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because of global warming and a drought in the Corn Belt region of the .  Climate change and the resulting increase in temperatures in the last 50 years have extended the growing season in Canada’s Prairie Provinces approximately two weeks.  The Prairie Provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have long been big producers of wheat, but are now beginning to incorporate and in some cases completely switch to corn.  This is due to a decrease in corn supply in the drought-ridden Midwest region of the United States, high demand for the crop, and the fact that corn has a higher yield than wheat on a per acre basis.

In a global economy marked by unemployment, it might be surprising to hear that one industry is actually booming with career opportunities. That industry happens to be Big Data and business analytics. By 2018, the United States alone could face a . According to a McKinsey Global Institute report, the big data industry will also need over 1.5 million people in the next few years capable of analyzing data that enable business decisions. Global companies have begun the search for employees with complex skillsets and the ability to analyze large amounts of data. As you can see, big data is becoming ever so important for international business.

So far in this blog series, the reader has heard about how Big Data is the future of international business and all of the positives that are associated with it. While there are many positives for using Big Data, there are also many negatives. Further, those negatives may expand beyond just international business and into society as we know it.

The theory that the internet has greatly lowered barriers to entry into many markets is well established. Many companies have greater access to distribution channels coupled with low capital costs to start up a business in the 21st century. You can add another advantage of doing business in the digitized age: Big Data.

Big Data is increasing the amount of information that is collected about a person or demographic and companies have begun to notice. In an ever more competitive global market, companies are looking for any advantage and Big Data is showing big signs of potential. By collecting and connecting big data, companies can identify traits about potential customers that they themselves may not even know. and this bodes well for companies who lead in collecting such data. Consolidating facts about a person in seemingly unrelated areas paints a remarkably accurate picture of their habits and how they behave. The question for companies is not if they will use this data but how they will use it.

Data is everywhere you look; from the UPC code on your Starbucks coffee cup, down to the GPS in your phone. It has been dubbed by the Harvard Business Review as “”  Experts now point to a 4300% increase in annual data generation by 2020. All of that data is creating quite the hassle for businesses though. This industry, and its implications on international business are so new that many companies do not know how to attack the problem. They know being able to analyze and come to conclusions from their massive amounts of data is important but many companies have not developed a strategy yet.

On November 9th at the Business College Complex at , spoke to students of The Eli Broad College of Business about his views on business, philanthropy, and the future of education. Eli Broad funded the The School of Business at Michigan State University, and has continued to support his alma mater throughout his life. Through his many different careers he gained a vast amount of knowledge in many aspects of business, helping to facilitate his long and successful run in the business world.

Our globalEDGE is now up! The Country Comparator allows our users to compare up to twenty countries across a variety of economic indicators (up to five at once) including GDP, inflation, and exports. It can be accessed by pulling up any country’s page and clicking on the Country Comparator, or by following this link: . Please check out this new interactive tool and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below!

A significant percentage of China’s wealthy citizens, especially those looking to retire, have decided that they no longer want to live in China.  Instead, these members of the upper and middle classes in are expressing serious interest in emigrating to the United States, Canada, and Australia.  These three countries are appealing to wealthy Chinese because of their open spaces, clean air, consistent medical care, and relatively stable political systems.

After an exhaustive Tuesday night of speculation and predictions, Barack Obama managed to hold his position as the President of the for another four years. Foreign support for the President rained in on Wednesday through countless newspaper headlines, and it became apparent that allied nations have a tall order for the reelected President. They expect him to start his term off with a strong foreign policy with hopes to quell the global debt crisis and help boost emerging markets.