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licensing

A business arrangement in which one company gives another company permission to manufacture its product for a specified payment. A shorthand definition of a license is "an authorization (by the licensor) to use the licensed material (by the licensee)."

joint ventures

A company that is owned by two or more firms is a joint venture. They may be formed from a starting basis or may be the result of several established companies that are merging

Pudong

A district of Shanghai, located east of the Huangpu River across from the historic city center of Shanghai in Puxi. The name refers to its historic position as "The East Bank" of the Huangpu River, which flows through central Shanghai

niche strategy

A marketing approach for a good or service with features that appeal to a particular minority market subgroup.

Perestroika

A political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s, widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost policy reform. The literal meaning of Perestroika is "restructuring.", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system.

outsourcing

A practice used by different companies to reduce costs by transferring portions of work to outside or foreign suppliers rather than completing it internally. It is an effective cost-saving strategy when used properly.

Jack Welch

A retired American business executive, author, and chemical enginee. He was a chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. When he retired, he received a severance payment of $417 million, the largest such payment in history.

Korean-US Trade Pact

Also known as KORUS FTA, is a trade agreement between the United States and the Republic of Korea signed on June 30, 2007. This agreement went into force on March 15, 2012 and it entails countless new opportunities for U.S. exporters to sell more made-in-America goods, services, and agricultural products to Korean customers.

World Bank

An International financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs compromise 2 institutions: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA).

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

An act sponsored by Reed Smoot (Senator) and Willis C. Hawley (Representative) signed into law on June 17, 1930. The Act raised U.S. Tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. It ended up having a negative effect and economists argue that it was contributed to the depth and length of the global Depression.

special economic zones

An area in which business and trade laws differ from the rest of the country. SEZ's are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include: increased trade, increased investment, job creation and effective administration.

Yuan valuation

China's national currency. It's known locally as the renminbi (RMB), which means "the money of the people." The Renminbi is the official name for the currency.

Theodore Levitt

Harvard marketing professor. Levitt's provocative argument in the mid-1980s stated the future belongs to companies that make and sell "the same thing, the same way, everywhere." Associated with an organizational structure in which various product or business managers have worldwide responsibility.

dumping

In regards to business, a kind of predatory pricing especially regarding international trade. It is the export by a country or company of a product at the price that is lower in the foreign market than the price charged in the domestic market.

Marshal Plan

Officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), it was intended to rebuild the economies and spirits of western Europe, primarily. George Marshall was convinced the key to restoration of political stability lay in the revitalization of national economies. Further he saw political stability in Western Europe as a key to blunting the advances of communism in that region.

Matrix Structure

Organization use matrix structures when they need stronger horizontal alignment or cooperation in order to meet their goals. A matrix structure combines functional and divisional chains of command to form a grid with two command structures, one vertically according to function, and the other horizontally by product line, brand, customer group, or geographic region.

switch trading

Practice in which one company sells to another its obligation to make a purchase in a given country.

US credit downgrading

Several credit rating agencies around the world have downgraded their credit ratings of the U.S. federal government, including Standard & Poor's (S&P) which reduced the country's rating from AAA (outstanding) to AA+ (excellent) on August 5, 2011. The downgrade to AA+ occurred four days after the 112th United States Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling of the federal government by means of the Budget Control Act of 2011 on August 2, 2011. Later, the US Government commenced an investigation into S&P's role in the rating of several mortgage backed securities which played a role in the 2008 financial crisis. In order to mend its relationship with the US government, S&P asked its then CEO to step down, a mere 18 days after the US was downgraded. S&P announced on August 23, 2011 that Deven Sharma would step down as a Chief of Standard & Poor's effective September 12, 2011, and would leave the company by end of the year.

Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is the revolutionary wave of demonstrations, protests, uprisings and armed rebellions occurring in the Middle East and in North Africa since 2010. The economic crisis led the population of several countries to defy their authoritarian governments.

Chinese dollar reserves

The foreign exchange reserves of China are the People's Republic of China holdings of cash, bank deposits, bonds, and other financial assets denominated in currencies other than China's national currency. The management of foreign-exchange reserves is governed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the People's Bank of China.

just-in-time production

This is an inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thereby reducing inventory costs. When using this method, one needs to be able to forecast demand accurately.

Lenovo

a Chinese multinational technology company with headquarters in Beijing, China, and Morrisville, North Carolina, United States

Geert Hofstede

a Dutch social psychologist, former IBM employee, and Professor Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, well known for his pioneering research on cross-cultural groups and organizations. His most notable work has been in developing cultural dimensions theory. Here he describes national cultures along six dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity, Long Term Orientation, and Indulgence vs. restraint.

competitive advantage

a condition or circumstance that puts a company in a favorable or superior business position. Michael Porter defined two types of competitive advantage: lower costs or differentiation.

Keirsetsu

a conglomeration of businesses linked together by cross-shareholdings to form a robust corporate structure. This is an informal business group. Member companies own small portions of the shares in each other's companies. This helps insulate each company from stock market fluctuations and take over attempts

Euro crisis

a multi-year debt crisis that has been taking place in several eurozone member states since the end of 2009.

turnkey projects

a type of project that is constructed so it can be sold as a completed project. A turnkey project is produced by a team of contractors and project leaders who have experience in the type of project that is being produced. It can either be the actual business or a business setting.

Manmohan Singh

an Indian economist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. Singh's first ministry executed several key legislations and projects, including the Rural Health Mission, Unique Identification Authority, Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and Right to Information Act.

Michael Porter

an economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker and teacher. Throughout his career at Harvard Business School, he has brought economic theory and strategy concepts to bear on many of the most challenging problems facing corporations, economies and societies, including market competition and company strategy, economic development, the environment, and health care.

World Trade Organization

deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.

Theory of Comparative Advantage

states that if countries specialise in producing goods where they have a lower opportunity cost - then there will be an increase in economic welfare. Developed by David Ricardo.

first mover advantages

the advantage gained by the initial ("first-moving") significant occupant of a market segment. It may be also referred to as Technological Leadership. A market participant has first-mover advantage if it is the first person and gains a competitive advantage through control of resources.With this advantage, first-movers can be rewarded with huge profit margins and a monopoly-like status.Not all first-movers are rewarded. If the first-mover does not capitalize on its advantage, its "first-mover disadvantages" leave opportunity for new entrants to enter the market and compete more effectively and efficiently than the first-movers; such firms have "second-mover advantage."

Deng Xiaoping

was the most powerful figure in the People's Republic of China from the late 1970s until his death in 1997. He abandoned many orthodox communist doctrines and attempted to incorporate elements of the free-enterprise system and other reforms into the Chinese economy.