ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

As globalEDGE has discussed in the previous posts for this month’s blog series, not only are frontier markets growing extremely fast, they also have a lot of systematic risks. These risks can range from extremely prohibitive government regulations to a communist run government that feels it’s appropriate to expropriate private assets when it deems necessary. To transition to a stable growing economy these countries must remove these risks and increase its population’s education and consumption. These will create sustainable investment opportunities and the increase in consumer spending will continue to fuel economic growth.

As a result of the economic crisis, countries around the world are attacking their own debt problems with austerity measures. A mixture of culture, value systems and tradition play a role in how these measures actually are received by the citizens. Based on the fact that both the and have adopted changes in their pension systems, how are these changes being received in the context of each country’s cultural values?

There has been a debate going on for many years, the true value of investing in . The results of investing in frontier markets seem inherently leveraged when compared to the results of investing in the more steady paced developed markets. While people with safety as the forefront of their current investment philosophy may not have any desire to invest in these markets, the intelligent investor with the time and knowledge to invest for the long run can benefit greatly from investing in the frontier. I believe that right now is a good time to put money down for the long run in these growing markets.

With all of the talk about how frontier markets are growing so rapidly and returning investors very handsomely, it can be easy to forget about the negative side of these markets. When people hear that they can make a 159% return on their money in 12 months (as Sri Lanka is estimated to do according to : Frontier Markets), they tend to overlook the risks that must be taken in order to invest in such a country. This blog post is here to gently remind readers why frontier markets are not yet a standard investing destination yet, and why they are considered a step below emerging markets.

Although somewhat unknown in everyday international business language, a new term is being coined by investors everywhere: Frontier Markets. Most of us have heard of emerging markets, which are known to be very promising markets where investments carry great potential, but are not quite as stable as in developed countries. There are many being published about this relatively new category of market investments.  But what are frontier markets? This week’s blog series will not only establish what they are, but also provide some insight into their implications on the future.

In the world today, clean energy sources are becoming more valuable each day with the growing concerns to protect our environment. The includes many different variations of these including: wind power, hydropower, solar power, geothermal power, and biomass power. Nowadays, renewable energy can be found in countries all around the world.

If you watched the news recently, you would have probably noticed a huge event happening in . In case you haven’t heard, 33 miners went to work in the San Jose Mine (used for the mining of raw copper) for what was supposed to be a ten hour shift. The roof of the mine ended up collapsing on them. Fortunately, all of the miners have been rescued from their earthen prison safe and sound. Now that this saga has finished its final chapter, perhaps the greatest impact experts in the industry hope it has was best summed up by Alonso Contreras (a cousin of one of the trapped miners): “Hopefully no one ever again has to do anything like this.”

“Never waste a good crisis…” Many politicians have said these words touting the benefits of the hysteria and urgency introduced by difficult situations. When people are under extraordinary pressure or panic, decisions are made quickly and with less resistance than under normal circumstances. In , miners had been trapped a half mile below the surface for 69 days, thanks to a collapse in one of the mining shafts. This has generated around the world and over 1,000 reporters on the scene to share updates to their audiences. For some, this real-life drama demonstrates the human ability to endure difficult circumstances. For others, this creates a commercial opportunity.

A new provision in Section 815 of the United States Senate’s is very concerning to businesses competing for large government defense contracts. The defense contractors are focused on loosening provisions that would effectively blacklist global suppliers from being included in government contracts.

The world is continuously changing with new , international trade and political movements as well as educational and cultural fluctuations. The only question is where exactly is all this change occurring? A new study by A.T. Kearney has just come out with the Top Global Cities of 2010.