Africa

It is the second largest continent of the world, with 54 countries. Sudan is the biggest one and the Seyshells the smallest.

The continent contains the largest desert of the world, tha Sahara. Accountable for the 14.6% of the world's total population with 1 billion people, 45% of which are Muslim; 40% Christians; and 15% are non-religious or practice african religions that come from the Animism.

Despite of what most of the pople might think, each country in Africa has its own culture an ideology and the stages of development are widely different from country to country. They do share 2 main sets of languages from which most of the rest come from: Arabic (in the north of the Sahara desert) and Bantu (in the south).

They all belong to thousands of different ethnic groups, some countries even have 20 or more inside their territories.

Each ethnic group has its own distinct language, traditions, arts and crafts, history, way of life and religion. Some of the more widely known ethnic groups in Africa are: Arabs, Ashanti, Bantu, Berbers, Bushmen, Dinka, Fulani, Ganda, Hamites, Hausa, Hottentot, Kikuyu, Luba, Lunda, Malinke, Moors, Nuer, Pygmies, Semites, Swahili, Tuareg, Xhosa, and Yoruba.

photo: An African Woman by Roger Frazer

Africa's history goes 6.000 years back with the first great civilization on the banks of the lower Nile. in the 15th and 16th century, Africa opened to Europe thanks to the search of maritime trade routes, leading to beginning of slavery, that lasted 300 yeas, and colonialism mostly by Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and Portugal.

Economy

Africa is accountable for the 17% of the world's GDP and bases its economy on the primary sector. There is a vast majority of LDC's with a fast growing population compared to the availability of resources generating an incapability to feed the entire population and combined with constant natural dissasters and civil wars the life expectancy index is very low, and the money the make is destined to pay their external debt they receive from abroad.

Mining is the biggest source of exports and incomes from exports of precious metals have indeed helped develop the economy. Although, most of the mines are owned and exploited by multinational corporations.

Blood Diamonds: in the year 2000 a coalition of governments, non-governmental organizations and the diamond industry worked together to address this issue and with the Kimberley Process Certification System implemented in 2003, backed by the UN, the 99% of the world's supply of diamonds is from sources free of conflict.

The profits from the diamond trade have helpped economic growth, created educational opportunities and are vital for healthcare infraestructure.

Oil Industry: Africa has the 9.49% of the world's oil reserves and the main producers are Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola with the 85% of the entire continent's production. Even though between 2002 and 2006, publicly-listed oil companies tripled their spending in Africa and the oil exporting countries show economic growth, there is still a very poor governance in the use of oil funds and high fuel prices, human rights abuses and corruption.

Multinational Corporations: there are 2 points of view towards MNC. They are either very compromised to fight against poverty (currently 60 companies) or, in company with politicians, they are exploting the natural resources, expropiating the land from the people and not investing in the countries.

South Africa

Apartheid: it means "separateness" in Afrikaan and it went from 1948 until 1994. The population was classified into 4 groups: blacks, whites, asian and colored and that was a moment where black people were stripped of their citizenry and the white minority (10% of the population) controlled over 80% of South African land and still today, control the vast majority of businesses through ownership or managerial status. Adicionally, Apartheid had a major effect on women, who suffered from both gender and racial discrimination.
Nowadays, whites still believe that blacks are inherently less capable than whites.

Managing Diversity in South Africa: the key words are multiculturalism, affirmative action and equal employment opportunities. Although, there is no real commitment towards applying these words within the companies.
Features:
- Management structures are still the domain of white males
- Strong influence of British and American systems in the management practice (Binedell, 1993)
- The diverse cultures working together implies that “management and workers see each other as enemies” (Human, 1993)
- Challenge for managers today: find ways to benefit from the diversity.

FDI: the FDI in South Africa (SA) is not very high compared to other emerging market countries: South Africa receives about a half of the flows of similar Asian or Latin American countries. For example, the relation FDI/Total investment in Colombia is 15.8%, while in SA is 9.9%.
And this can be explained by:
- Lower rates of growth
- Less trade openness
- Less deep telecommunication infrastructure
- Weaker labor skills
- Slightly less competitive tax rates
- Higher crime rate
- High labor regulations

Slavery in depth and the triangle trade system

The sugar from the Latin-American tropic gave a huge impulse to the accumulation of capital for the industrial development of England, France, Holland and also, the United States, and at the same time mutilated the economies of Brazil’s northeast and the Caribbean islands, and sealed the historic ruin of Africa. The triangle trade system between Europe, Africa and America had as the master pole the traffic of slaves. The history of a sugar grain is a whole lesson of political economics, politics and moral (Augusto Cochin)
England started slowly taking over the slavery trade business with the South Sea Company. This brilliant business made the London’s stock market go crazy and unraveled a legendary speculation. The slaves transport brought up Bristol, the main shipyard seat, to England’s second largest city and made Liverpool become the most important port of the world.

From Liverpool, ships would sail full with guns, fabrics, gin, rum and color glasses that would end up paying for Africa’s human merchandise, which at the same time were going to pay for sugar, cotton, coffee and cacao from American colony’s plantations. Ships would sail back to Liverpool taking with them all sorts of tropical products. Local African chiefs would receive merchandise from the British industry in the form of muskets and enough spirits so they could continue with the slaves hunting in the villages.

To put the profits from this trade in context, and average English citizen, back in those days, could live on around £6 a year; the slave traders of Liverpool accumulated annual profits of more than £1’100.000. This accumulated capital actually made possible the invention of the steam machine, since its inventor James Watt was granted by these traders.

The rum cycle
In New England, the situation was quite different as this trade facilitated its development as well as its political independence. The capital accumulation started the process for the industrial revolution in the United States of America: at mid 18th Century the slave ships from the north use to carry barrels full of rum from Boston, Newport and Providence to the coasts of Africa. In Africa they would trade them for slaves; those slaves were sold in the Caribbean and from there they brought back the molasses to Massachusetts where it was distilled and, to complete the cycle, made as rum. Some of the capital obtained from this slave traffic was used by the Brown brothers from Providence installed the smelting oven that provided George Washington with the cannons used during the independence war.

In the beginnings of the 16th Century and the agonies of the 19th Century, several millions of Africans, there is still no certainty on the exact number, crossed the ocean; it is well known, though, that were a whole lot more than the white immigrants that came from Europe, although, a whole lot less survived.

References:
- Galeano, E. 1985. Las venas abiertas de América Latina. En Siglo XXI editores, s.a, El rey azúcar y otros monarcas agrícolas: 123-130.

- Class presentation, by Sarah Sophia Schielinsky and Laura Patricia Orozco

South Asia

South Asia complies the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives Islands, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal and their importance in the world’s globalisation is growing every time, especially in terms of economic development and demographic growth.

INDIA

One of the most populated countries with 1.166’079.217 inhabitants, 80% of which practice Hindu religion followed by Muslims with 13.4%. Their average growth rate is 1.5% and their main languages are Hindi and English.

Society and de individual

Karma: is based on the belief that good deeds lead to rewards and morally inappropriate actions lead to penalisations. When someone holds a good karma that will result in the rebirth with an improved social setting.

Dharma: Dharma is the path of righteousness and living one's life according to the codes of conduct as described by the Hindu scriptures.

Ahimsa: is based on the idea of harmlessness, non-injury, non-killing or pacifism because life is only One and sacred and all living things have souls.

The 4 stages of life:

- Student

- Married life

- Withdrawal from the world of maya

- Renouncing the world

Caste system

Brahmin (priests); Kshatriya (warriors); Vaisya (herders, farmers, merchants, craftsmen); Shudra (farm workers, servant and laborers)

Managerial Model

Their attitude towards work is not very valued because family is the most important thing above all and also religion plays a big role. The preferred leadership style is based on the caste system that implies respect for the superiors and the approach to problem solving is analytical and includes reflective strategies. The concept of cooperation is also very underrated: they are not good teamplayers, they don’t have very attached relations and they are very individualistic.

PAKISTAN

Currently declining economy, constant conflicts with India, security issues and a population of 176'242.949 and Muslim is the most important religion

Pakistan's industry relies on textiles and apparel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, paper products, fertilisers and shrimp. The FDI in the country is not very high nor promoted and their exports are narrowly diversified, only based on agricultural products and textiles.

The industry is 85% composed by small or medium size enterprises characterised by their insufficient funds and obsolete technology.

Society and women

Marriage is the only purpose of life and working women are generally portrayed negatively. Education is not a priority for girls. Parents prefer to send boys to school in case they can not afford to send all of their children. There are also poor health care services for females.

Employing women can cause social problems especially when it comes to issues with men if they have women as superiors. The image of the male provider is still very strong.

The Purdah: literally translated into "curtain" in Urdu. The purdah is the segregation of women. They are kept behind the curtain for their own protection and to ensure the family honor.

photo by: David Douglas Duncan. "Women in purdah, Pakistan, [1947]"

THE KASHMIR ISSUE

After the Indian subcontinent became independant from Britain in 1947 and the partition looked imminent, 565 princely states had to decide whether to join India or Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir, located right in the middle of the two countries could not decide whaich country to join. With a predominant muslim population, the ruler of this territory decided to sign a "standstill" agreement with Pakistan that would ensure that trade, travel and communications could not be affected, even though India did not sign any similar agreement.
Months later on that same year, Kashmir was invaded by Pashtun tribsmen from pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province letting Kashmir's ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, feel forced to request armed assistance from India after violent raids. This led to according the terms of the Instrument to Accession to India and its jurisdiction over external affairs, deffence and communications even though this agreement has been hotly discussed for over 50 years claiming bad faith from India.
Currently, a boundary, "The Line of Control", divides the region in two, with one part administered by India and one by Pakistan

So, what future can Kashmir expect? 7 possible scenarios could find a solution for the current situation:
- Scenario 1: India would like to formalise the status quo concerning "the line of control", but Pakistan and Kashmiri activists reject this plan because they both want greater control over the region.
- Scenario 2: Kashmir joins Pakistan given the majority of Muslim population. But the minorities cannot be left out. The Hindus of Jammu, and the Buddhists of Ladakh have never shown any desire to join Pakistan and would protest at the outcome.
- Scenario 3: Kashmir Joins India, although this would be unlikely to help with the unstability of the region given that the Muslim inhabitants of Pakistani-administered Jammu and Kashmir, including the Northern Areas, have never shown any desire to become part of India.
- Scenario 4: independent Kashmir. This would require India and Pakistan to give up territory which they are not willing to do. And a plebiscite or referendum would not only be rejected by India and Pakistan but also by the inhabitants of the state who are content with their status as part of the countries to which they already owe allegiance.
- Scenario 5: a smaller independent Kashmir. An independent Kashmir could be created from the Kashmir Valley - currently under Indian administration - and the narrow strip of land which Pakistan calls Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This would leave the strategically important regions of the Northern Areas and Ladakh, bordering China, under the control of Pakistan and India respectively. However both India and Pakistan would be unlikely to enter into discussions which would have this scenario as a possible outcome.
- Scenario 6: an independent Kashmir Valley has been considered by some as the best solution because it would address the grievances of those who have been fighting against the Indian Government since the insurgency began in 1989. But critics say that, without external assistance, the region would not be economically viable.
- Scenario 7: this consists on the division of Kashmir along the line of river Chenab which would give the vast majority of land to Pakistan. The entire valley with its Muslim majority population would be brought within Pakistan's borders, as well as the majority Muslim areas of Jammu.

References:

In depht: The Future of Kashmir?. http://news.bbc.co.uk

Class notes: presentation on South Asia

China

With an estimate of 1.345'751.000 inhabitants, China is the home for approximately 55 other ethnic groups, with a predominance of the Han with the 91.59% of the entire population.

The people's Republic of China is currently basing its economy on the industrial sector occupying a 49.2% of the total GDP, followed by the service sector (39.1%) and the the agricultural sector (11.7%) and it is the fifth economy of the world.

But these numbers do not represent the concentration of the labor force. 43% of the Chinese are occupied on the agricultural sector and most of them are kept on very poor conditions away from the development spots of the country.

The ones working on the industry and service sectors are currently, and have been for a very long time, being exploited as very cheap labor keeping wages down instead of expanding people's purchasing power and there is absolutely no room for independent trade unions guarantying the continuation of these violations.

China's Management Model

Even though there has been a lot of foreign investment since the last years on the 1980's decade and the beginning of the 90's, the main business remain the Family-owned businesses and the values that they carry.

Their management style is paternalistic and pragmatic, meaning that managers need to keep a balance between the family values and the management of the business.

Chinese businesses include highly centralised decision-making, low structuring of activities, respect for age and hierarchy, paternalistic style of leadership, strong emphasis on collectivism and group behavior and strong family management and ownership.

* People management: Good interpersonal relations between employees and the family members. predominance of good behavior and trustworthiness.

* Organisational structure: Family-oriented businesses with few written rules based on the trust the have on their employees.

* Leadership style: Again, the main characteristics are paternalism and nepotism, highlighting the moral values and the "paternalistic" obligations of the leader of guarantying the employees' welfare. Employees have the possibility to keep their jobs for an indefinite period of time even though their performance is not the best.

* Business orientation and strategy: Managers work really hard aiming to keep things under control. Patience and perseverance are two values needed to achieve this. This can also mean that the family members have to work without any wage when the company's resources are low.

References:

- Class presentation: China. By Sarah Juliana Monsalve, Laura Delgado, Raúl Sanchez.

East Asia

Korea

If we take a look at Korea's current situation, we can compare it to what the Cold War was. Korea passed from a civil war to a "technical war" environment where, even though there is no actual war, high tensions still linger reminding koreans the danger of a dormant war.

Basically, the korean war began after the japanese occupation during the Cold War when Russia and the United States were in constant competition to impose their economic and political rules on the rest of the world through actions different from the direct clash of military forces. One of these actions was the use of buffer zones which they used to confront with each other.

Once the koreans were ready to be an independent and unified country, the bipolar forces temporaryly divided the territory to exercise their own influence while the elections took place.

Kim Il Sung was a communist politician and one of the candidates for the korean PM and supported by Russia. The U.S' desires to put off the elections only generated more tensions that ended up on the armed confrontation between the newly communist influenced north Korea (NK) and the highly militarised south Korea (SK) supported by the U.S.

The temporary division became a permanent division that would lead both countries through extremely different paths.

While SK is the 12th economy of the world, NK is one of the poorest and least free countries.

SK has been integrating from 1960 into the high-tech modern world economy achieving incrdible records of growth. Initially, this success was achieved by a system of close government/business ties including directed credit, import restrictions, sponsorship of specific industries, and a strohng labor effort. The government promoted the import of raw materials and technology at the expense of consumer goods and encouraged savings and investment over consumption. And finally all this gave the country a huge leap into what it is right now.

On the complete opposite hand we can see NK in the bottom of the development of social values. Under the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) headed by Kim Il Sung, NK adopted a policy of "self-reliance" to avoid under all circumstances outside influence; The DPRK demonized the US as the ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded propaganda, and molded political, economic, and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyang's control. Currently, and after decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population. But definately, the biggest concern all around the world are their constant provocations with the proliferation of long-range missiles and nuclear weaponry.

The Korean Management Model

It is basically a blend of western and eastern management practices with a high influence of what the Confusionism has to offer: self-motivation, self-control, loyalty, responsibility, a harmonious society and respect for the ancestors and the elders.

The Chaebols

Formation of family-owned companies that are more like economic groups that invested in different sectors of the korean economy, turning into big growth engines. They created very strong bonds with the government becoming state-business coordination companies. And to give an idea of what Chaebols are, these are four of the most representative ones:

- Samsung

- Hyundai

- Lucky Goldstar (LG)

- Daewoo

The main features seen in the Chabols' management are:

- Authority and Paternalistic Leadership

- Centralized Planning and Coordination

- Top-Down Decision-Making

- Flexible Lifetime Employment and ‘All-Round Person’ Management Training

- Compensation Based on Seniority and Merit

References:

- Class notes: "Estudios de Area: Asia"

- Class Presentation

- The CIA World Factbook: Korea, South; Korea, North.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Expatriation

For our studies, we consider an expatriate someone who leaves his/her own country by their own will to go to work to another country sent by their company which requests that skilled labour to perform abroad, whether it is for a short or a long period of time.

The Cultural Shock

It is a process of adaptation that expatriates go through when they start to settle down into their new home. It involves getting along with new customs, making new friends and getting used to the new landscape. During this process it is very possible that the person might experience feelings of fear, angriness and disorientation.

In general, there are four phases when going through this cultural shock:

1. The Honeymoon. Is period of time where everything looks perfect and like it was going to last forever. "The new culture seems exotic and stimulating (Pustay/Griffin 1996 p.699)
2. Disillusionment. They start to realise that what it was thought to be perfect is actually not, and people start to see the complete opposite scenario.
3. Adaptation. The expatriate begins to understand patterns of the new culture and starts to adapt them to the everyday living.
4. Biculturalism. Total adaptation to the environment

Since this is not an easy process, the expatriate must feel like this whole sacrifice will be rewarded somehow or that at least they will get to keep the same standard of living they used to have. The sending company has to make sure that those living expenses will be covered.

Repatriation

Takes place when the no longer expatriates return to the home country. It is expected that they experience something similar to a cultural shock when they realise that what thought was going to be the same has completely changed after they left. Relationships, colleagues, etc. that finally makes the process of coming back home harder.

Migration

The National Geographic on its Human Migration Guide defines Human Migration as "the movement of people from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up permanent or semipermanent residence, usually across a political boundary". And despite the lately news we hear about forced migrations caused mostly by violence, the term has a very wide meaning. This means that people can rather migrate voluntarily or involuntarily.

Why do people migrate?

People find their current home place as unsatisfactory or threatening and they can find basically four reasons to leave to another place, that can either be inside their own country (internal migration) or in another different one (external migration).

* Environmental reasons: Climate change has been giving this factor a lot of importance lately given the proliferation of natural disasters caused by it. But environmental migration has pre-historical records due to weather seasons.

* Political reasons: Are mostly seen in countries going through wars where people run away from the violence or because they are being persecuted because of political beliefs.

* Cultural reasons: Seeking for a place where people can have religious freedom or education.

* Economic reasons: When people feel the need to migrate to another country for economic benefits (work and money). And it is not necessarily confined just to poor countries: inhabitants of rich countries also migrate for economic reasons. This is, by the way, the most common reason for people to migrate, even though most of the times they have to compromise their dignity by employing themselves in 3D kind of jobs: "Dirty-Dangerous-Degrading"

Labour migration has been said to be a direct consequence of globalization given that that traveling to other countries is no longer seen as such an impossible thing to do. Plus, when it comes to qualified labour, companies tend send them abroad.

When people migrate they tend to take some time to adapt to their new home and this always brings implications into the host country:

* Diffusion: The process through which certain characteristics (e.g., cultural traits, ideas,

disease) spread over space and through time.

* Relocation Diffusion: Ideas, cultural traits, etc. that move with people from one place to

another and do not remain in the point of origin.

* Expansion Diffusion: Ideas, cultural traits, etc., that move with people from one place to

another but are not lost at the point of origin, such as language.

* Cultural markers: Structures or artifacts (e.g., buildings, spiritual places, architectural

styles, signs, etc.) that reflect the cultures and histories of those who constructed or occupy

them.

References:

- The human migration guide (6-8) by The National Geographic. 2005. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions. Accessed: September 1st 2009

- Environmental Migration. http://knol.google.com/k/francois-gemenne/environmental-migration. Accessed: September 1st 2009