Giving examples explain how superpowers can exert their influence (10marks) The term superpower is defined as being a country with dominant global political and economic influence. In the last 20 years new global powers have emerged (Brazil, Russia, India and china, known as the BRIC’s) and can exert their influence all around the world. For example, Russia, which most of its economy relies on oil exports, Russia has developed important export partnerships to the east and to the west. Russia depends on the European market to buy 80% of its oil exports, but the USA is keen to become a buyer and China’s demand for oil is ever growing. This means that without Russia all these countries will not get the supplies and resources that they need.
As explained by Jad Mouawad and Julie Werdigier (2007): Bolstered by speedy economic development and industrialization, energy demand from Asia has been one of the main contributors to higher oil prices. Over the last two years, China and
Due to the new economic policies made after the revolution in 1905, Russia’s economic developments went through a drastic change. There was an increase in the foreign trade, which was used to fuel their industrial production, and growth while their infrastructure expanded. Several successes were brought to the Russian empire with these changes. Russia’s industrial production doubled and they became the 4th largest producer of oil and steel. Despite the positive changes that occurred, the quality and maintenance of the new infrastructures were very poor, furthermore most weren’t even completed.
One trend that favored the pursuit of the Chevy Volt project was the rise is high oil prices leading to the rise is high gas prices. Also, the high oil demand in developing countries as well as limited supplies favored the pursuit. The increasing concern of global warming and the possibility of having tighter regularions designed to limit carbon emissions are factors as well. 3. The lack of teamwork within GM was one obstacle in pursuing the project.
The Trans-Siberian railway was started in 1891; this was a massive improvement to the economy because it opened up the Eastern Empire and advanced the growth of new towns and cities, whilst connecting new industrial centres which helped to stimulate the growth of iron and coal industries. In the case of foreign investment, Witte put the rouble on the gold standard which encouraged other countries to invest heavily in Russian industry. These policies had some beneficial outcomes such as heavy industry saw massive increases in production, and the economy grew 8% per year in the 1890’s, however, arguably there were also negative impacts of Witte’s policies. The Trans-Siberian railway was only partially built and therefore only the major cities were interconnected. Also in order to provide money for industrial developments, taxes were raised which squeezed the peasants and therefore made them penniless to buy consumer goods, resulting in the economy of Russia itself to stagnate.
Explain why recently the UK is a destination of economic migrants One of the most high-profile trends of recent economic migration is the higher numbers of migrant workers from the EU joining states Immigration levels in the UK have risen significantly over the past 10 years, driven by sustained economic growth in the UK and the opening up of the labour market to the new EU addition states since 2004. Economic migrant means a person who has left his own country and seeks by lawful or unlawful means to find employment in another country. When Poland and seven other Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004, the UK received many economic migrants. There were 500,000 workers from Eastern Europe in 2009. The pull factors included wages five times greater than they could get at home.
And the reasons are: a. India is a fast growing economy and an attractive market over the past 15 years. b. India is currently rebuilding its infrastructure and they would need thousands of miles of new pipelines for oil and gas. c. Third largest welding market in Asia (in 2006); industry growth higher than the country’s growth rate. 2. If you were to expand to India, would you enter through acquisition, a Greenfield site or some type of joint venture?
Apple, Inc.’s Cash Hoard Apple is an extremely profitable company and is continuously building up large stockpiles of cash, currently at around incredible $98 billion [5]. This has advantages and disadvantages. The current state of the economy is associated with a certain risk of government default, bringing with it higher interest rates. Also with US president election coming up this year the economic climate are more uncertain then usual. This make it lucrative for companies to finance with internally generated cash, which is the most liquid asset.
As outlined by the text, investor reaction is indicative that the acquisition of PacifiCorp would be value adding for both Berkshire as well as Scottish Power. The change in stock price is implicative that $43 billion is put to great use, as oppose to sitting in Cash and Cash equivalent section of Berkshire’s balance sheet. More importantly, because Berkshire already has an Energy Holding Company, PacifiCorp being a low-cost energy provider would enhance the company’s overall reach in terms of market share. Therefore there is the potential and high probability of synergy between MidAmerican Energy and PacifiCorp, resulting in the market perception that more value will be added to Berkshire overall. The text
Strong market position allows the company to launch new products and also increases its bargaining power in the market. However, the high transportation cost resulting from the higher oil prices has increased PepsiCo’s shipping and handling cost from $4.1 billion in 2005 to $5.1 billion in 2007. Given the intense competition in the market, the company may not be able to pass on increases in operating costs to its customers. High oil prices would adversely affect the margins of the company. Page 1 of 2 PepsiCo SWOT Analysis Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Location of Factor TYPE OF FACTOR Favorable Internal Strengths Unfavorable Weaknesses Strong market