a model in which the value of these instruments on the balance sheet more often reflects their current selling price (fair value). The IASB is proceeding more quickly, generally providing more opportunities for entities to report an adjusted cost number on the balance sheet.
It may seem like accounting standards represent some objective truth about an entity's financial position, and that those standards, therefore, are black-and-white and unchanging. The truth is that a lot is uncertain and subject to estimation. Different groups have come to different conclusions about how to handle those uncertainties. Changes in business model, processes and technologies affect the extent of the uncertainties and our ability to reasonably estimate their effects. Standards change and evolve over time. What does not change is the goal: to provide useful, trustworthy information, so markets and economies can work. Without that kind of accounting…well…game over.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
Growing up in Nigeria, Sunkanmi Agbomeji knew he wanted to do one thing: change lives. At first, he thought he would do it by becoming a medical doctor. After graduating from medical school, his plans began to evolve, and although his path was unclear, his goal was not. He continued to help people. He just found several new ways to do so.
Agbomeji is a second year MBA candidate at the Hankamer School of Business. He came to Baylor after graduating from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine with a degree in physical therapy, and then working for four years in several industries, including healthcare, IT, energy and management consulting.
"I knew I wanted to save lives, change lives," he said. "My days of student leadership in college yielded me the opportunity to have hands-on training in leadership, management and business development."
But he knew those practical experiences were not enough to do everything he wanted. Agbomeji began searching for ways to learn more, and he found Baylor.
"When I began researching the top schools, I was primarily looking for scholarship and ethics," he said. "Baylor stood out because they merge quality education with real-time experience, and it sets itself apart with its focus on ethics. I found a very ethical set of people with good vision. I could not find that at any other business school."
Despite his love of Baylor, there was one thing Agbomeji found was lacking. He began asking professors and fellow students where he could find an organization that was both business focused and globally minded.
"I was looking for an organization that would provide a platform for graduate and undergraduate students, everyone on campus, to network and learn more about international business cultures. I went to a few organizations, and while there were many countries represented, there was no way to bring them all together."
So, joined by two of his classmates, Joy Lee and Vidur Moudgil, Agbomeji began developing just such an organization. In September 2012, after Agbomeji arrived on campus, they created Baylor's Global Business Connect (GBC), which was fully approved and registered by the university in January 2013.
GBC connects international and non-international students from all disciplines on campus, to help them develop global business perspectives and create connections. In addition to globally focused speakers who make presentations at meetings, the organization also creates opportunities to connect students with businesses that are offering international internships and paid positions. It connects students with Baylor alumni who are working in international business settings. The young organization currently has approximately 35 members.
"Around 60 percent of our members are very active," said Agbomeji. "The participation is very impressive. And we want to reach out to new members. We think we have a lot to offer. We prepare global mindsets and provide global opportunities, and we know there are students at Baylor who could benefit from that."
Jim Anderson, adjunct professor of International Marketing and manager of Baylor Business Global Connection at the McBride Center for International Business, is the faculty sponsor of GBC. He says he didn't hesitate for a moment when Agbomeji asked him to sponsor the new group.
At a welcome dinner for international students in the fall of 2012, Anderson was asked to speak about Baylor Business Global Connection. Global Connection works to fund research projects and continuing education of faculty members in the area of global business.
"After the event, a young man approached me and said he wanted to start a student organization just like Global Connection. He already had the basic ideas on paper, and he was ready to meet with me," Anderson said. "My first impression was very positive. He saw that Baylor had a void, and he wanted to fill it. Instead of complaining about it, he did something about it."
Creating a new organization on campus is not an easy task. As part of the application process the group has to form a constitution or create bylaws, a roster of participants is required, similar existing organizations must be researched, and an adviser must be secured.
"It's so tough to get an organization chartered," Anderson said. "There's so much work that goes into it, on top of an already full course load as a student. But Sunkanmi never gave up. He had this in mind the moment he stepped on campus, and he was determined. Now it's helping so many students have a cultural exchange with various cultures, to compare notes and learn about global business practices from so many areas of the world. I continue to be impressed."
While Agbomeji continues to enhance the education of his classmates here at Baylor, he continues to change lives in his native Nigeria.
Prior to coming to Baylor, Agbomeji answered a call from the Nigerian government, which was seeking proposals to reduce the staggering amount of youth unemployment in the country.
Approximately 200,000 ideas were submitted. That field was narrowed to 50,000, then 10,000 and finally, five projects were chosen to receive the maximum grant award of about $60,000 U.S. dollars. Agbomeji's company, Project ELAN, was one of the five. He attended a ceremony in Nigeria in November 2013 to receive the award at a presidential reception.
Agbomeji's vision was to create a program that gives young people the skills they need to become entrepreneurs and leaders though ongoing training and by meeting practical needs.
Project ELAN is a human and enterprise resource development drive. As an enterprise resource firm, it provides corporate ambiance, work stations and sustainable growth resources for start-ups in Nigeria. The human capital development arm trains and provides young people, ages 14 to 30 (with no college education), with entrepreneurial, vocational and artisan skill sets, places them in internships with local businesses, and thereafter sets them up for continued success in running their own businesses or working as employees.
"We have young entrepreneurs in Africa, but growth in small business is not usually sustainable and not successful. There is no corporate culture, no continuous development," he said. "We want to change that by providing practical things, like shared equipment, and bigger things, like continuing education, to help young people from inception to productivity to success."
In addition to helping to enhance the futures of young Nigerians, Agbomeji believes it will also influence the future global business climate.
"Not every young African can have a good, quality education in school," Agbomeji said. "We hope to train young people in different areas, to fill the gaps, and instill a sense of fairness and ethics at the same time. I believe that Africa is the next big area for business growth and success."
In the two years since the program began, it has grown from assisting three new companies to 50 businesses in two cities.
During the ceremonies, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan not only congratulated the winners on their successes, but asked them to act as mentors to the second round of competitors in their bid for youth empowerment and employment.
Agbomeji is more than happy to offer assistance.
"The demand is there; we need to spread," he said.
And, like almost everyone who's met Agbomeji, Anderson has no doubt that he will continue to change lives.
"I look at young people like Sunkanmi, and I think, 'these are the ones who are going to save the world,'" Anderson said. "I always introduce him as the future president of Nigeria. And I really do think that much of his character. He is going to continue to do great things."
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
The world's longest commercial air route is a 15 ½-hour, non-stop flight between Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport and Sydney, Australia.
Yet, this Qantas jetliner, like hundreds of international flights in and out of DFW Airport, routinely travels at or near capacity. Why? Because planes are the 21st Century company car, used relentlessly to scout new opportunities and nurture existing relationships.
Relatively inexpensive air travel, the instantaneous Internet and increasingly lucrative e-commerce have combined to intensify global competition, thus forcing businesses to reach beyond traditional "local thinking" to avoid becoming extinct.
Awareness of current global events, once a casual office luxury, has evolved into a daily necessity for the successful business leader. Can you monitor your supply line? Will political unrest threaten a planned factory?
We are now more dependent than ever on worldwide sources for split-second information used for rapid reactions to both crises and opportunities. This is especially true in internationally ambitious Texas where, if we were a sovereign nation, our economy would be the 14th largest in the world. Despite this strength, our economic well-being is very much shaped and buffeted by world events beyond our control.
In the busy swirl of daily challenges, business leaders benefit from personal knowledge of people and culture. We learn from others; others learn from us.
I was fortunate my father's international career gave me the privilege of living and studying in different countries, teaching me from an early age the importance of understanding other nations and their people. By appreciating and learning about our differences, we respect the individual, and paradoxically, our similarities become more apparent.
Here are a few pointers to help maximize your global connection.
It wasn't long ago when we could confidently feel informed by reading only a weekly publication, such as Time, and our hometown daily paper, but that is not the case in today's 24-hour world of constant online updates.
Without question, The Economist is at the top of my reading list. Its analysis of political events focuses on business impact. Weekly reports and briefings provide otherwise hard to find, in-depth information. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Dallas Morning News are steady sources of key information. Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs offer daily email digests on specific regions and issues. For risk analysis, global "alerts" and timely information, Stratfor, the Austin-based geopolitical intelligence firm, is hard to beat. And I now subscribe to Jeune Afrique, a Paris news magazine that monitors Africa's powerful economic potential. (Plus, reading Jeune Afrique makes me practice my French.) Which leads me to say, tackle a foreign language. Community colleges and Rosetta Stone offer good options but, of course, nothing beats total immersion!
As President John F. Kennedy said, "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."
One of my first bosses, a hard-charging, Type A banker, always made sure our business trips included time to visit a museum, explore a neighborhood or have a drink with a local. I learned business partners and prospects appreciate the fact that we took valuable time to learn about their cities and history. Personal communication establishes trust and comfort as cultures intersect. Nothing opens the mind more than exploring a culture other than your own.
A.J. Armstrong, the founder of Baylor's Armstrong Browning Library, said it best, "In its educative effects, travel is the greatest of all teachers. It brings one face to face with realities far more striking than the printed pages of a book. It pictures indelibly upon the retina of the soul those things about which one has dreamed, longed for and agonized to see and understand."
The World Affairs Council offers valuable opportunities to network with people engaged in international business and also creates a forum for discussion and learning. Local and regional chambers of commerce often have international committees that can provide key information and networking opportunities.
Utilize a nearby consular corps. The Texas Consular Corps is the nation's third largest group of foreign diplomatic representatives. Among their responsibilities is the task of business development. Because they are "local," members of the Corps are understanding of your needs and better able to quickly provide information and assistance. (Washington embassies concentrate on the bilateral relationship with the United States; the more accessible Consular Corps enjoys the in-state, person-to-person connection.) As honorary consul for Morocco in Texas, I have had several opportunities to connect Texas and Moroccan companies and organizations. The mission is mutually beneficial communication. Leadership thrives when it finds new avenues to succeed.
Whether you are a large international company or a small enterprise, engage speakers to discuss global issues and opportunities with your employees. (The World Affairs Council can help you identify such speakers.) Your employees want to learn about things that both challenge and benefit the company. Because innovation is not the exclusive product of established employees, open the sessions beyond senior staff and management. Let the ambition of others work on your behalf.
Often we approach certain issues with some prejudice shaped by our environment and education. By making the effort to listen to other viewpoints, we may find we are able to empathize better, minimize conflict and reach a happy business and personal understanding.
This may seem an elementary suggestion, but I am surprised at how rarely it happens in businesses operating with an international aspect. The World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth administers the International Visitor Leader Program for the U.S. State Department. Foreign leaders in business and politics come to the U.S. for short-term programs. We always make certain the visitors have the opportunity to be a guest in an American home. Exposing others to our culture is an important tool in fostering global relations.
A relationship established in your own home can also pay rich dividends beyond your business world—prime among them is lasting friendship.
Every element of today's successful business is the result of insightful, innovative and perceptive leadership. The responsibilities of leadership are not limited to managing today's office and today's challenges. The responsibilities of leadership belong to the future these leaders are building for their businesses, employees and customers.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
A little more than 20 years ago, a revolutionary but controversial trade agreement was signed into law. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), eliminated tariffs and other trade barriers among the United States, Canada and Mexico. Orchestrated by former President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Carlos Salinas and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, NAFTA created the world's largest free trade area.
Joe McKinney, professor of Economics in the McBride Center for International Business at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business, has studied the trade agreement since its inception. Baylor held its inaugural NAFTA conference in 1989 with people from all three countries attending. In October 2013, the McBride Center hosted its fifth NAFTA Conference.
In conjunction with Dallas' Consulate General of Canada, "NAFTA in a Changing World Economy" looked at implications for North American countries because of changes that have occurred during the past 20 years. Leading thinkers from the United States, Canada and Mexico, including Ambassador Robert Zoellick, former U.S. Trade Representative and former president of the World Bank Group, discussed how changes in the global economy are affecting the three countries and how policies might be shaped to the advantage of the countries going forward. Topics included NAFTA and the changing global climate with regard to business, energy, economics and trade policies.
The United States had been involved with other free trade agreements before NAFTA, notably with Israel in 1985 and with Canada in 1987. The U.S.-Canada free trade agreement was controversial in Canada because many Canadians feared Canadian industries would become dominated by foreigners and the agreement would cause widespread unemployment.
"Canadians had expended a lot of energy in debating the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, which was a big deal in Canada," said Michael Hart, the Simon Riesman Chair in Trade Policy at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. "Those who still harbored concerns [about NAFTA] were trade unions and nationalists, who worried that Canada would have difficulty competing with a low-wage country or would lose its ability to set its own trade policy."
In the 1980s, Mexico had instituted a number of reforms hoping for a boost in foreign capital, but investors were uncertain about the permanence of the reforms. In 1990, Mexico signaled that reforms were permanent by requesting free trade with the U.S. Canada did not want to broaden its agreement with the U.S. to include Mexico but also worried about the U.S. creating "hub and spoke" trade in North America.
NAFTA was very controversial in the U.S. with pro-labor groups arguing unrestricted trade with a low wage country would cause mass movement of industries to Mexico. Environmental groups raised the issue of lax enforcement of environmental standards in Mexico. Before the agreement was presented to Congress, labor and environmental side agreements were included.
"The AFL-CIO claims there was job loss [by the U.S. to Mexico], but economists have found that NAFTA had a positive but modest effect on the U.S. economy," McKinney said.
So what effect has NAFTA had on the economy of the three partners and how has the global economy changed since NAFTA was signed into law?
"Expectations were low in Canada, but the government and business interests believed that adding Mexico would expand the market and create future trade and investment opportunities. The expectations have proved a little disappointing because Mexico remains a relatively small partner, in part because the rise of China robbed Mexico to become the low-cost producer in an integrated North American market," Hart said.
McKinney said Mexico had unrealistic expectations of increased development in Mexico.
"There is no doubt that the violence in Mexico is discouraging foreign investment. The Mexican government also thought that NAFTA would slow down migration from Mexico, but the opposite occurred. For 10 years there was more migration. However, in the last couple of years, net migration has fallen to zero partly due to demographic changes and partly because there are more job opportunities in Mexico," he said.
NAFTA has had minor effects on the U.S. economy, according to McKinney. NAFTA took effect during a time of strong economic expansion, so it is difficult to detect adverse employment effects.
"The biggest success has been the integration of industries between the U.S and Mexico, and the U.S. and Canada. Production between U.S. and Mexican firms is highly integrated as seen by the fact that the value of U.S. content in imports coming into the U.S. from Mexico is 40 percent, much higher than any other country," he said.
Changes in the world also have affected NAFTA. When signed into law, 9/11 had not occurred and advances in the energy industry were in their infancy.
"Some of the benefits from free trade have been forfeited since Sept. 11," McKinney said. "Tightened border security has caused bottlenecks, and supply chain integration is disrupted by unpredictable wait times at the border."
The oil and gas industry also has seen widespread changes because of technology. Previously, Canada had been a major supplier of oil and natural gas to the U.S., but innovations in shale oil and gas production, such as fracking, have enabled the U.S. to become an exporter. Canada is developing its own shale resources. Approval of the Keystone XL pipeline would further integrate energy markets.
NAFTA's legacy might have spawned other regional agreements. A recent report in Financial Times pointed out that the World Trade Organization is no longer at the forefront of the global trade negotiating agenda, and instead megaregionalism is becoming the dominant player.
All three of the NAFTA countries are currently involved in negotiations for a 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) while the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would create free trade between and U.S. and the European Union.
"Should the TPP negotiations succeed and the terms of the agreement be implemented, this will likely upgrade the current provisions of NAFTA," McKinney said. "The TPP negotiations could also result in expanded intellectual property rights, broadened e-commerce provisions and simplifications of rules of origin."
"Both Mexico and Canada have separately negotiated free trade agreements with the European Union, although Canada's awaits parliamentary approval," he continued. "A major issue in these negotiations will be harmonization or mutual recognition of product standards and other regulations. All United States trade agreements since NAFTA have included more specific labor and environmental provisions than those of NAFTA and dispute settlement provisions for these issues similar to those used for commercial disputes."
Hart thinks NAFTA was a historically significant document that served its time and has been surpassed by other agreements.
"The public knows little of the 1935 and 1938 Canada-U.S. trade agreements or of the 1942 U.S.-Mexico trade agreement negotiated under the U.S. reciprocal trade agreements program. They were very important in their day, but long forgotten. NAFTA is an agreement that was historically important, but which over time has become marginal. It did provide a more secure and stable, rules-based framework for trade and investment among the three partners," he said.
McKinney believes NAFTA's greatest success has been greater cooperation among the countries and that it stimulated other regional trade agreements.
"During its 20-year existence, NAFTA has yielded benefits for each of the participating countries," he said. "The countries are well positioned individually for participation in the global economy going forward, but working together they can further enhance the region's prospects. Cooperation and coordination of policies will enable the countries to take full advantage of the region's abundance of energy resources. Proactive consultation and working together can enable the countries to obtain the best results from super-regional trade negotiations. Together, the countries of North America can have a more positive impact on the Western Hemisphere and on international institutions than they can achieve by working alone."
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
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The Baylor Business School was established in 1923. It was housed in classrooms and offices on the ground floor of Carroll Library.
In 1948, the School was housed in Old Main, but soon after, it had to be relocated again to the third floor of the Student Union Building to accommodate the expanding program.
Prompted by the AACSB accreditation standards and the necessity of more space, the board dedicated itself toward raising funds for a new building to house the business school, and by 1956 there were $500,000 in cash donations and pledges.
Alumnus and board member Earl Hankamer offered a gift of $500,000 to cover the costs of constructing and furnishing the new building in 1959. After the plans for the Hankamer building were finalized in 1959, the AACSB granted full membership to the business school. Even today, only five percent of business schools worldwide have AACSB International Accreditation.
In 1960, the building was completed. In honor of Mr. Hankamer, the building was named the Hankamer Building and the school name was also changed to the Hankamer School of Business.
In 1977, a new wing that included the Bessie Blume Conference Center and space for faculty offices was added on the northwest corner of the Hankamer building.
As growth continued, in 1983, Curtis and Doris Hankamer funded a new addition on the southeast corner of the building that provided faculty space for the departments of Management Information Systems, Finance and Economics. Also in 1983, accounting firm Arthur Andersen and Company funded a student learning atrium, which connected the Hankamer building to a new, three-story Academic Center.
In 1986, two more floors were added to the Academic Center, provided by Roy and Virginia Cashion. The building was renamed Cashion Academic Center in their honor.
In the early 2000s, the need to accommodate more students, programs and a collaborative learning environment became clear.
In October 2013, the Baylor University Board of Regents approved construction of a new $99 million Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation. Paul L. Foster, BBA '79, worked in the energy industry and for a refining company before forming Western Refining Co., as president and CEO in 1997. Today, Foster is executive chairman of Western Refining, an independent refining and marketing company headquartered in El Paso that also operates 200 convenience stores in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
Baylor broke ground on the 275,000-square-foot facility in December 2013.
The Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation is set to be completed in July 2015. The architectural design features a highly corporate and sustainable business environment, including a centerpiece atrium and a 350-seat auditorium to accommodate guest lectures and special events, a variety of student collaboration spaces, and classrooms that will facilitate an engaged learning environment. The new building is expected to expand the school's size by nearly 40 percent.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
Human resource (HR) managers working for multinational companies here and abroad face common issues that cross country borders. The most pressing concerns are hiring, engaging and retaining the right talent.
In its 2013 Workplace Forecast Survey, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) cites a shortage of skilled workers and global competitiveness for talent as top trends for 2013 and beyond.
Jeff Lupinacci, BBA '90, knows these issues all too well. As HR director for Eastern Europe at Kimberly-Clark (K-C), Lupinacci is in charge of recruiting, workforce planning, payroll, benefits, talent management, learning development, communications and corporate services across 15 countries. He is currently stationed at K-C's Moscow office on a three-year assignment. Lupinacci oversees a 35-person staff dispersed throughout the region. Before working for K-C, he managed human resources for chip maker Intel in Malaysia and Japan.
"Once you get out of the United States, especially in the emerging markets, the number one challenge is finding the right kind of talent," Lupinacci says. "They're there, and it's a small pool, but you've got every multinational [company] trying to go after them."
Assisted by 784 employees hailing from Russia, Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), consumer products giant K-C replicates its entire manufacturing, supply chain and support operations in Eastern Europe. Approximately 58,000 employees work at K-C facilities across 37 countries, manufacturing popular brands, such as Huggies, Kleenex and Kotex.
K-C Eastern Europe experiences a 20 percent gap between job openings and qualified applicants. Eschewing outside recruiting agencies, Lupinacci has brought recruitment in-house to increase the chances of finding qualified English-speaking candidates with optimistic, multinational mindsets. The company leverages social and professional networking sites, like LinkedIn, too.
"I have someone who is passionately selling the company to employees and that's paying off," Lupinacci says. "Partially because the recruiting business is so strong here, we must make sure that the recruiters have a positive image of K-C. We're doing some employer branding to get people excited, and I'm talking about K-C at every conference I can get invited to as a strategy to bring our employer branding to the marketplace."
"Talent attraction and retention are issues in China too," says Weina Wang, global compensation/benefits manager for Microsoft in Dallas, who studied at Baylor University during her junior year through a student exchange program. "China happens to be a place that has a lot of good quality, high-tech talent, as well as management, finance, marketing and engineering people who are in high demand."
Consequently, Chinese companies must offer lucrative compensation packages, and state-owned enterprises and government agencies offer city citizenship privileges (called "hukou" in Chinese), which allow new hires to purchase houses and receive educational benefits for their children.
Due to talent demand and rising hiring and labor costs, it is imperative for HR managers to acquire the right talent assets for their multinational companies. Employee-company disparity can be problematic and expensive. For example, companies in Russia can't fire someone without extensive documentation of employee performance. Even with conclusive evidence, there is a chance the company may end up in court. To prevent lawsuits, HR executives broker mutual agreements to buy out poor performers.
"A challenge for us is that some processes and policies may be antiquated, and there might not be an adequate infrastructure to enable ease of working, documentation, etc.," Lupinacci notes.
"The labor laws by country can be a huge barrier in being able to deselect employees who aren't performing adequately. In Russia and Japan, you can't fire someone, so the labor laws and practices in the countries can be a real challenge when you're trying to transform the workforce."
Wang says, "In China, even if a person is changing an employer due to acquisition, but not changing the job itself, they ask for severance."
Importing talent from abroad can help meet local shortages, but immigration laws can be a drawback. In the technology sector, U.S.-based multinational companies are trying to fill positions by hiring foreign nationals. HR directors must procure U.S. employment visas, which is a time-consuming, administrative process with many requirements.
U.S. immigration policy established several employment-based (EB) visa categories. There are no wait lists for EB-1 visas requesting priority workers, managers, executives or people with extraordinary ability in the arts or sciences. However, wait times are long for the popular EB-2 and EB-3 categories for advanced degree professionals, skilled workers and technicians.
Since U.S. policy limits the number of visas that go to applicants from any one nation, U.S.-based HR directors seeking information technology (IT) professionals from India, which predominates in the IT field, wait the longest time to obtain visas for their new hires.
"The EB-3 category is completely backed up – no one is current," says Laura Hernandez, associate professor specializing in Immigration Law at Baylor Law School. "As of December 2013, EB-3 visa applicants from India who are now receiving visas started waiting in September 2003."
That is why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley companies are lobbying the U.S. government to open up immigration.
"They say there aren't enough people to run Facebook and want to rely on foreign labor," Hernandez offers. "They are saying if they don't have a foreign office, they essentially can't overcome it. Americans don't study for the STEM [science, technology, engineering, math] advanced degrees, so most of the students in those degree programs are foreigners. When they are in school, they are here most likely under a non-immigrant visa. Silicon Valley companies are complaining about labor pools of people who can do their work but can't stay in the country."
According to SHRM, HR professionals rated the lack of STEM graduates in the U.S. compared with other countries as a top-ten trend likely to have a major impact in the next five years. Technology leaders are concerned, which is why Zuckerberg and several Silicon Valley companies started a lobbying group called FWD.us. Promoting immigration reform, the group is calling on the U.S. to set aside more visas for highly skilled immigrants with advanced math and science degrees.
The immigration reform bill (S.744) that passed in the U.S. Senate in June 2013, but has stalled in the House of Representatives, has broader implications − not only for undocumented workers but also for U.S. companies needing skilled professionals.
"Everybody has to be concerned about this comprehensive immigration bill. It hits employment and a lot of other issues that don't get as much attention," Hernandez says.
After acquiring capable employees, Lupinacci says the next pressing concern is engaging them and bringing his company's Midwest U.S. culture of trust, openness and customer focus to the global workforce. Employee engagement and inclusion enable the establishment of core processes and resources that drive retention, efficiency and leadership development.
"The challenge is how to create that rational and emotional connection with employees, so they fall in love with your company and give 120 percent," Lupinacci says. "Russia has a communist background in which people were discouraged from speaking up and taking risks. In this part of the world they are very smart people and well educated, but basically teenagers when it comes to the free market."
Lupinacci leverages compensation, training, career opportunities and succession planning to maintain employee interest in K-C.
"Russians value training very highly, so I'm spending a lot of time doing training sessions," Lupinacci offers. "Our 'Energize the Employee' strategic objective is to help employees develop the right experiences and capabilities to deliver breakthrough results. So, we use the 70/20/10 rule of development: 70 percent is on-the-job experience, 20 percent is relationships like mentors and coaches, and 10 percent is classroom or online training. Over the course of 2013, we have moved 20 percent of our workforce into new roles or new organizations. Our goal is to actively rotate 20 percent of the workforce as a way to grow the employee base."
Also, K-C has accelerated developmental programs to retain high potential employees. In Eastern Europe, Lupinacci utilizes K-C's Highway program, which combines training, coaching, mentoring and experiences in a year-long program. Also helping to eliminate employee churn is the redesign of the company's Moscow offices into aesthetically inviting workspaces paralleling "Great Places to Work" ideals.
Yet, retaining and rewarding the best employees will remain hurdles in global HR management. SHRM acknowledges in a recent survey that more than 50 percent of HR professionals believe retaining and rewarding key employees and developing them into next-generation leaders will present challenges over the next 10 years.
Lupinacci has seen the issue deepen in Eastern Europe as workers yearn for fast-paced career paths and job-hop to nab more lucrative opportunities.
"The expectations of employees are higher than they should be," he notes. "The employee population thinks that they should be getting bigger jobs and moving up the ladder every two years, so there is a lot of churn in the market. People are moving into bigger and bigger roles when they may not really be qualified for them. This goes with the talent situation, but it's the employee mindset."
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>
The most recent summer in senior Daniel Lin's life could be mistaken for an episode of television's "Amazing Race," where teams trek around the globe to complete tasks and win prizes. In about eight months, Daniel went from the United States to Germany, then traveled to the Netherlands to arrive in Suriname.
In a departure from TV, however, Lin was a one-man team, and the internship and research he completed might help solve a real problem.
Lin first went from Houston, his home, to Germany, where he spent five months as an exchange student at Cologne Business School. After a long-distance interview for the internship, he traveled to the Netherlands because that was the best way to get to Suriname.
Once in the capital city of Paramaribo, he spent two months investigating the country's unrecorded economy as an intern for the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the leading source of developmental financing for Latin America and the Caribbean,
Musheer Kamau, a Baylor alumnus and Lin's supervisor in Suriname, met Lin for the first time in a Skype interview. Lin recalled with a laugh that Kamau wanted to know why he was in Germany. The answer was simple: Lin wanted to study in a country that was new to him.
Kamau also wanted to understand how Lin would approach his tasks. "He already had my resume," Lin said. "He wanted to confirm my econometrics skills."
One of his questions was how one determined whether a country was doing well. "I said when people are happy." As happiness indicators, Lin used economic freedom, press freedom and the Human Development Index, or HDI, a statistical tool that measures a country's achievements socially and economically by using income, education and life expectancy.
Rigorous preparation was one of the factors that influenced Baylor alumnus Kamau, a country economist at IADB, to hire Lin for the internship. "Daniel had very strong preparation for the work," said Kamau, who was a University Scholar. "His transcript was impressive. However, his main selling points were his research achievements, evidence of an affinity for research and a good sense of humor."
The 21-year-old senior decided to pursue a BBA in the Business Fellows program because of the benefits. Once accepted into the honors plan, he could choose the courses he wanted to take. Lin chose electives that he could use as second and third business majors of economics and finance.
With Kamau as his guide and co-author, Lin examined statistics and completed a paper titled "Hiding in the Shadows—Estimating the Size of the Informal Economy in Suriname." He presented the work to an audience that included the cabinet of the country's vice president.
Sometimes Lin worked alone, but "on his main research project, we spent a considerable amount of time together and with the rest of the economic team," Kamau said. "Also, as Daniel lived with my family, we would sometimes be talking about the research until late into the night. Once Daniel got started, he was not inclined to stop."
The investigation used databases for the years 1980 to 2013 for the analysis of Suriname's informal economy, which the researchers defined as business transactions hidden from official reports, mainly to avoid paying taxes. The informal economy can be as simple as a teacher making money tutoring on the side.
Using econometrics, the team created equations to estimate the size of this hidden economy. As an example, Lin noted that an econometric analysis of a student's GPA might include information about how many siblings he has, where he was born and his family's income to reveal whether those factors affect his college GPA and how.
"Econometrics is a way to find relationships that are easily quantifiable," he said.
The research is important to developing countries because the methods that leaders use to judge their country's economic performance rely on known and published data. "If the informal economy is not reflected, you don't know what is going on economically," Lin said. If the size of the informal economy is large enough, an incomplete report can result in policies that might not work the way planners wish.
Lin's research confirmed earlier studies showing that political stability, good economic policy and an overall positive business environment reduce informal activity.
Lin spent three weeks preparing for the presentation. He and Kamau planned differently than they would have in an academic setting, Lin said. "I spent two weeks just learning how to make good graphs and make sure they were easy to understand. It was intense, but it came out really well."
He also presented suggestions to deal with the issue of the hidden economy, and he believes that one or more of the proposals will be implemented. One recommendation was to create a consumption-based tax. Eventually, the bank will publish the study.
"The members of the cabinet of the vice president received the presentation very well," Kamau said. "Daniel was well-prepared and was armed with several engaging analogies to make a difficult concept understandable. There was an immediate demand for the paper and the presentation."
Charles North, associate professor of Economics and associate director of the Business Fellows program, said Lin possesses an adventurous streak that made him a good choice for the internship. Previous exposure to economic research in a program between universities and the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank gave him experience, North added.
"When he was an underclassman, he attended presentations and was exposed to undergraduate research. He was also part of a peer review program, and they reviewed research in advance of the presentations. Daniel was a discussant by the time he was a sophomore. That exposed him to what research looks like and made him better able to go do it and pull it together the way the IADB wanted to see it."
In addition to providing an engaging summer internship, the study helped Lin in two ways. First, he learned more about an econometric technique called time series regressions, where the researcher studies a specific subject or variable over a period of time. Second, he is applying for a PhD program in Economics and said the published paper could help him gain acceptance. And for his bachelor's thesis, Lin is expanding the study to six other Caribbean countries.
Baylor Business Review, Spring 2014]]>


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Home › Health & Behavior › Bullying
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By Carol Lloyd
All children are different and only a parent can know what's right for their kid. But it's worth asking in the case of a film that depicts a range of ordinary public schools, events which occur in school hallways and on school buses every day, what exactly are we protecting tweens and teens from by not letting them see this movie? For their part, the filmmakers are attempting to make this film ignite real change: they've created a 70-page facilitator's guide to help educators and parents use the film to spur conversations with kids. In the end this isn't adults-only content. It's real, live, kid-on-kid violence, and it starts very young. In the movie, the youngest subject, who took his own life, was 11.
In the wake of yet another school shooting leaving three teens dead and a gruesome, heartbreaking year of youth suicides, the bullying problem in our society is screaming for attention. For many children, our schools are not the safe places we parents assume them to be. For all our parental handwringing, new laws aimed at taking bullying more seriously, and anti-bullying organizations earnestly implementing programs, in too many schools we are still failing to protect children from the very people they should have no reason to fear — other children.
The teen who shot five other kids in a Chardon High School, a suburban Cleveland school, has been characterized as a victim of bullying. But even if this is not the case, the story reminds us of some of the endemic problems that allow bullying to proliferate. The boy apparently warned his friends of his intentions two days in advance, but nothing was done about it. According to the U.S. Secret Service, which collects statistics on school violence, prior knowledge is the norm in schools shootings. In 81 percent of the incidents, at least one person knew that the attack would take place and the vast majority of the informed were friends, schoolmates, or siblings — that is, other kids. Not every school shooting is related to bullying, but neither do they happen in a vacuum — they often transpire in a culture where other kids (and sometimes adults) have known there were problems but looked the other way.
For this reason, Bully may be the most important R-rated movie your children ever see. Each parent must decide what's appropriate for their child, based on their temperament and age, but for this movie, don't make your decision based on the rating alone. After all, The Hunger Games, due out a week before Bully, is about children in sexy outfits slaughtering each other for the entertainment of the masses, and it garnered a mere PG-13.
Watch the trailer here:
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From the Archive: At the first anniversary of the Sarin gas attack outside Damascus on Aug. 21, there is a concerted effort to reestablish the original conventional wisdom, blaming the Syrian government for the hundreds of deaths. The goal seems to be to bury the alternative narrative that later emerged, as Robert Parry wrote last…
Tag Archive for Chemical Weapons
UN Syria-Sarin Investigator Voices Doubts
More doubts about last August's Sarin attack in Syria are being raised by the U.N.'s lead investigator who questions the number of people actually exposed to the poison gas, suggesting the incident was much more limited than claimed, writes Gareth Porter for Inter Press Service.
'War-Wise' Skepticism Prevailed on Syria
Though nearly going to war with Syria last year over a chemical attack, the Obama administration has still not presented a shred of verifiable proof against the Syrian government. And, interest is waning now that suspicions have shifted to Syrian rebels aided by U.S. allies, Nat Parry reports.
A New Neocon Push for Syrian War
The neocon agenda of "regime change" in disfavored countries continues unabated with new pressure for a U.S. military intervention in Syria, billed as "humanitarian" and coupled with ridicule for anyone who favors the frustrating course of diplomacy, as ex-FBI agent Coleen Rowley explains.
Neocons Seek New Ultimatum on Syria
Exclusive: The Washington Post's neocon editors are pushing for another U.S. military ultimatum against a Muslim country in the Mideast. Citing discredited "evidence" pinning the Aug. 21 Sarin attack on the Syrian government, the Post wants President Obama to re-issue a war threat, reports Robert Parry.
Neocons Take Aim at Syrian Peace Talks
Exclusive: Syrian peace talks have finally begun, but many powerful interests – including U.S. neocons – are determined to see the talks fail. The Washington Post's neocon editorial page is urging President Obama to give up on "feckless diplomacy" and threaten war, writes Robert Parry.
Human Rights Watch's Syria Dilemma
Exclusive: Human Rights Watch, which has pushed for a U.S. military intervention in Syria, continues to blame the Assad government for the Aug. 21 Sarin attack even though the group's high-profile map supposedly proving the case has been debunked, reports Robert Parry.
The Mistaken Guns of Last August
Exclusive: After hundreds of Syrians died from Sarin gas last summer, Secretary of State Kerry insisted the U.S. had solid intelligence on the locations of the Syrian government's launch sites used in the attack, thus justifying a U.S. military retaliation which was only narrowly averted. Now, those U.S. government's claims have collapsed, writes Robert Parry.
NYT Backs Off Its Syria-Sarin Analysis
Exclusive: For months, the "slam-dunk" evidence "proving" Syrian government guilt in the Aug. 21 Sarin attack near Damascus was a "vector analysis" pushed by the New York Times showing where the rockets supposedly were launched. But the Times now grudgingly admits its analysis was flawed, reports Robert Parry.
Obama's Not-So-Terrible Year
Exclusive: Official Washington is giving a big thumb down to President Obama's performance in 2013. But his diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East and even some of his troubles with Obamacare and the NSA could ultimately make the year a historic turning point, says Robert Parry.


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I have been using this tool for almost 2 weeks now, and im obsessed! I have been using the same technique with a regular curling iron forever and have been pretty pleased. So I thought buying a cliple… Read More
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Guardian - $500.
Created for Dragatomi's "Big Trouble in Little China" tribute show I went all out on this piece.
Built from a Mega Munny head and over 5 lbs of Magic Sculpt,
this 1/1 scale recreation captures the film's gruesome creature in full life size!
Although only seen for a few seconds of screen time,
The Guardian is one of Big Trouble's most memorable characters,
a floating blob of eyeballs that serves as bad guy Lo Pan's mobile security system.
As character "Egg Shen" says in the film "The Guardian, what it sees Lo Pan knows"
Working with the Munny's natural head shape,
I used the inward slope of the nose for the Guardian's huge eyeball
and the Munny's ear's as negative space for the beast's tentacle eyeballs to seemingly float in mid air.
For added play value i have attached my creation to a lazy Susan base,
allowing it to be spun in any direction for a better view of the monster from all angles!


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Bowling is the great social equalizer—a common ground where grizzled undercover clowns, blue-collar English lords, LARPer librarians, big and tall lingerie models, hordes of hive-minded hipsters, and the other two social demographics that comprise America can unite in common cause and topple a gaggle of stuck-up, inanimate wooden pins. Brunswick has been a household name in this egalitarian pastime almost since the beginning, with a company history that dates back to the 19th century, providing classic American good times to all manner of patrons across the country. And with today's Groupon tying the room together, you'll get to play two games (up to a $10 value) in its hallowed halls wearing a pair of freshly disinfected bowling shoes (up to a $4.39 value).
San Diego Motorsport Rentals gives outdoor adventurers the ability to tame any obstacle with the fleet of all-terrain and aquatic vehicles. Four-wheeled ATVs from Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki cut through more than 150,000 acres of off-road paradise. Their mechanics also keep engines in tune on four-stroke dirt bikes so riders can feel the wind blow through their hair while tearing through rugged paths or their high school graduation. From their Grand Avenue and Mission Bay outposts, customers can check out jet skis or boats ready to break through incoming breakers.
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway sends speedsters zooming around its 2.68-mile track: a banked, high-speed bowl outfitted with elevation changes and 17 total corners that challenge even the most experienced drivers. Visitors climb behind the wheel during a number of varying driving adventures, including half- and full-day programs designed to improve driving skills, and fans stop by to watch cars soar around the track during various racing events every month.
With 55 years of combined riding experience in the area, Academy Rentals has the goods and knowledge to equip riders for adventures such as zooming across the desert on the back of an ATV or gliding across placid waves atop a wakeboard or jet ski. Half- and full-day tours sweep across dunes in California and Mexico, outfitting guests in safety equipment and giving them their pick of dirt bike, ATV, or dune buggy from makers such as Yamaha and Honda. Before guided or self-directed trips, riders of all experience level can learn or reacquaint themselves with driving basics at the hands of knowledgeable instructors who've mastered high-speed transportation by sleeping on the underside of a bullet train.
Onsite at the Barbara Worth Resort, Caddies Sports Tavern offers a casual alternative to the linens and champagne brunches of the resort's Fields Steakhouse. Along with a wealth of draft beers and a full selection of spirits, a menu of wings, juicy burgers, and cheese-crusted pizza makes mealtime a cinch. The food is delectable and the beer specials are enticing, but for many, Caddies' appeal is in its warm, no-frills atmosphere. Friends meet, cheer, and munch here, the glossy bar top glinting in the light of the myriad flat-screen TVs. These screens loom above large windows, accenting the interior's den-like wood walls with live updates of sporting events and where Waldo currently is.
For proof that there is no limit to the number of fitness certifications a person can receive, you need only peek at personal trainer Roger's résumé. To date, he has received certifications from the AFAA, NASM, NCIM, ISSA, NCPT, and even the ABCDEFGHIJKLMN. At Incinerate Elite Personal Training, he applies his expertise to private and semiprivate personal-training sessions. The workouts are tailored to your specific goals and expectations.


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Hyatt Place Chicago/ Schaumburg is one of the larger properties located in Schaumburg. Book a stay in one of the 3-star rooms offered here.
Guests of Hyatt Place Chicago/ Schaumburg can enjoy free breakfast during their stay. If you book a room, you will also have the freedom to make use of a coffee shop/café, which is present here. Take a dive during your stay; there is an indoor swimming pool. Great provision for pleasure and relaxation includes a spa tub. Amongst many others, the hotel offers services such as a dry cleaning/laundry service and a concierge service. Travelling for business is made more convenient by this accommodation, offering a conference space. There are 127 rooms in total. 2 pets in total are allowed per room. Free self service parking at limited hours is another useful option when staying at Hyatt Place Chicago/ Schaumburg. Getting around can be hassle free thanks to a free area shuttle bus.
Hyatt Place Chicago/ Schaumburg has air conditioning systems. For more convenience during your stay, a housekeeping service is offered. From your room you can have wireless high-speed Internet access (complimentary). General bathroom facilities to be found in the rooms include a designer toiletries set and a shower/bath combination. The hotel's rooms have a refrigerator and a coffee/tea maker available for use.
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|From 15:00 Check-out: Until 12:00
|Free Parking (Self-service)
|Airport shuttle:
|Free Area Shuttle Service
|Pet policy:
|Pets allowed
|General facilities:
|Extra common areas:
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|Note: It is the responsibility of the hotel chain and/or the individual property to ensure the accuracy of the photos displayed. We are not responsible for any inaccuracies in the photos.
Please provide this reference number to our customer service center representative on request, so we can help you better


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Hydroslide Arsenal Comfort Top Wing Towable TubeItem Number: 19288536
Price: $129.99
Free Shipping Eligible on Qualifying Purchases Over $49! Up to $15 Shipping Credit. (See Promotion Details)
Product Information
Customer Reviews
Bring a friend for a thrilling ride on the Arsenal Towable Tube! This wing-shaped deck tube includes four foam-filled nylon handles so you can hang on as you fly over the waves. The top of the Hydroslide® Arsenal Comfort Top Wing Towable Tube is fully covered, creating a comfortable riding area, while the hydroplane bottom gives you a smooth ride. This durable tube features a one-piece welded Quick Connect so you can hook up and go!
- Designed for up to 2 riders
- 66" wing-shaped deck tube with raised edge
- Features 4 sewn foam-filled reinforced nylon handles
- Top is fully covered for 23 square feet of comfortable riding area
- Embossed PVC bottom reduces drag
- Hydroplane bottom design delivers a smoother ride with better shock absorption
- Heavy-duty 30 gauge PVC construction
- Durable one-piece high-frequency welded Quick-Connect
- Welded-on handles for durability
- Boston dump valve with cover
- Hydroslide
Country of Origin: China
Customer Reviews
Rated 2.4 out of 5�by 16 reviewers.
Rated 4 out of 5�by Stephane8 Dive, but there are ways around it As the other reviewers mentioned, this tube will dive if you don't put your weight in the back at first, and don't start quick enough. But if you do put your weight back until the boat get the speed, it's work perfectly fine. My kids and I love it :-) August 22, 2014
Rated 1 out of 5�by Scott Do not buy I wish I'd read the poor reviews of this tube before I bought it. They were correct . The tube submarines under water as soon as the boat picks up speed. This forces all riders off. I was able to modify the tube and make it work by stringing a styrofoam boogie board onto the tow rope right under the front of the tube. This kept the front part afloat even at higher speeds. August 19, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5�by Aglass Water Disk Overall product is lots of fun but the seams are weak. August 19, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5�by jubal1 Hydroslide Tube Our 1st tubing experience. All seemed to go very well.All riders had a great time.It was easy to set up. We hope to get many years of service. August 18, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5�by Jdandy I had to return this towable. The grand kids loved this towable but it tended to dive and created a lot of pressure on the tub and boat. This caused a small hole just behind the tow rope and under a little bit. August 12, 2014
Rated 2 out of 5�by Smitty Difficult to keep atop the water behind the boat. When hooked up and towed behind the boat, it was difficult to get started and gain any kind of speed to help the ride. It seems that the quick connect is mounted too far below the water line and it pushes the water, pulling the front of the tube below the water line as the speed increases. The only way to overcome it is to have the rider(s) stay far back on the tube as it gets started and until a good speed is gained. It also seems to help if the connection to the boat is a bit higher than at the transom. August 7, 2014
Rated 1 out of 5�by Haboo ugh Ripped apart first use. Bought a less expensive one a meijers that held up better. July 30, 2014
Rated 1 out of 5�by IDAD Terrible ! It was a constant fight to keep this tube from diving. It didn't matter if a child was on it or an adult. It did not leak air. I returned it and bought the Obrian Hammer Head (2 person) and love it. Dicks had a no hassle return that was great. July 22, 2014
Rated 1 out of 5�by PugetSoundTubing Inflatable Submarine? I've enjoyed tubing on an old "doughnut" tube for 25 years, but my kids do not like the water which accumulates in the well and splashes them. They were very excited when I brought this "solid" tube home for them to try. My 50#, 7 year old daughter was the brave pilot for the maiden voyage. We started the boat and the tube immediately started diving and the poor kid freaked. We then sent my 65#, 9 year old son out, with the instructions to try leaning back. Same result, and another wet and cold child, after getting pulled all the way under the 53 degree Puget Sound water. At that point, I figured that they were just not leaning back enough and/or not allowing it to get up on plane. I went out and leaned back as far as I could. The boat started and the tube seemed to get up on plane. Thinking I was in the clear, I started to lean back forward to a normal riding position (I promise, I was not too far forward), and the rope (inserted low on the tube) caught the water and immediately pulled the tube and I under the water, until the rope snapped. We gave up at that point and decided to pull the tube back to shore? But even with NO RIDERS on it, it immediately submarined when we started moving forward with any speed. I can't imagine how anyone keeps this thing above the water, even though I'm not sure of how the physics works with a giant air bubble being pulled under water! July 8, 2014
Rated 1 out of 5�by jack fell apart came apart and filled with water after about 2 hours June 3, 2014


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A recent trip to Beaumont, Texas included a trip to the firehouse museum. What an exciting place! And admission is free (donations accepted). For more information, visit their website at Fire Museum of Texas.
Below is an amazing Old Time Ladder Truck! We could not believe the length of it.