Feast on that Turkey and Foreign-Made Shirt

Firstly, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hopefully, you have feasted on the juiciest and fattest turkey in town and shopped till you drop in some outlet mall – I surely did. (Feeling the guilt now) Alas, it’s once a year and what’s the best way to be thankful for one’s mere existence than by rewarding oneself with good food and insane bargains?

Jokes aside, there’s something interesting that I noticed this past Black Friday that I didn’t notice previously. Have you ever noticed where most of the branded goods (particularly clothing) are made? Yes, that’s right – mainly China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and India – mostly developing Asian countries. Now, some of that might already be common knowledge to you – labor cost here in the U.S. is expensive, whereas outsourcing it to a developing country, China for example, would cut overhead cost significantly. Couple that up with lax enforcement and less stringent rules (environmental or business regulations) – developing countries definitely seem to be a much better place to do business, or at least, manufacture goods.

Of course, things are not always what they seem – at least after studying this course. Companies operating in developing countries often have to deal with issues such as institutional void,lack of modern physical infrastructure,information problems, misguided regulations and inefficient judicial systems – just to name a few.

Examples of emerging markets (varies according to different definition and measures) Taken from : http://www.compensa.pl/Portals/0/prod_indywidualne/f21_mapa_flagi.jpg

In fact, there are lots of factors that one company has to take into account before deciding to go abroad. For those of you who are interested : Harvard Business Review, a publishing affiliate of Harvard Business School recently published a case study titled : Play It Safe at Home, or Take a Risk Abroad?

However, this is really not the point I’m trying to drive home. In line with this whole “emerging market” theme, have you ever thought of how big an influence emerging market plays in the world economy? How vital a role it plays? Emerging market’s GDP growth is 3x that of developed markets, and despite the recent economic downturn, most emerging markets continued to growth, with only little slowdown.

Take a moment to ponder upon that.

Okay, so not getting into too much academic details, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank some of the people who has made a significant impact in my life :

My family – Mum and dad for working hard to support my education, ensuring that I get nothing but the best, providing me with support and encouragement along the way.

My sisters – Annoying would normally be a word to describe them, but thousand of miles away, one can’t help but miss them. Thanks also for reminding me what “home” feels like every time we Skype.

My friends from home, from around the world – Thanks for being apart of my 20 years of existence. Without you all, l won’t be who I am today.

Related to this class,

My wonderful BUSADM 698.02 classmates, who has made classes every Friday so much more colorful and interesting. Thank you also for submitting a profile to be added to this blog. I’m looking forward to our Panama trip!

Professor Dickstein, for being such an amazing lecturer with your interesting teaching and travelling experience and for providing great insights into meticulous things that wouldn’t have otherwise caught our attention.

Miranda – Who helps coordinate and provides great advice relating to marketing this class.

Once again, enjoy the remaining of your thanksgiving weekend! Thanks for reading!