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With unemployment in America still hovering near 9 percent, many Americans are upset that companies are offshoring jobs to countries such as China. However, according to a new analysis by (BCG), there is a “manufacturing renaissance” on the United States’ horizon.

Most African economies are known for their valuable commodities like oil, copper, and gas. But as of late, are adding a new focus to their economies with technology innovation. Countries throughout the continent have acknowledged as a key component in the battle to boost prosperity. This has sparked a technology revolution in a continent with high ambitions.

It’s hard to believe two and a half years after a global financial crisis that economies around the world can recover to pre-crisis levels. However, that is exactly where the economies of Central European countries find themselves. Countries in Central Europe have shown remarkable resilience to recover at a rather quick pace. and are swiftly moving ahead with estimated growth rates of nearly 4 percent this year. But perhaps the most important piece in Central Europe’s recovery lies in the country of .

The Democratic Republic of is Africa’s largest tin producer and accounts for 5-7% of the world output. However, recent campaigns from rights groups and governments claiming that conflict minerals are being traded have adversely affected sales in the region. The Congolese government has dealt with this by withdrawing their military from the Bisie mine, the nation’s largest tin mine. Removing military units allows the North Kivu provincial mining department to take control of the mine in order to increase the amount of conflict-free minerals. 

I was first introduced to (CQ) in my international management class this past year, and was highly intrigued by the topic. CQ is a person's capability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity. When the opportunity rose to read , I jumped at the chance. Dr. David Livermore wrote the book to essentially give the everyday person, whether you are a teacher, doctor, entrepreneur or CEO, strategies to increase your CQ.  Here is a little excerpt of an example from the book that may apply to you:

When people think of online shopping today, paying for goods or services via the internet usually comes to mind. However, in this is not the case. More than 80 percent of transactions at Russian online megastores are in cash. Russian customers are not very comfortable with online transactions so businesses in Russia have developed alternatives for the online shopping model.

In part one we talked about the huge environmental costs for companies and the economic impacts these may have. Now we want to see what can be done, if reporting these costs should become standard, and the benefits this may have. Already many companies have made huge investments in reforestation, reducing water consumption, and an overall protection of natural resources. With the rising costs of valuable resources which are in danger, it only makes sense that these become a regular part of a company’s investment. With a strong sustainability agenda, corporations can help business be perceived as the place to best change what is going on in the world. As more companies realize how much sustainability , they’ll want to know how best to report these costs, and what can be done about them. The best step is to no longer ignore what’s going on, no matter what way you look at it.

In order to see if a company is viable as a going concern, environmental costs are vital to know for the long-run. The benefits to preserving the environment in terms of dollars may be surprising, but it’s not to many business leaders these days. A private sector solution may be the best solution on a global scale. , Puma became the world’s first major corporation to report the details of the cost of the company’s impact on the environment. They said the costs of the carbon emission and the water it used in 2010 totaled $134.3 million. The costs not only included the company, but all of its suppliers as well. The next step for the company is to measure their . Ecosystems are of most companies, and integrating the true costs of extracting these services could significantly impact bottom lines in the future.

The largest earthquake ever to hit Japan had detrimental effects on its economy. It also crippled , causing millions in lost revenue and almost a complete shutdown of the automakers' plants. What caused this supply chain disaster was the Just-In-Time production model that many automotive manufacturers have turned to in the recent years to decrease carrying costs and inventory. For the most part, this model is very safe but during times of supply shortages, having little on hand causes a big problem. As such, one vehicle contains roughly 50 to 100 microchips that control everything from brakes to navigation systems. To continue the car on the assembly line, not one part can be missing. During the earthquake, the main vendor of microchips had damage at its production facility creating a large shortage of a very hard to manufacture product. This shortage of microchips caused the automotive companies to down to 20 to 50 percent of full operating capacity. Consequently, Japanese automakers are losing market share to American car manufacturers because of this shortage.

A massive project to renovate the broken-down railway network has been launched in the capital city of Kinshasa. Most of the rail track in Congo was laid more than 100 years ago, so repairs and improvements are huge necessities. Costing a total of $600 million, this project is being backed by and the with an estimated completion time of four years. The major goal for the revamped rail system is to restore services to provinces where rail is the only connection to the rest of the world in the absence of roadway and river transportation. This project has huge implications for businesses and bordering countries looking to trade with the Democratic Republic of Congo.