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This website is for students who are taking part in the HE+ project across the UK. Use the subject resources here to discover new interests and develop your academic skills.

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An alternative case study

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A page of resources explaining if sustainable tourism is a myth or reality

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Education transforms lives and is at the heart of UNESCO's mission to build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development.

UNESCO believes that education is a human right for all throughout life and that access must be matched by quality. The Organization is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education. It has been entrusted to lead the Global Education 2030 Agenda through Sustainable Development Goal 4. The roadmap to achieve this is the Education 2030 Framework for Action (FFA).

UNESCO provides global and regional leadership in education, strengthens education systems worldwide and responds to contemporary global challenges through education with gender equality an underlying principle.

Its work encompasses educational development from pre-school to higher education and beyond. Themes include global citizenship and sustainable development, human rights and gender equality, health and HIV and AIDS, as well as technical and vocational skills development.

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Children and young people in Delhi have helped to design an innovative smartphone app as part of a research project that is helping to change lives in their communities.

The first results of the young people's work using the app to collect information across the city are delivering new toilet buildings - identified as a priority community need.

The University of Birmingham and Humara Bachpan Campaign (HBC) are collaborating on a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) that aims to map urban life in Delhi. Humara Bachpan is a national campaign which aims to fill a gap in advocacy in India, focused on the living conditions of young children in urban poverty.

They are working with young people in children's clubs across 20 informal housing settlements in Delhi. The young people helped to design the 'Map My Community' app tool, have completed training, and are now collecting data across the city.

The project collects evidence about the experiences of children and young people in informal settlements across the city. It aims to influence city master plans, zonal development plans and urban development policies - leading to creation of child friendly cities.

Dr. Sophie Hadfield-Hill, lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Birmingham, is leading the project.

She said: "Impacts are already emerging from this innovative way of working. For young people to see the benefits of their work, first-hand, in their community is really incredible. Over the coming months, we will support children's participation in urban planning and help them push for urban spaces which support young people's lives."

Work has now begun on the construction of new toilets in Badarpur, New Delhi, after young people's use of the 'Map My Community' app and children-led planning work enabled them to identify a need for such facilities. They used data collected from the project and problem analysisfrom HBC's Children-led Planning process to submit a detailed charter of demands to the local authorities. The local authorities recently released government funds to re-build the public toilet.

One of the young people taking part - a girl aged 14 - said: "This is the first time I have ever seen an application that pays attention to the problems faced by children and takes our views and opinions. Thank you!"

Another - a boy, aged 13 - added: "The unique thing about this app is that it allows us to express our issues in an easy way."

HBC and University of Birmingham researchers are collaborating on this project, which emerged from a larger-scale ESRC funded project on children and young people's everyday experiences of Urban Transformation in India. There are currently 150 child leaders from 20 communities across Delhi collecting data for the project.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:

The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world's top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 5,000 international students from over 150 countries. Dr. Sophie Hadfield-Hill and Dr. Cristiana Zara are working on the project.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funder of research on the social and economic questions facing us today. It supports the development and training of the UK's future social scientists and also funds major studies that provide the infrastructure for research. ESRC-funded research informs policymakers and practitioners and helps make businesses, voluntary bodies and other organisations more effective. The ESRC also works collaboratively with six other UK research councils and Innovate UK to fund cross-disciplinary research and innovation addressing major societal challenges. The ESRC is an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter in 1965, and funded mainly by the Government.

The ESRC is funding this project through the Impact Acceleration Account.

Humara Bachpan Campaign (HBC) was founded by Dharitri Patnaik, the India Representative of Bernard van Leer Foundation. The campaign was launched in May 2013 and has spread to 17 states and 23 cities reaching out to 35,000 young children across India through 428 child clubs in 437 slums as of July 2015.

Children-Led Planning is a ten step process through which children analyse their situation, identify and prioritise issues, explore potential resources, identify stakeholders and come up with solutions for creating a neighbourhood and city which responds to their needs.

For more information or interviews, please contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0) 121 414 8254 or +44 (0)782 783 2312. For out-of-hours enquiries, please call +44 (0) 7789 921 165.

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Young people's mapping project instigates change in Delhi communities

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Children and young people in Delhi have helped to design an innovative smartphone app as part of a research project that is helping to change lives in their communities. The first results of the young people's work using the app to collect information across the city are delivering new toilet buildings - identified as a priority community need.

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Economic growth and environmental sustainability 

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Economic growth and environmental sustainability 

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Economic Growth vs Environmental sustainability 

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Economic Growth vs Environmental sustainability 

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In the next few days I am taking part in a debate with the minister of state for energy and climate change, Charles Hendry, on the subject of whether economic growth is incompatible with sustainable development.

I was sitting in a cafe pondering this issue when inspiration came from an unlikely source - an extremely large sign, perhaps 10 metres across, fixed above the bar: "Sometimes the only way to create something new is to go all the way back to the beginning."

It reminded me of Einstein's remark that the thinking that got us into a mess cannot, by definition, get us out of it.

Much of the current sustainability debate is based on an acceptance of the existing capitalist system as it is. We rarely re-evaluate at a deep level what it is we are seeking to achieve as a society and whether the existing structures are helping or hindering.

As a result, solutions to the multitude of problems we face, from climate change and biodiversity loss to resource and water scarcity, tend to be built around iterative change.

While those modest moves forward are welcome and create a foundation for taking the next step, many of us recognise the risk that we are fiddling while Rome burns. The signs are all there if we wish to see them: weather pattern changes, debt levels, hikes in the prices of food and raw materials, and widening gaps between the rich and poor, north and south.

Often these are viewed in isolation, but the true value of the idea of sustainability, as opposed to corporate responsibility, is the ability to see social, environmental, ethical and economic issues as interconnected. That is why there is increasing recognition of the need to develop systems-based approaches to change.

We have gone through many cycles of boom and bust, but there is the beginning of a recognition that this time may be fundamentally different and we cannot just assume that everything is going to get back to normal. Also, do we really want things to get back to normal?

As George Monbiot pointed out the other day, we have inflicted more damage since 1950 to the planet's living systems than we achieved in the preceding 100,000 years and continued economic growth in the UK has done most people few favours.

So if the traditional measure of GDP to measure the health of a nation is close to becoming obsolete, how can we measure what success would look like if we went "all the way back to the beginning."

The truth is that it is easier to point out the problems than find a systemic solution, in part because the world looks so complex from the outside and individuals feel powerless in relation to the challenge.

But it is vital that we are able to articulate a better future and the time to do that is now. We know from psychology that a crisis offers an individual their best opportunity to contemplate a new way. But if that opportunity is missed, it can lead to even greater levels of depression, or a sense of meaninglessness.

Most often mentioned is Tim Jackson, a regular contributor to Guardian Sustainable Business, who wrote Prosperity without Growth, which was on Ed Miliband's summer holiday reading list.

Jackson highlights how in developed countries, continued growth and the policies which promote it, undermine what is most important to us: health, happiness, good relationships, strong communities, confidence about the future and a sense of meaning and purpose. He also suggests a new alternative macroeconomic model. But one book and one person is not enough.

So what do you think? It would be really valuable not only to hear your views on systemic solutions, but also to point us in the direction of other innovative thinkers and ideas that we can all benefit from in terms of deepening our understanding and our sense of hope.

If you have any thoughts on systems solutions, or you'd like to pose a question to other readers, please post them in the comments section below. To post, you'll need to registered to comment on the guardian site.
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox Topics

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Is economic growth incompatible with sustainable development?

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In the next few days I am taking part in a debate with the minister of state for energy and climate change, Charles Hendry, on the subject of whether economic growth is incompatible with sustainable development.

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They point out that such growth simply cannot continue indefinitely because the natural world - the global ecosystem - is of fixed size. And they have to be right because they're merely stating the first law of thermodynamics.

But that's not what economists mean by growth. They mean an increase in gross domestic product, most of which is cause by increased productivity (efficiency). It may or may not involve an increase in the economy's throughput of natural resources.

So what does the CSIRO's modelling say about whether we can continue to grow without inflicting further damage on the environment?

It says GDP can continue growing strongly, but throughput of natural resources can't. So the people who want continued growth in GDP win, but so do those saying ever-increasing use of natural resources must stop.

Since no one knows the future, CSIRO's economists and scientists ran through their super model 18 different scenarios covering different rates of growth in the global population, different degrees of global action to restrain climate change and a range of differing development in Australia and its economy.

All 18 scenarios project continuing strong growth in Australia's population and GDP out to 2050. But get this: only three of those scenarios also saw improvement or no further deterioration on the model's three key indicators of environmental health: emissions of greenhouse gases, water stress, and loss of native habitat.

As well, two of the three scenarios see no increase in the economy's annual throughput of natural resources, while the third projects a fall in material throughput of 38 per cent.

All this says ecologically sustainable growth and decoupling do seem to be possible, provided the world gets its act together.

The good news is that the model's results don't rely on "technological optimism" (don't worry, market forces will call forth a technological solution to every problem before the proverbial hits the fan) but nor do they require that we renounce our materialist ways and become greenie vegan mud-brick makers.

We don't need to do anything we don't already know how to do and, in many cases, have already begun doing. We just need to do a mighty lot more of it.

The bad news is that we can't do it on our own. To achieve improvement in the key environmental indicators and a fall in material throughput we need effective international action to limit the world's population to 8 billion in 2050 and limit global warming to 2 degrees in 2100.

This would require "very strong" global and Australian effort to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The two other environmentally not-so-bad scenarios - involving world population growing well beyond 8 billion and global warming limited to 3 degrees - would require "strong" global and Australian effort to reduce emissions.

Strong translates as a worldwide price per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions of $US30 ($42) in today's dollars; very strong translates as $US50 a tonne.

These world prices would be applied in Australia. But we'd have a comparative advantage over many countries that would reduce the carbon price's adverse effects on our economy: we could achieve up to half our required reduction in net emissions by "carbon sequestration" - reforestation of cleared land, either with one species of eucalypt (to maximise sequestration) or a range of eucalypts (to also restore native habitat).

At these carbon prices, our farmers could earn up to five times what they make from using the land to produce beef.

Our greenhouse emissions per person would fall from five times the global average in 1990 to below average by 2050.

Our biggest problem would be avoiding water stress, particularly because reforestation would add to the problem. The price of water for agriculture would be a lot higher and, in the cities, we'd have to do a lot more desalination and water recycling for industrial use.

I don't regard this as the last word on the subject. All modelling is far from infallible and this exercise is no different. The good thing is that a last we've made a start at reconciling our materialist ambitions with the constraints imposed by the natural environment we hope to continue living in.
Ross Gittins is the Herald's economics editor.

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Economic growth doesn't need to cost the world

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They point out that such growth simply cannot continue indefinitely because the natural world - the global ecosystem - is of fixed size. And they have to be right because they're merely stating the first law of thermodynamics. But that's not what economists mean by growth.

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Economic growth and environmental sustainability in Aus

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Economic growth and environmental sustainability in Aus

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Environmentally sustainable economic growth in China

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Environmentally sustainable economic growth in China

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China has achieved miraculous economic growth over the past 30 years to become the world's second largest single-country economy. Since the introduction of market-oriented reforms began in 1979, economic growth has been the central task of the Chinese government. Economic performance is even linked to career advancement. Incentivized by both financial rewards and political futures, policy makers have a vested interested in growing the economy.

However, growing gross domestic product (GDP) at any cost has created a series of social and environmental problems, and consequently, economic losses. In 2008, pollution and environmental degradation accounted for 10.51 percent of gross national income, according to calculations based on figures provided by the World Bank. Though problems have been prevalent since the beginning of China's modern industrialization, environmental challenges have dramatically increased over the past three decades, raising both international and domestic concern. China is currently ranked 116 of 132 countries on the Environmental Performance Index, and since 2007, China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter. Rapid industrial development has depended upon increasing inputs of energy, natural resources, and environmental services. As a result, resource depletion and environmental pollution have become serious problems that require the rethinking of governmental policies.

Recognizing the unsustainability of its growth model, the Chinese government has called for a major policy shift to address the environmental impacts of economic growth. In fact, China claims it is one of the first developing countries to propose and implement sustainable development as a national strategy. The government has achieved substantial advancements in sustainable development, including poverty reduction and population control. These efforts are not pure political slogans; they are important policy experiments in sustainable development.

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China still faces numerous challenges. Most of the country is in the early to middle stages of economic development and must deal with critical natural resource and environmental constraints. Significant economic and social structural problems also remain. The inadequacy of China's existing strategies can be explained in part through universal shortfalls of the concept of sustainable development, which is difficult to define and measure. According to 2012's Rio+20 Conference, any action that a country performs to improve social welfare can be counted toward sustainable development. However, the trade-offs among the economic, environmental, and social pillars are often ignored. For example, if poverty eradication is accompanied by environmental degradation, is this development pattern sustainable?

China also faces many of its own conflicting goals and trade-offs in sustainable development. The population living in poverty within rural areas numbered 122.38 million at the end of 2011. Though the government hopes to reduce the poverty rate by furthering economic growth, poverty and environmental problems are interrelated, and the worst-case scenario is a vicious cycle: on the one hand, poverty alleviation requires economic development that puts further pressure on the fragile ecosystem; on the other hand, the environment and natural resources can be constraints on low-income regions as they attempt to emerge from poverty. For example, deforestation, overgrazing, and overdevelopment of agricultural land lead to resource degradation and increasing natural disasters, which disproportionally occur in the poor regions and reduce their developmental capacities. Many are also concerned that because China is still at an early stage of industrialization and urbanization, addressing the key global environmental issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions could increase industrial costs and slow further economic growth.

Contrary to traditional analyses, new economic theories and empirical evidence refute the idea that economic growth, openness, and the environment are inevitable enemies. While an increase in income will not automatically improve the environment, studies have failed to prove that economic growth and openness necessitate environmental degradation. This is good news for China, which is not likely to amend its quest for growth. If China implements the correct policies now, it may not have to slow down economic growth in order to avoid environmental deterioration.

These changes will not take root unless policy makers provide incentives and enact environmental regulations. Policy, not income, will lead to a better environment. For China to improve its sustainability model, new polices must be implemented that explicitly address trade-offs in sustainable development. Furthermore, the stringency of enforcement rather than the letter of the law determines the de facto environmental standards. Poor enforcement can partially explain the overall poor state of the environment and may be due to a lack of respect for laws or standards that have been set too high.

Perhaps most importantly, the selection of environmental policies depends on the preference of a country's citizens. Even in an authoritarian regime, the central government tries to reflect individuals' preferences in its decision making to maintain social stability. However, without a voting mechanism it is difficult for the central government to know median preference, and policy making is likely to be determined only by the information that can be observed. The government in China has thus paid more attention to problems that are more visible, such as air pollution in big cities. The Chinese government's preference always leans toward faster economic growth with lower environmental standards, which is not necessarily aligned with individual citizens' preferences. The public knows best its own preference for the combination of income and pollution, making public participation instrumental to sustainable development.

Although the Chinese government has taken important steps to address environmental concerns, new policies - such as the aforementioned - are needed to enforce and regulate systems that are both environmentally and economically sustainable. China will not amend its goal of economic growth, but if the correct policies are implemented and enforced, the country will not have to slow down or reverse its growth or return to autarky to address issues of environmental instability.

Junjie Zhang is a Senior Advisor at Asia Society and Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics in the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. This piece was originally posted on the
For a more comprehensive picture of China's current environmental and economic policies, as well as policy recommendations to facilitate an environmentally sustainable economic growth strategy in China, download the full Asia Society report, Delivering Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Economic Growth: The Case of China, which was made possible with support from the Bertelsmann Foundation.

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Is Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth Possible in China?

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China has achieved miraculous economic growth over the past 30 years to become the world's second largest single-country economy. Since the introduction of market-oriented reforms began in 1979, economic growth has been the central task of the Chinese government. Economic performance is even linked to career advancement.

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Economic growth and environmental sustainability in Brazil

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Economic growth and environmental sustainability in Brazil

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Fishing in the Brazilian Amazon. Brazil has the highest rate of deforestation worldwide, while pollution threatens the country's drinking water supply. Photo Credit: CIFOR/Flickr

This post originally appeared on GreenBiz. It was co-written with Marina Grossi, the executive director of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Brazil's economy has been booming. During the past decade, it grew from the ninth to the sixth-largest in the world. While this growth has brought many socioeconomic benefits, it's come with a downside: significant environmental impacts. Brazil has the highest rate of deforestation worldwide, while pollution threatens the country's drinking water supply. Despite a decrease in national greenhouse gas emissions of late, agriculture emissions and energy demand are still rising.

This double-edged sword begs an important question: Must Brazil, home to several biodiversity hotspots and the largest rainforest in the world, choose between economic growth and environmental conservation? A handful of leading companies think not, and they're starting to show evidence that Brazil's business sector can be both sustainable and profitable.

A new kind of partnership

For the past year, a group of eight multinationals have worked together under the Brazilian Business and Ecosystem Services Partnership (PESE) to explore how their businesses both impact and depend upon the environment. The participants span sectors as diverse as retail (Walmart), mining (Anglo American, Vale and Votorantim), cosmetics (Natura), agribusiness (Andre Maggi Group) and food and beverage (Danone and PepsiCo).

The PESE addresses the relationship between corporate performance and ecosystem services. This term refers to the range of benefits provided by nature, such as the supply of clean water and crop pollination. These services can underpin corporate performance, yet they're too often taken for granted.

Companies in PESE are evaluating their impacts and dependencies on ecosystem services using a tool called the Corporate Ecosystem Service Review (ESR). The lessons they're learning are beginning to shape their business practices -- and could act as powerful examples to inspire other corporations in Brazil.

The business members of PESE are joined by the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), the Center for Sustainability Studies at Getúlio Vargas Foundation (GVces), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Supply chain wins for business and nature

Take agriculture, for example. It's a leading driver of deforestation in Brazil. The resulting loss of forest ecosystem services such as climate and water regulation, in turn, threatens the country's supply of agricultural products. Companies then face operational and reputational risks as a result of these environmental changes.

Companies in PESE are beginning to both identify and mitigate these environment-related risks. For example:

Andre Maggi Group, one of Brazil's largest soy players, is using the ESR to help secure a sustainable wood biomass fuel supply to power its Amazon-based operations. The company's sustainability and operations teams joined forces to develop a more resilient and economical biomass procurement strategy for the region.

Walmart is tackling the environmental challenges associated with its supply of beef. Because cattle ranches occupy more than 70 percent (PDF) of the deforested Amazon region, Walmart has set a target of achieving a beef supply chain with zero deforestation by 2015. To help achieve this target, Walmart's ESR will examine cattle ranching practices that reduce deforestation.

Danone, a dairy multinational, is focusing on evaluating strategic opportunities and risks to its main children's product line. In collaboration with local NGO Ipê, it identified ways to help dairy farmers in its supply chain boost the biodiversity and soil quality in their pastures for higher-grade milk and lower operational costs for the company.

Shifting the mindset from minimizing impacts to maximizing benefits

Mitigating environmental risks is not just good for companies, either -- it's good for Brazil.

For example, production of palm oil is commonly associated with deforestation of tropical forests and their replacement by monoculture palm, causing serious impacts on the environment, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. Seeking greater sustainability in Brazil's cosmetics supply chain, Natura's Bioagriculture Research Program has surveyed organic production of palm oil in diversified agroforestry systems, composed of several native and commercially viable plants grown in the same production unit. Natura is identifying ways to create positive environmental and social impacts from agroforestry palm oil in the Brazilian Amazon. These include improving farmers' food security, conserving natural resources and producing more sustainable raw materials for its cosmetics.

Mining companies Anglo American and Votorantim have integrated ecosystem services into the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process in the design of new mines. Understanding how mining both impacts and depends on ecosystem services enables decision-makers to go beyond mitigating negative environmental impacts, towards capitalizing on the benefits of improved ecosystem management. Opportunities uncovered include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs of mining, while also providing income generation and development to the region.

Of course, Brazil still has a very long way to go to decouple its economic growth from environmental degradation. The actions of a few companies will not suffice to truly break the connection. But PESE and other initiatives like it are proving that environmental conservation is good for business. If enough companies start to see the connection between sustainability and strong growth, it can create a real sea change in Brazil's business sector -- and in its ecosystems.

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Ensuring Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability in Brazil

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Brazil's economy has been booming. During the past decade, it grew from the ninth to the sixth-largest in the world. While this growth has brought many socioeconomic benefits, it's come with a downside: significant environmental impacts. Brazil has the highest rate of [deforestation](http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/27/are-your-cheeseburgers-causing-deforestation) worldwide, while [pollution](http://www.economist.com/node/21533415) threatens the country's drinking water supply.

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Environmental Sustainability Index, 2005 Release: Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) | SEDAC

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The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is a measure of overall progress towards environmental sustainability, developed for 146 countries. The index provides a composite profile of national environmental stewardship based on a compilation of 21 indicators derived from 76 underlying data sets.

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Bangladesh has steadily improved its social and economic indicators. However, poverty continues to be a substantial and stubborn problem in Bangladesh, where about 47 million people still live in poverty and 26 million people in extreme poverty. Floods and cyclones frequently cause severe damage to lives and livelihoods, especially to the poor women who remain particularly vulnerable. The Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement Project, known as Nuton Jibon project, aims to improve the livelihoods and quality of life of the rural poor, especially the poorest and most vulnerable households.
Challenge
Rural poverty continues to be significantly higher and more extreme than urban. While the decline of extreme poverty in rural areas has been impressive - from 37.9 percent in 2000 to 21.1 percent in 2010 - the poverty level remains almost three times than that of urban areas. Extreme poverty continues to be a rural phenomenon and the poorest in the poorest regions are also less able to cope with shocks such as natural disasters. Rural poverty and food security thus remain critical development challenges with the need for growth to be inclusive and pro-poor.
Approach
The Nuton Jibon project supports poor and ultra-poor of 3,262 villages in 16 of the poorest districts of Bangladesh through community financing for livelihood support, community infrastructure, and skills development training for youth. The project builds on its predecessor, the Social Investment Program Project, and focuses on empowering the poor and strengthening community-level organizations. Ninety-five percent of the project beneficiaries are women who also occupy most decision making positions in village institutions. Women, through the participation in the project, are also increasingly becoming decision makers in their households. The project focuses on reducing the vulnerability of the poor to risks by enhancing skills to increase employment opportunities as well as supporting small-scale, demand-driven community investment sub-projects that are prioritized, implemented, and managed directly by the rural poor.

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About 47 million people still live in poverty and 70 percent of them live in rural areas. The Nuton Jibon project aims to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor, especially the left-out poor and vulnerable households in selected districts.

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The Bangladesh Development Update, April 2016 notes that Bangladesh economy remained strong and resilient despite external and internal challenges. Bangladesh is among the top 12 developing countries with a population of over 20 million, who achieved 6 plus percent growth in 2016. By any standards, Bangladesh economy has done well. Bangladesh needs to focus on a growth agenda centered on sustainable and inclusive growth.

Stable macro-economy. Overall inflation declined from 6.5% in March 2015 to 5.65% in March 2016. Food inflation declined from 6.4% to 3.9%, thanks to a good rice harvest, declining international food prices and a stable exchange rate. However non-food inflation rose from 6.1% to 8.4% as a result of suppressed domestic demand, increase in wages, electricity and gas prices. The balance of payment (BoP) remains comfortable with a large surplus in both current and financial accounts, due to recovery in export, increased Foreign Direct Investment and aid disbursements. Monetary targets are underachieved due to limited growth in domestic credit.

Stagnating private investment rate. With its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) growth declining from 1.5 percentage point to 1.3 percentage point stagnating private investment remains a concern. Other challenges to the economy include: decline in agricultural growth, appreciation in Real Effective Exchange Rates, a struggling banking sector with weak governance in state banks coupled with slow pace and quality of development spending. Progress on export product and market diversification remains slow. There is also excessive dependence on the Gulf Cooperation of Council (GCC) for remittance inflows.

Budget deficit is rising. Revenue collection target in FY16 may fall short causing budget deficit to rise. Public expenditure will be lower than the planned budget size. However, the deficit is likely to remain within sustainable limits.

Structural reforms yet to gain momentum. While the government has already approved a few important legal amendments pertaining to special economic zones such as, export processing zone labor rights and bus rapid transit, implementation needs to be reinforced.

Mixed Global Outlook for Bangladesh. Income growth prospects in Bangladesh's main export markets are uneven, but sustained low oil prices bode well for external and internal balance. With modest fiscal expansion and some easing of the infrastructure bottlenecks, GDP growth is projected to rise gradually towards 7 plus percent.

Financial and political shocks can cloud the outlook. Few factors continue to hinder growth: infrastructure bottlenecks; power and primary energy shortage; credit shocks in the banking system; difficulties of doing business; and lack of reform continuity. Bangladesh needs strong structural reforms and effective public investment efforts to be on a higher and faster growth path. Further, weakness in the financial sector also disrupts investment and growth. Weak bank balance sheets and governance in the State owned Banks limit lending capacity, divert credit away from productive investment, and impose large fiscal recapitalization costs. High levels of non-performing loans and the high rates on national savings certificates increase banks' operating and funding costs, keeping interest rates high despite large excess liquidity.

Bottlenecks in infrastructure, energy and transport are the major challenges. The 7 th Five Year Plan estimates about US$ 410 billion financing, twice the size of GDP needed for developing the country's infrastructure.
Measures to sustain growth
Private sector participation can help address part of the infrastructure gap, but the country needs substantial public sector funding for investments in transport, river management and other infrastructures.

For energy sector, energy price reform is needed to attract investments in primary energy.

Reforms in government regulations pertaining to mediating civil and commercial cases, companies act, customs act and property registration are needed to strengthen competitiveness and ease of doing business. A careful selection of industrial zones will increase private sector efficiency.

Priorities in the financial sector include:

(i) improving State owned Banks (SB) balance sheets through recapitalization on improved loan recovery and credit growth limits
(ii) strengthening financial sector regulation and supervision;
(iii) improving the legal and financial loan recovery framework;
(iv) addressing risks from concentration and macro-fiscal linkages.

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Bangladesh Development Update: Economy Requires Focus on Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

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The Bangladesh Development Update, April 2016 notes that Bangladesh economy remained strong and resilient despite external and internal challenges. Bangladesh is among the top 12 developing countries with a population of over 20 million, who achieved 6 plus percent growth in 2016. By any standards, Bangladesh economy has done well.

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UNITED NATIONS, 19 February 2008: Cape Verde is looking towards new challenges after its graduation from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

At the end of last year, this African island country ceased to be one of the LDCs due to its good performance in the political, social and economic spheres. Its graduation from the category brings down the number of LDCs to 49. Cape Verde is only the second country to graduate from the LDC group since its establishment in 1974. Botswana left the group in 1994.

Cape Verde's graduation coincided with another notable success; its conclusion in December 2007 of over seven years of negotiations to became the 152nd member of the World Trade Organisation.

Graduation from the LDC list and accession to the WTO attests to strong commitment of Cape Verde to democracy, socio-economic progress and respect for human rights.

Since 1991, the country has pursued market oriented and people-centered policies, private sector development, privatization, trade liberalization and promotion of investment, particularly in tourism, transport and telecommunication infrastructure. Its GDP grew at impressive 6.5 per cent per annum and reached US$ 1.3 billion in 2006. The GDP per capita is US$ 2, 316. Human development indicators are also impressive: life expectancy at birth is 71 years and adult literacy rate is 81 per cent. Women make up 15 per cent of parliament and almost 19 per cent of executive arm of government.

Mr. Cheick Sidi Diarra, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, and the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Africa , hailed Cape Verde's graduation and accession to the WTO.

"The graduation of Cape Verde from the list of LDCs and the accession to the WTO is a clear demonstration that with the right domestic policies and strong international support, the fight against poverty can be won," said Mr. Diarra. He also urged development partners to continue to support the graduating least developed country, to ensure its smooth transition, better integration into the world economy and avoid the disruption of its socio-economic development..

As an archipelago of ten islands, Cape Verde faces the challenge of interconnectivity, a narrow resource base, remoteness from the major world markets, and scarcity of fresh water. It is also highly vulnerable to environmental degradation, namely desertification, climate change and natural disasters. High dependence of its economy on services (over 70 per cent of GDP), remittances (12 per cent of GDP) and ODA (17 per cent of GNI), low share of food production (10 per cent of GDP) and large proportion (nearly 70 per cent) of the population living in rural areas makes it extremely vulnerable to external shocks. Following the recommendations of the United Nations in resolution A/59/209 of 20 December 2004, Cape Verde created a consultative mechanism named "Groupe d'Appui à la Transition" (GAT) in May 2006 which reiterated Cape Verde's commitment to graduate from the LDC list as well as the commitment of GAT members to support the Government's efforts to transform the national economy in order to combat poverty and unemployment.

Further integration of Cape Verde in the world economy depends crucially on government policies to enhance macroeconomic stability and continuing to implement structural reforms by removing barriers to productivity of growth and encouraging private sector-led development. It will also depend on the continued international support of the development partners. Luckily, a number of bilateral and multilateral donors signaled that their special partnerships with Cape Verde will be not affected by its graduation.

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No more an LDC, Cape Verde looks to build on economic gains - UN-OHRLLS

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UNITED NATIONS, 19 February 2008: Cape Verde is looking towards new challenges after its graduation from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). At the end of last year, this African island country ceased to be one of the LDCs ...Learn more "Voir plus "

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Why did Cape Verde graduate from the UN list 

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Why did Cape Verde graduate from the UN list 

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What are the characteristics of LDCs? How does living in an LDC affect quality of life? Find out here

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UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in some 170 countries ad territories, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

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Countries at low levels of economic development 

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Countries at low levels of economic development 

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Liberia

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President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf subsequently won re-election in 2011 in a second round vote that was boycotted by the opposition and remains challenged to build Liberia's economy and reconcile a nation still recovering from 14 years of fighting. Challenges still remain for Liberia which has emerged from the long civil war in West Africa predominated by an emerging young population.

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Chinas open door system to increase economy in 1908s

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Chinas open door system to increase economy in 1908s

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Development of the EU:

- The 'European Economic Community' was set up by the 'Treaty of Rome' in 1957 to achieve economic and political cooperation after WW2
- Originally made up of 6 members (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) whose aim was to bring economic cooperation through a common European market free of tariffs
- Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined in 1973 benefitting from:
- Greece, Spain and Portugal had joined by 1987 and the 'Single European Treaty' was signed with the aim of creating a 'single market' allowing the free flow of trade across EU borders
- In 1993, what began as a purely economic union evolved into an organisation spanning policy areas, from development aid to environment, and became the 'European Union'
- The free movement of goods, services, people and money was permitted across the EU
- Further expansion in 1995 saw Austria, Finland and Sweden become members
- More recently, Croatia was accepted into the EU in July 2013 - the 28th member
- Other countries seeking permission to join are Iceland, Turkey and other east European nation, who could become part of the EU by 2020

- Integrate European Economies

via the introduction of the 'euro' - helps build a single market by easing trade and travel by eliminating issues of exchange rate

problems with euro arisen so countries e.g. UK and Denmark not accepted it

single market enables free circulation of goods, services, capital and people within EU

common tariff on external trade so member countries more likely to interact with each others' economies rather than outsiders'

development of infrastructure, such as transport, helps to connect economies of eastern countries with those of the west, by facilitating transport of goods and people

it is argued that true integration of countries can only exist with a single EU government, however this has been previously rejected - 'Treaty of Lisbon' - creation of EU president in December 2007 rejected

- Develop the economies of Europe and other countries
- Increase globalisation
- Ensure food security in Europe
- Protect the environment
Make Europe a more peaceful place than it was in 19th and early 20th centuries
Advantages and Disadvantages of being in the EU:

Should Britain stay in the EU?

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Development of the EU: - The 'European Economic Community' was set up by the 'Treaty of Rome' in 1957 to achieve economic and political cooperation after WW2 - Originally made up of 6 members (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) whose aim was to bring economic cooperation through

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How food production was affected within the European Union by the Common Agricultural Policy or CAP

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What is 'Dumping'?

Dumping is a term used in the context of international trade. It's when a country or company exports a product at a price that is lower in the foreign importing market than the price in the exporter's domestic market. Because dumping typically involves substantial export volumes of a product, it often endangers the financial viability of the product's manufacturers or producers in the importing nation.

BREAKING DOWN 'Dumping'

Considered a form of price discrimination, dumping occurs when a manufacturer lowers the price of a good entering a foreign market to a level that is less than the price paid by domestic customers in the originating country. The practice is considered intentional with the goal being obtaining a competitive advantage in the importing market.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Trade Dumping

The primary advantage of trade dumping is the ability to permeate a market with product prices that are often considered unfair. The exporting country may offer the producer a subsidy to counterbalance the losses incurred when the products are sold below manufacturing cost. A disadvantage of trade dumping is that the subsidies can become costly over time. Additionally, trade partners who wish to restrict this form of market activity may increase restrictions on the good, which could result in increased export costs to the affected country or limits on the quantity a country will import.

International Attitude on Dumping

While the World Trade Organization reserves judgment on whether dumping is an unfair competitive practice, most nations are not in favor of dumping. Dumping is legal under WTO rules unless the foreign country can reliably show the negative effects the exporting firm has caused its domestic producers. To counter dumping, most nations use tariffs and quotas to protect their domestic industries from predatory pricing.

The majority of trade agreements include restrictions on trade dumping. Violations of such agreements may be difficult to prove and can be cost prohibitive to fully enforce. If two countries do not have a trade agreement in place, then there is no specific ban on trade dumping between them.

Example of Dumping Tariffs in International Trade

In 2016, the International Trade Association decided that the anti-dumping duty levied on tissue products from the People's Republic of China would remain in effect based on Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission investigations. The decision was made because there was a strong likelihood that dumping would repeat if the tariff was removed.

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Dumping is a term used in the context of international trade. It's when a country or company exports a product at a price that is lower in the foreign importing market than the price in the exporter's domestic market.

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You may remember seeing news footage of the protests at the doors of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Third Ministerial Conference held in Seattle, Washington in 1999. Similar demonstrations against the WTO have also occurred in Italy, Spain, Canada and Switzerland. What is the WTO, and why do so many people oppose it? The following article addresses these questions and concerns regarding the world's only international organization that deals with the global rules of trade.

What Is the WTO?

The WTO was born out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was established in 1947. GATT was part of the Bretton Woods-inspired family, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. A series of trade negotiations, GATT rounds began at the end of World War II and were aimed at reducing tariffs for the facilitation of global trade. The rationale for GATT was based on the most favored nation (MFN) clause, which, when assigned to one country by another, gives the selected country privileged trading rights. As such, GATT aimed to help all countries obtain MFN-like status so no single country would hold a trading advantage over others.

The WTO replaced GATT as the world's global trading body in 1995, and the current set of governing rules stems from the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, which took place from 1986 to 1994. GATT trading regulations established between 1947 and 1994 (and in particular those negotiated during the Uruguay Round) remain the primary rule book for multilateral trade in goods. Specific sectors such as agriculture have been addressed, as well as issues dealing with anti-dumping.

The Uruguay Round also laid the foundations for regulating trade in services. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is the guideline directing multilateral trade in services. Intellectual property rights were addressed in the establishment of regulations protecting the trade and investment of ideas, concepts, designs, patents and so forth.

The purpose of the WTO is to ensure global trade commences smoothly, freely and predictably. The WTO creates and embodies the ground rules for global trade among member nations, offering a system for international commerce. The WTO aims to create economic peace and stability in the world through a multilateral system based on consenting member states (in 2017 there were 164 members) that have ratified the rules of the WTO in their individual countries as well. This means WTO rules become part of a country's domestic legal system. The rules, therefore, apply to local companies conducting business in the international arena.

If a company decides to invest in a foreign country by, for example, setting up an office in that country, the rules of the WTO (and hence, a country's local laws) will govern how that can be done. Theoretically, if a country is a member of the WTO, its local laws cannot contradict WTO rules and regulations, which currently govern approximately 97% of all world trade.

How It Functions

The current director-general of the World Trade Organization is Roberto Azevêdo from Brazil. Decisions are made by consensus, though a majority vote may also rule (this is very rare). Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Ministerial Committee, which holds meetings at least every two years, makes the top decisions. There is also a goods council, services council, and intellectual property rights council, which all report to a general council. Finally, there are many working groups and committees.

If a trade dispute occurs, the WTO works to resolve it. If for example, a country erects a trade barrier in the form of a customs duty against a particular country or a particular good, the WTO may issue trade sanctions against the violating country. The WTO will also work to resolve the conflict through negotiations. (For related reading, see: The Basics of Tariffs and Trade Barriers.)

Free Trade at What Cost?

The anti-WTO protests we have seen around the world are a response to the consequences of establishing a multilateral trading system. Critics say the after-effects of WTO policies are undemocratic because of the lack of transparency during negotiations. Opponents also argue since the WTO functions as a global authority on trade and reserves the right to review a country's domestic trade policies, national sovereignty is compromised. For example, regulations a country may wish to establish to protect its industry, workers or environment could be considered barriers to the WTO's aim to facilitate free trade.

A country may have to sacrifice its own interests to avoid violating WTO agreements. Thus, a country becomes limited in its choices. Moreover, brutal regimes that are pernicious to their own countries may inadvertently be receiving concealed support from foreign governments who continue, in the name of free trade, to do business with these regimes. Unfavorable governments in favor of big business, therefore, remain in power at the cost of a representative government.

One high-profile WTO controversy has to do with intellectual property rights and a government's duty to its citizens versus a global authority. One well-known example is HIV/AIDS treatments and the cost of patented medicines. Poor countries, such as those in South America and sub-Saharan Africa, simply cannot afford to buy these patented drugs. If they were to buy or manufacture these same drugs under an affordable generic label, which would save thousands of lives, these countries would, as members of the WTO, be in violation of intellectual property rights agreements and subject to possible trade sanctions.

The Bottom Line

Free trade fosters investment into other countries, which can help boost the economy and eventually the standard of living of all countries involved. As most investment flows from the developed and economically powerful countries into the developing and less-influential economies, there is, however, a tendency for the system to give the investor an advantage. Regulations that facilitate the investment process are in the investor's interest because these regulations help foreign investors maintain an edge over local competition. In 2017, as several countries, including the United States, strengthen their protectionist stance on trade, the future of the World Trade Organization remains complex and unclear. (For related reading, see: 3 Times the WTO Got It Right This Century.)

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You may remember seeing news footage of the protests at the doors of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Third Ministerial Conference held in Seattle, Washington in 1999. Similar demonstrations against the WTO have also occurred in Italy, Spain, Canada and Switzerland. What is the WTO, and why do so many people oppose it?

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Brief History of the EU and Economic Union

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Brief History of the EU and Economic Union

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Pioneers

The following visionary leaders inspired the creation of the European Union we live in today. Without their energy and motivation, we would not be living in the sphere of peace and stability that we take for granted.

From resistance fighters to lawyers and parliamentarians, the EU pioneers were a diverse group of people who held the same ideals: a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe.

Beyond the pioneers described below, many others have worked tirelessly towards and inspired the European project. This section on the EU's pioneers is therefore a work in progress.
Discover the EU Pioneers

Timeline

Find out about the creation of the European Union and how it has developed over the decades.

The following visionary leaders inspired the creation of the European Union we live in today. Without their energy and motivation, we would not be living in the sphere of peace and stability that we take for granted.

From resistance fighters to lawyers and parliamentarians, the EU pioneers were a diverse group of people who held the same ideals: a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe.

Beyond the pioneers described below, many others have worked tirelessly towards and inspired the European project. This section on the EU's pioneers is therefore a work in progress.
Discover the EU Pioneers

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History of the EU, EU pioneers | European Union

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Timeline of major events in EU history. How the EU has developed over the decades. Visionary men and women who inspired the creation of the modern-day EU.

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Really good case study to read

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COMPETITION from Chinese imports may have cost some Americans jobs, but economists have done pretty well out of it. Since 2013 David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson have published nine separate studies digging into the costs of trade. They have found that, of the fall in manufacturing jobs between 1990 and 2007, one-quarter could be attributed to a surge in imports from China. Other sectors failed to soak up the extra workers. Their research also suggested that the China shock has cut the supply of marriageable men and opened the door of the White House to Donald Trump.
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In recent weeks a dispute has erupted over their results. Jonathan Rothwell, an economist at Gallup, a pollster, alleged "serious flaws" in one paper, prompting a fierce eight-page response from the authors, and an acrimonious public tiff.

The row centres on how the effect of the China shock is measured. The trio wanted to isolate the effects of extra Chinese supply, rather than of something happening in America, so they checked that imports of particular Chinese products were surging in other rich countries, too. They then compared places in America more exposed to these Chinese imports-typically those with lots of labour-intensive manufacturing-with less exposed ones.

Mr Rothwell's critique does not attempt to debunk their research completely. But he asks whether combining changes in the 1990s and the 2000s makes sense. When he splits this period up, he confirms the finding that Chinese imports had large effects on American manufacturing employment. But several other effects of Chinese imports become smaller or no longer statistically significant. For example, the effect of Chinese imports on the size of the labour force falls to a quarter of its 1990s size in the 2000s. This is hardly conclusive-slashing sample sizes inevitably reduces the power of a test.

Mr Rothwell has not disproved anything. But he has provided an opportunity to think through the assumptions of the original research by Messrs Autor, Dorn and Hanson. Their attempt to isolate the effects of China would not have been entirely successful, for instance, if other countries were experiencing non-China-related shocks similar to those hitting America.

More broadly, it is impossible to know what would have happened had Chinese imports not surged. Monetary policy might have been different. And what a company such as Apple would have done without low-cost Chinese assembly workers is unknowable. Moreover, adding up individual effects over the whole economy could miss important interactions.

Mr Rothwell's strongest criticism is not of that China-shock literature at all, so much as of the way it was received. Some have taken evidence of disruption as proof that tariffs would be a good idea, or that trade with China has hurt America. But, as Mr Autor says himself, "our research does not tell you the net societal costs and benefits of trade." It does not estimate the benefits to exporters as China opened up (though this was smaller than the rise in imports) or to American shoppers able to buy cheaper stuff.

Other research is emerging that attempts to answer those questions. One paper, by Kyle Handley and Nuno Limão, found that the extra trading certainty associated with China's accession to the WTO lowered American manufacturing sales and employment by more than 1%, but also lowered American prices and raised consumers' incomes by the equivalent of a 13-percentage-point cut in tariffs. It also helped poor Chinese workers get richer, which isn't to be sniffed at either.

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Economists argue about the impact of Chinese imports on America

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COMPETITION from Chinese imports may have cost some Americans jobs, but economists have done pretty well out of it. Since 2013 David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson have published nine separate studies digging into the costs of trade.

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Since its founding in 1992, the Shanghai Pudong New Zone has made great progress in both absorbing foreign capital and accelerating the economic development of the Yangtze River valley. The state has extended special preferential policies to the Pudong New Zone that are not yet enjoyed by the special economic zones.

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Time Lapse Of How Much China Has Changed

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Ever since Joahnna Horca lost her father, a doctor, in a South China Sea typhoon, her large family has struggled to make ends meet.

So after Horca earned a college degree in social work, an older sister nudged her to help support the family by taking a better-paying job - at a call center.

That was eight years ago, when the outsourcing industry was just taking off in the Philippines. Today, it's the job of choice for many young people here. More than 1 million Filipinos now work at call centers and in related outsourcing businesses, mostly serving American companies.

The combination of cheap labor and specialized skills has made the Filipino workforce invaluable to a growing list of U.S. companies, which use them to field customer complaints, generate sales leads, code data, format documents and read medical scans and legal briefs.

Horca, 30, eventually got her social-worker license, but she could never tear herself away from the call-center job for a U.S. banking company. It's draining work. She handles as many as 100 calls a day from angry Americans, often working the graveyard shift.

But she makes about $700 a month, more than many general physicians earn in the Philippines, let alone social workers.

The industry in the Philippines has grown so fast that it has overtaken India as the call-center capital of the world. India still rules the information technology outsourcing realm, but an army of Filipino college graduates like Horca now dominates most every other kind of task known as business process outsourcing, or BPO.

By next year, experts estimate that the country's BPO industry will generate $25 billion in revenue, accounting for about 10% of the Philippines' economy and as much as the total amount expected to be sent home by the 11 million Filipino nurses, sailors, musicians and others working overseas.

The English spoken by Filipinos is closer to Americans' than in India. "Our culture is very similar," said Fred Chua, a lifelong Manila resident who runs a call center. A cousin in San Francisco drums up business for the company, Magellan Solutions. "We don't yell on the phone often. We're very customer-centric," Chua said.

That helps explain why the country has become America's top overseas site for voice-related work in business outsourcing.

Corporations such as Citibank, Safeway, Chevron and Aetna all have BPO operations here, as do smaller companies ranging from a Georgia medical collection agency to a New York spa operator that outsources its customer appointments.

The outsourcing boom has helped propel the country's economy, once a laggard of Asia, into one of the region's fastest-growing. The industry has spawned bustling business districts in Manila, with skyscrapers, 24-hour buffets and condos that sell for $500,000.

For most of the last four decades, while East Asian tiger economies were roaring ahead, the Philippines wallowed amid rampant corruption, lousy roads and sluggish investments.

But after 25 years of slow and painful reforms, the country is on track to achieve annual growth rates of 7% to 10% over the next 10 years, according to Bernardo Vilegas, a Harvard-trained Filipino economist. The economy expanded 7.2% in 2013 and slowed to a little more than 6% last year, compared with China's 7.4% last year.

One of the Philippines' biggest advantages is its large and growing young population: About 90% of its 100 million people are under 55, compared with 61% for Japan and 73% for the U.S. Most Filipinos also speak English, which is one of two official languages along with Tagalog.

For years foreign remittances by Filipinos working abroad were a pillar of the country's economy, along with agriculture and mining. Now the resurging economy is drawing some of those workers back home.

Butch Valenzuela, 55, left Manila in the early 1980s to escape rioting as masses protested the strong-arm rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Valenzuela went to California, attended UCLA, rose through the ranks at a manufacturing company and built a comfortable life in Orange County.

But a few months ago, Valenzuela's wife sold their house in Irvine and moved back to Manila, joining her husband who had returned to the Philippines several years earlier to set up a call center.

Valenzuela launched Visaya Knowledge Process with 14 workers. He has yet to make a profit, but it has grown to about 200 "seats," which is the way the industry measures the size of an operation.

Visaya is one of about 1,000 BPO operations in the Philippines. A few giants led by Convergys and Accenture, which have tens of thousands seats each, dominate the business. But the pie keeps getting bigger as American companies seek cheaper labor. Call-center workers in the U.S. make about four times their Manila counterparts.

On a recent weeknight, it was hard to tell night from day at Visaya's call center on the 14th floor of a nondescript building in Makati, an affluent district in Manila. The curtains were drawn, and the clocks on the office wall were displaying different times in four U.S. zones.

At midnight local time, the call center came to life as dozens of workers, sitting cubicle by cubicle, began making calls to generate customer leads for a group of California's for-profit schools.

Other workers dialed American hospitals to verify claims for insurers. All in all, it was an easy shift for the staff compared to when they are assigned to deal with unhappy Home Shopping Network customers.

No matter how difficult the caller, Valenzuela said, "our agents can't hang up. They have to figure out a way of calmly ending a call."

Industry turnover is high, on average about 60%, said Jose Mari P. Mercado, president of the IT & Business Process Assn. That means a typical worker who starts in January will be gone by July, a sign of how stressful and demanding the jobs can be.

Yet the relatively good pay - call-center workers make double the average salary of a Manila bank teller - keeps drawing people into the market. Mercado reckons that business outsourcing to the Philippines will grow for years to come.

American and European companies are increasingly outsourcing more sophisticated work that was once largely done by legal secretaries, junior accountants and medical staff in the U.S. This includes preparing research reports, formatting documents and providing clinical support.

"We produce 3,000 CPAs a year," said Mercado, noting that they're trained according to U.S. accounting standards.

Likewise, law schools in the Philippines follow American curriculum, making graduates an attractive low-cost option for some U.S. businesses. Starting associates at Manila law firms generally make roughly $700 a month - about as much as Joahnna Horca makes at a call center.

"It's not only about cost, but about efficiency across all lines of business," said Bob Gogel, chief executive of Integreon Inc. in New York, which has BPO operations in a dozen cities around the world, including Manila and Fargo, N.D.

He insisted that the overseas boom wasn't eliminating jobs in the U.S. While his Manila office is growing, he said, so is the one in North Dakota, which has 175 employees but is being expanded to 300.

Integreon's Manila office opened in 2007 and already has 700 employees. Benjamin Romualdez, the company's country head, said demand is particularly strong for legal transcription, document formatting and brief preparation. Integreon now has 200 Filipino lawyers on staff and under contract.

One of them, Julius Cerada, spends most of his work nights poring over briefs and highlighting parts that might be of interest to U.S. clients. Cerada wouldn't say what he earns, only that it's competitive with what he made as an in-house company lawyer. It wasn't about the money, he said of why he quit in 2013 and joined Integreon.

"Work-life balance is important to me," he said, noting that he was putting in too many hours before. "I just turned 50. Health is my primary concern."

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The Philippines has become the call-center capital of the world

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Ever since Joahnna Horca lost her father, a doctor, in a South China Sea typhoon, her large family has struggled to make ends meet. So after Horca earned a college degree in social work, an older sister nudged her to help support the family by taking a better-paying job - at a call center.

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Develop or die documentary linked to NIC

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Develop or die documentary linked to NIC

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Develop or Die 1 of 6 - Asia's Growing Tigers - BBC Environmental Documentary

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The term BRIC was first coined by Jim O'Neill in 2001 while at Goldman Sachs in order to highlight the economic prowess of Brazil, Russia, India and China. By grouping these states in this fashion, their respective growth and potential captured the attention of the West. Ten years later, another acronym was conceived with similar aspirations: MINT. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey thus were labelled as the new economies to watch. Although each member of MINT has undergone commendable growth in recent years and shows promise, they all feature several pressing challenges that are yet to be overcome.

A looming problem across the board is a high level of corruption

Each state has a large population with a sizeable youth workforce; a beneficial advantage for emerging economies, as has been the case for China and India, and all have geographically enviable locations with valuable neighbours. For Mexico, the obvious proximity to the global hegemon brings its fair share of trade and business opportunities. Istanbul straddles two continents over the Bosphorus, and so Turkey advantageously sits on the edge of the Eurozone and also acts as a bridge to the Middle East. Indonesia is close to economic giant China, while Nigeria's growing power and position in Africa can transform the state into a hub for the entire continent. Three of the four economies are commodity based, providing further reason for international investors to stand up and pay attention.

Burdening corruption
Yet a looming problem across the board is a high level of corruption. All four MINT countries score badly in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2014; Turkey ranks 64 out of 175, while the rest are closer to the other end of the scale. In Mexico, corruption allegations in the government, business and banking spheres have remained consistent, despite regular political pledges to combat these issues. According to a 2012 report from Global Financial Integrity, Mexico lost around $872bn from 1970 to 2010 as a result of tax evasion, corruption and bribery. While in Indonesia, corruption problems have worsened in recent years, with the abuse of office and money laundering becoming increasingly common. In addition, foreign companies also report a high incidence of extortion and excessive regulations that hinder business significantly. Irregular payments for importing and exporting, as well as illegal facilitation costs are demanded regularly, which together with Indonesia's weak anti-corruption legislation, discourage foreign investment considerably.

Corruption is a well-known and endemic problem in Nigeria and has obstructed foreign investment and the country's economic potential for a long time; the frequent theft of goods and natural resources is a particular problem. Oby Ezekwesili, the World Bank's former vice-president for Africa, revealed in 2012 that approximately $400bn of oil revenue had been stolen or misspent since 1960. "The failure of the country to utilise oil revenues for sustainable economic and human development is due partly to pervasive corruption, which has allowed national and local bureaucrats to divert public funds to their private interests", says John Mukum Mbaku, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Economics Professor at Weber State University.

In Turkey, bribery, money laundering and abuse of office are again widespread; although the legislative framework exists, the anti-corruption laws and corresponding authorities are generally ineffective. Last year, corruption accusations against the ruling party received international media attention and threatened to destabilise the state. Despite many of the allegations being dropped, the scandal impacted the construction industry, "Some of the construction companies who are implicated by the corruption probes could well see their access to credit curbed because of the negative publicity," İnan Demir, Chief Economist at Finans Bank told EurasiaNet.org. Consequently, further challenges are presented to the large infrastructure projects underway in the country.

Poor infrastructure
Another common feature is the inadequate state infrastructure that hampers faster economic development for all four. Each government is attempting to address this overriding problem by implementing long-term initiatives. For example, Mexico's National Infrastructure Programme, which began last year, is part of the state's economic strategy to maintain its recent GDP growth. The sectors that will receive the $596bn funding are transportation, energy, tourism, water, health, communications and urban development. Indonesia's infrastructure on the other hand is much further behind Mexico and handicaps the potential of domestic enterprises. According to the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, logistical costs for the average company are approximately 17 percent of its total production, making it around 10 percent more expensive than neighbouring countries. A lack of investment in large-scale projects is largely to blame as private investors frequently shy away from the country's unfavourable business environment. Structural changes made by the government and more conducive conditions are therefore needed in order to promote greater foreign investment in Indonesia, especially in these much-needed areas of development.

Nigeria's infrastructure is relatively advanced for the region and has contributed around one percent to the country's per capita growth in recent years, according to the World Bank. Yet challenges persist, largely as a result of an unstable energy supply, which continues to burden the state. The country only receives half of the power needed, with operational efficiency being among the worse in the continent - despite Nigeria being the biggest economy in Africa. Furthermore, other areas are in decline; "the water and sanitation sector is poorly developed and remains incapable of serving the needs of a modern, highly urbanised, and rapidly growing economy," Mbaku tells The New Economy. Last year, the World Bank approved a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), which includes funding for enhancing power generation and transmission capacity, as part of the strategy for achieving Nigeria's development goals. With plans for the CPS to run until 2017, there is still considerable work to be done before the economy can begin to reap the benefits. "Poor infrastructure represents an important constraint to economic growth and development in Nigeria. Without adequate infrastructure and a more diversified economy, Nigeria will not be able to develop the mass consumer market needed to undergird its industrialization efforts," comments Mbaku.

Turkey has made considerable efforts in recent years to improve infrastructure, particularly its transportation links. For example, in 2013, the first underwater bridge across the Bosphorus was opened, aiming to transform Turkey's largest city and economic epicentre. Plans for a three-tier underwater tunnel have also been announced, with Turkish authorities currently seeking foreign investment for the $3.5bn mega-project, while Erdoğan Airport, which is purported to be the world's largest terminal, is due to open in 2017. Such projects are crucial for maintaining the country's economic growth. Yet there are several fiscal challenges to contend with, such as the ability of Turkish banks to finance such large projects, as well rigid regulation and widespread corruption, according to PWC. "Turkey's infrastructure recorded massive improvement over the last decade thanks to financial stabilisation following the 2001 economic crisis. With low domestic savings, this infrastructure was upgraded at the expense of increased foreign debt, however. The fact that the country imports much of its energy, having a mountainous geography and prone earthquakes are factors that affect the economic infrastructure," says Eurasia Group analyst, Mehmet Muderrisoglu.

Societal problems
Poverty and other deep-rooted social problems are prevalent across all four countries. For example, low wages, soaring levels of youth unemployment and unequal education opportunities are ingrained causes of Mexico's high crime rate and the lure of gang culture. The lack of opportunities for young people has resulted in around 500,000 citizens turning to drug cartels for employment, according to the Council of Foreign Relations. Conversely, Indonesia has made noteworthy progress in terms of reducing poverty levels by increasing government spending on social programmes; the World Bank quantifies the portion of citizens living in poverty as having fallen from 24 percent in 1999 to 12 percent in 2012. Yet, income distribution is deeply uneven, with the country's richest benefiting the most from the economy's recent expansion and crime rates worsening as a result.

Poverty and inequality is also rife in Turkey, despite the country's recent economic growth. According to a report by the Bahcesehir University's Centre for Economic and Social Research, one in every four children cannot meet their basic needs, which includes nutrition, clothing and heating. "Regional discrepancies hurt the economy in the form of political separatism in the country's south-east and east, weak economic integration in domestic market [and] over-crowding/poverty in major cities," Muderrisoglu explains to The New Economy.

Nigeria is the worst of the four in terms of its poverty levels and extreme social inequality, which frequently result in social uprisings and terrorist activities. The most recent example is the increasingly violent and ever-growing militant group, Boko Haram, which has wreaked havoc on the state and its population; many of those recruited by insurgents are unemployed, uneducated and living in dire conditions. Despite a GDP per capita of $2,689, 70 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day, illustrating the huge disparity in wealth, which has been embedded in Nigeria since its independence. Seventy-two percent of those living in the north live in poverty where the group maintains a stronghold. "Unless the government implements policies to improve the living standards of the country's historically marginalised and deprived groups and communities, social unrest, including bloody insurgencies in what is essentially a destitute northeast, oil thefts in the Niger Delta, and other forms of destabilising activities, are likely to remain an essential part of the nation's political economy," says Mbaku. "Severe inequalities in the distribution of income make it quite difficult for Nigeria to develop the middle class and mass consumer society that usually undergird a modern industrial economy, such social inequality create many risks for political governance".

Failing acronyms
Although there is vast potential for the MINT economies individually and the group as a whole, there still remains a high level of risk in each respective country, particularly in terms of foreign investment. In addition, they have each exhibited somewhat disappointing performance since 2011, thereby raising doubts of whether this is to be another failed acronym that is soon forgotten, such as CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa). As such, the grouping is not as groundbreaking as BRIC was when it was first unveiled. For MINT, there are even more obstacles and even further to go in terms of development in several sectors, notably, infrastructure, corruption and social capital. Not to mention that the sizes of MINT's respective economies are considerably smaller than those of BRIC's.

There are plans for tackling impeding issues in each MINT country, but until there is a notable improvement, economic progression is limited. With that said, the progress achieved by Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey thus far should not be underestimated, because their recent economic growth is certainly commendable. Each economy has made strides to raise their income status and has made excellent progress. As for the acronym itself, perhaps it will indeed turn into the next BRIC - but not in the way it was first envisaged, insofar that the grouping itself will be another disappointment.

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The term BRIC was first coined by Jim O'Neill in 2001 while at Goldman Sachs in order to highlight the economic prowess of Brazil, Russia, India and China. By grouping these states in this fashion, their respective growth and potential captured the attention of the West.

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Why did Dilip change his name to David?

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Before becoming a call centre agent, working late into the night to answer insurance claims queries from Norwich Union customers, Vinita Rawat was a post-graduate student in English literature. She believes her fondness for Robert Browning and Jane Austen has given her an invaluable insight into British society, helping her penetrate the minds of the customers she speaks to 4,000 miles away.

'I understand how things work in Britain; I know how the culture has developed. This helps me empathise with the people I'm talking to,' she said, taking a break from her night shift at the EXL call centre, in the new IT outpost of Noida, north of Delhi.

Rawat, 26, sees herself as a professional, and has a managerial position as a 'team fraud coordinator'. According to a study into conditions inside call centres conducted by a government-funded research institute, she is a prime example of an Indian 'cyber coolie' - an expensively educated, highly intelligent graduate, who is wasting her talents performing exhausting, mindlessly repetitive tasks for the call centre industry, a sector which it claims offers no career prospects for the majority of its workers.

The report has triggered an explosive response within the industry, opening an angry debate over conditions within the country's flagship service industry.

Over the past few years, India's success at winning contracts from the West has been cited as a positive face of globalisation - providing good salaries and new career opportunities in the developing world. This study alleges that behind the shiny exterior of the new business, traditional forms of labour exploitation continue.

The controversy will add spice to the already fraught debate in the United Kingdom and and the United States on the ethics of the offshoring industry. It comes in the wake of a series of setbacks for the Indian sector - ranging from scandals over theft of sensitive data to decisions by Western companies to end contracts and pull their call centre operations back home. Last week, the British bank Abbey announced that it would be bringing back 1,000 jobs to the UK.

Thought to be the first piece of independent research on labour practices in Indian call centres, the study claims that the emerging industry has developed a system for hiring 'productively docile workers', bereft of labour rights and without job security.

These agents, the researcher states, are employed under constant surveillance, in an atmosphere similar to that in '19th-century prisons or Roman slave ships'. Despite the relatively high salaries, and modern working environments, the study concludes that 'most of these youngsters are in fact burning out their formative years as "cyber coolies",' doing low-end jobs.

The true monotony of the work is disguised by 'camouflaging work as fun' - introducing cafes, popcorn booths and ping-pong tables into the offices. Meanwhile, quotas for calls or emails successfully attended to are often fixed at such a high level 'that the agent has to burn out to fulfill it', the report claims.

With employees working through the night to cater for clients in different time zones, the work requires staff 'to live as Indian by day and Westerner after sundown' and takes a 'heavy toll' on agents' physical and mental health, the study states. But more importantly, call centre work 'leads to a wastage of human resources and de-skilling of workers' which will have a high impact on Indian industry in the long-term, the report conducted by the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, a body funded by the Labour Ministry, concludes.

Pramod Bhasin, president of the leading offshoring company, Genpact, dismissed the research, which was completed in 2004 but only brought to public attention last week, as 'hogwash'.

'It is extremely damaging to an industry that the world fetes India for. This kind of report will make people question whether India is the right place to put their operations, or whether they should be going to China or Romania,' he said, speaking in his glass box office, looking towards hundreds of employees performing back-office financial analysis for US banks.

He stressed that working conditions in call centres were far superior to those in other areas of Indian industry, pointing to the pristine offices where some of the company's 15,000 workers are based. Staff are provided with free meals, free transport, regular staff entertainment, a concierge service that will book cinema tickets for them, and an ambulance waiting at the bottom of the building if they ever be taken ill. Many of the workers at Genpact are offering very high-level services but the study distinguishes between companies providing value-added back office support, and less cerebral areas, such as telesales and customer service.

Raman Roy, the businessman credited with creating the industry when he opened an offshore service for American Express 12 years ago, dismissed the report as unscientific, based on a limited sample and politically motivated.

'These jobs are being done in America and the United Kingdom and no one describes the workers there as cyber coolies. The reality is that these companies have offered fantastic opportunities,' he said.

The timing of this report is particularly unwelcome for India, amid concerns that the industry's rapid 40 per cent growth rate could be slowing down. 'As wages in India rise and its supply of skilled workers tightens, its advantages relative to Central Europe and China could erode,' a McKinsey study of the industry published last week warned. It stresses that if India is to maintain its advantage it needs to increase the sophistication of its services rather than simply providing 'large armies of inexpensive offshore workers'.

Determined to counter the report's allegations, EXL gave rare access to one of its call centres on Friday night. Security is tight at its Noida headquarters. Workers have to fish out a ball from a small wooden box at the entrance checkpoint. If the ball is coloured they are frisked, if it is white they can pass through - but only after they have deposited their cameraphones and any kind of recording device. Data theft is a concern after employees at another company were recently accused of stealing $500,000 from Citibank customers.

In a windowless room in the basement of the building, half a dozen new employees are being tested on insurance claim scenarios. They give rote answers swiftly in clear English which has been 'neutralised' from any strong accent during a three-week voice-training programme. It is 10.45pm, and in the dark streets outside preparations are being made for Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, but EXL works to English rhythms and even training sessions are conducted according to London time.

Upstairs on the call centre floor, a telephonist apologises patiently to a customer, Maureen, calling to find out why details of a crash she had on Wednesday have not been properly logged. A team leader observes the progress of the call from the side of the room.

'Our performance is monitored, but you don't feel like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show,' Rawat said. 'I like working here. I was planning to go on to do a postgraduate degree in English literature, but it's amazingly interesting work. You think you know everything there is to know about motor insurance, and then you find out something new.'

It is not hard to find employees who are disaffected. Yamini (who asked for her surname not to be used), 20, works for HCL, a call centre elsewhere in Noida, which provides services for BT.

'The pressure is tough. There's such a volume of calls that we don't have a second to pause, and the customers are often irate because they've been waiting so long,' she said. 'The hours are regimented. If you need to go to the loo, you have to wait until your allotted break period. My parents want me to leave because they can see how my health has suffered.'

Union activists have welcomed the study. 'Employers are looking for two kinds of people. People who are completely brain dead, who accept commands and carry them out. And then they want a smaller number of believers in who will become managers and trainers,' Gautam Mody, a labour activist working to introduce call centre unions, said. 'There is no modicum of labour law in this sector. Offshoring is linked to low wages, so the question is: how can one do it cheaper and cheaper?'

Industry leaders have rejected the need for unions, although they are working on minimum standards for working conditions. Nasscom President Kiran Karnik claimed there was no demand for worker representation. 'In this industry every youngster wants to be the CEO after a year or two,' he said. 'I don't know, with that kind of mindset, they would want to join unions.'
Topics

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Painful truth of the call centre cyber coolies

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Before becoming a call centre agent, working late into the night to answer insurance claims queries from Norwich Union customers, Vinita Rawat was a post-graduate student in English literature. She believes her fondness for Robert Browning and Jane Austen has given her an invaluable insight into British society, helping her penetrate the minds of the customers she speaks to 4,000 miles away.

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Not very exciting but just an extra case study to put into essays :)

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For bachelors of business administration students or related degree, these videos will guide you!

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Globalisation of services

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All content copyright geographypods unless otherwise stated.

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About

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in the stores, restaurants, and vending machines of more than 200 countries.

It is the number one manufacturer of soft drinks in the world.

Their headquarters is situated in Atlanta Georgia, USA. It is probably the best known brand symbol in the world.

They sell nearly 400 different products.

70% of its sales are generated outside of North America.

Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut.

Growth

The Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at the Eagle Drug and Chemical Company, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia by John Pemberton, originally as a coca wine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca.

In 1886, when the county passed legislation which prohibited the alcoholic version, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, a non-alcoholic version.

The soft drink was first sold to the public in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886.

It proved popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence.

After disputes over ownership, with many people creating the recipe, Asa Griggs Candler The Coca-Cola Company in 1892.

Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894.

Cans of Coke first appeared in 1955

The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1891

By 1895, Candler had built syrup plants in Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Advertising focused on the authenticity of Coca-Cola, urging consumers to "Demand the genuine" and "Accept no substitute." As copycats sprang up.

As the country roared into the new century, The Coca-Cola Company grew rapidly, moving into Canada, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, France, and other countries and U.S. territories. In 1900, there were two bottlers of Coca-Cola; by 1920, there would be about 1,000.

The expansion of Coca-Cola overseas took place in 1923 and in 1928 Coca-Cola was introduction to the Olympic Games for the first time when Coca-Cola traveled with the U.S. team to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics

To support troops in the Second World War (but also to keep their business steady as far as business is concerned) they offered coca cola to any troops for 5 cents.

During the war, many people enjoyed their first taste of the beverage, and when peace finally came, the foundations were laid for Coca-Cola to do business overseas. From the mid-1940s until 1960, the number of countries with bottling operations nearly doubled.

After 70 years of success with one brand, Coca-Cola, the Company decided to expand with new flavors: Fanta was originally developed in the 1940s and introduced in the 1950s; Sprite followed in 1961. In 1960, The Coca-Cola Company acquired The Minute Maid Company, adding the line of juices to the Company.

The Company's presence worldwide was growing rapidly, and year after year, Coca-Cola found a home in more and more places: Cambodia, Montserrat, Paraguay, Macau, Turkey and more.

The 1990s were a time of continued growth for The Coca-Cola Company. The Company's long association with sports was strengthened during this decade, with ongoing support of the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup football (soccer), Rugby World Cup and the National Basketball Association. Coca-Cola classic became the Official Soft Drink of NASCAR racing, connecting the brand with one of the world's fastest growing and most popular spectator sports.

Spatial Organisation

It has 139,600 associates around the world, with 50 percent of them outside the U.S.

The Coca-Cola Europe Group employs approximately 1,600 Company associates who work with European bottler employees numbering more than 60,000 strong. Approximately one third of the Company team of 1,600 provides shared services for all of the Europe Group and beyond and manages group-wide resources, while 12 business units, consisting of one to four countries each, execute plans at the local market level.

Headquarters

The Coca-Cola Headquarters is a campus in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia that is home to The Coca-Cola Company.
Production

1920s & 30s - The Company began a major push to establish bottling operations outside the U.S. Plants were opened in France, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, Peru, Spain, Australia and South Africa. By the time World War II began, Coca-Cola was being bottled in 44 countries.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Company invested heavily to build plants in Eastern Europe. And as the century closed, more than $1.5 billion was committed to new bottling facilities in Africa.

Coca Cola don't always own their factories; they subcontract out to pre-existing bottling companies to save more money.

Coca Cola want to have access to high earning large populations such as India, by manufacturing their goods close to their intended market they can save on transportation costs.

Coca Cola manufactures their drink concentrate in America. The marketing of its products is also completed in America.

Bottlers buy the concentrate from the Coca Cola Company. They then mix it with water and sweeteners then they bottle the finished product. Each bottling company has exclusive rights to a region of the world. Coca Cola owns shares in some of the companies but not all of them, some are independent. Bottlers are in charge of distributing the products to the retailers.

Retailers sell the bottled products to the public to buy.

Research & Development

"Research and Innovation uses sensory science, product development and consumer insights to create totally new beverages and to improve existing ones. We work with our other R&I centres around the world as well as suppliers, agencies and outside research institutes to create the best beverages in the world."

R&D still takes place in the US, there has however been recent expansion:
"According to a Coca-Cola official, the company, which has been attempting to increase their efforts in Turkey, is now finalizing the details in order to bring the R&D centre project into fruition. Michael O'Neill, CEO of Coca-Cola Soft Drinks, stated, "The issue of tax incentives is definitely a significant factor in the decision to make Turkey a R&D centre." http://www.europe-re.com/system/main.php?pageid=2526&articleid=13516

Coca-Cola opened a new 90 million USD new research and development centre in Shanghai in March 2009

Social Influences for Countries Affected

Coca Cola offer training and education.

Coca Cola runs some community schemes in Africa and South East Asia.

One of Coke's microfinance startup schemes provide 4000 Vietnamese women with the merchandise, training and basic equipment to begin selling Coca Cola.

Environmental regulations are often less strict in LEDC's: some TNC's take advantage of this.

Working conditions in some factories are harsh. Employees get very few benefits and there are unlikely to be any unions.

Depletion of the local ground water table due to the utilisation of natural water resources by the company poses a serious threat to many communities. In March 2004, local officials in Kerala, India shut down a $16 million Coke bottling plant blamed for a drastic decline in both quantity and quality of water available to local farmers and villagers.

On February 25, 2010, a new lawsuit was launched on behalf of 8 plaintiffs against The Coca-Cola Co. and Coke processing and bottling plants in Guatemala, with charges of murder, rape, and torture of union leaders and their families.

In Colombia there are allegations that the company "hired, contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces". In January 2004, a New York City-based group, that included some city officials, confirmed the workers' allegations. They found:

"To date, there have been a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola's workers, including 9 murders. Family members o f union activists have been abducted and tortured. Union members have been fired for attending union meetings. The company has pressured workers to resign their union membership and contractual rights, and fired workers who refused to do so.
Most troubling to the delegation were the persistent allegations that paramilitary violence against workers was done with the knowledge of and likely under the direction of company managers. The physical access that paramilitaries have had to Coca-Cola bottling plants is impossible without company knowledge and/or tacit approval...."
Economic Influences for Countries Affected

Creates jobs both directly and indirectly in the host country.

Many of the bottling firms are local companies so all the profit stays in the host country.

Coca Cola has invested $1.5 billion in the Russian Economy; this includes training, the construction of manufacturing plants and improvements to infrastructure.

In some LEDCS they work long hours for very little pay.

Profits are returned to the shareholders, very little of the money remains in the host countries.

TNCs are very powerful; if they are not happy with the economic conditions within the host country they will pull out leaving people unemployed.

Case Study of a TNC - Coca Cola

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Case Study of a TNC - The Coca Cola Company - Joe Blakey

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About Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in the stores, restaurants, and vending machines of more than 200 countries. It is the number one manufacturer of soft drinks in the world. Their headquarters is situated in Atlanta Georgia, USA. It is probably the best known brand symbol in the world.

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Classifying Development - The Millennium Development Goals

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Classifying Development - The Millennium Development Goals

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13 Development 2 - Classifying Development

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The 'One Brand' strategy, which brings its four product variants - Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life - under the Coca-Cola master brand instead of being marketed as separate products, was first launched in the UK market back in March.

Coca-Cola is now expanding the marketing strategy globally after what CMO Marcos de Quinto called a "successful trial".

To support the changes, the soft drink brand has worked with four different agencies - Mercado-McCann, Sra. Rushmore, Santo, and Oglivy & Mather New York - and will launch 10 TV ads across 2016. These are designed to give "intimate glimpses" into the experiences people share while drinking Coca-Cola.

This will begin with the global TV spot 'Anthem', which shows Coca-Cola's impact on social situations such as ice-skating with friends, a first date, a first kiss, and a first love. It features a new original song by Australian singer Sewell, which includes a new audio signature inspired by sounds such as the pop of the cap and the fizz of a Coca-Cola.

In the UK the campaign will kick off with a TV ad entitled 'Brotherly Love'.

Coca-Cola was also keen to talk up the customisable nature of 'Taste the Feeling'. A seperate online campaign made up of GIF scenes has been created in a bid to boost viral shareability and allows users to pull a GIF scene directly from a microsite.

They can then personalise the scene with real-time feelings and share it on social media under the #TasteTheFeeling hashtag.

"The universal moments and storytelling depicted in the campaign were created to resonate with our consumers globally," says Rodolfo Echeverria, VP of global creative, connections and digital at The Coca-Cola Company. "The same images and TV creative in Japan will also be seen in Italy, in Mexico and around the world."

De Quinto said the 'One Brand' strategy will provide consumers with 'more choices' as the brand aims to promote responsible health choices in light of global calls for a crackdown on sugar.

"The new 'One Brand' approach will share the equity of Coca-Cola, across all Coca-Cola Trademark products, reinforcing our commitment to offer consumers choice with more clarity," de Quinto added.

"This is a powerful investment behind all Coca-Cola products, showing how everyone can enjoy the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola, with or without calories, with or without caffeine."

Staying true to its values

Speaking at an event in Paris today (19 January), de Quinto said Coca-Cola had been inspired by Disney to stay true to its brand values. He believes the 'One Brand' global strategy will offer Coca-Cola "more balance" moving forward.

He said: "When you're a big brand it is important to avoid erratic behaviour. Disney is an example of consistency as you realise they are always talking consistently about the same story. We want to be true to our story in the same way."

Admitting that the food industry is currently "facing challenges related to over-consumption of sugar" he added that Coke's move to roll-out sugar-free items wasn't enough.

"Fortunately, we are able to have products with zero sugar but we still don't feel that's enough," he added. "That's one of the reasons we are now shifting our strategy as we want to keep accelerating our responsibility.

"So far our strategy has been, when we had an ingredient we wanted to limit, to launch an entire new brand with different values and a new personality. This strategy of generating sub brands and not variants has created some distortions as to what the main brand is. Now we're going to have one brand with multiple variants."

Coca-Cola will be hoping 'Taste the Feeling' can revive flagging sales. In Europe, Coca-Cola's revenues were down 7% to $1.3bn while operating loss widened by 4% to $722m in the three months to the end of September.

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Coca-Cola takes 'One Brand' marketing strategy global with 'Taste the Feeling' campaign

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The 'One Brand' strategy, which brings its four product variants - Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life - under the Coca-Cola master brand instead of being marketed as separate products, was first launched in the UK market back in March.

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PARIS, Jan. 19, 2016 - Drinking a Coca-Cola, any Coca-Cola, makes the moment special.

Today at an event in Paris, the Company's Chief Marketing Officer, Marcos de Quinto, revealed a new 'One Brand' global marketing strategy that, for the first time ever, unites Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life under the iconic Coca-Cola brand positioning in one global creative campaign, "Taste the Feeling."

The 'One Brand' Strategy:

Extends the global equity and iconic appeal of original Coca-Cola across the Trademark, uniting the Coca-Cola family under the world's number one beverage brand.

Comes to life in a global campaign - "Taste the Feeling" - that uses universal storytelling and everyday moments to connect with consumers around the world.

Features the product at the heart of the creative, celebrating the experience and simple pleasure of drinking a Coca-Cola, any Coca-Cola.

Underscores the Company's commitment to choice, allowing consumers to choose whichever Coca-Cola suits their taste, lifestyle, and diet.

"Every day, millions of people around the world reach for an ice cold Coca-Cola," said Marcos de Quinto, Chief Marketing Officer, The Coca-Cola Company. "The new 'One Brand' approach will share the equity of Coca-Cola, across all Coca-Cola Trademark products, reinforcing our commitment to offer consumers choice with more clarity. This is a powerful investment behind all Coca-Cola products, showing how everyone can enjoy the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola, with or without calories, with or without caffeine."

Added de Quinto: "More than ever, we recognize people want their Coca-Cola in different ways, but whichever one they want, they want a Coca-Cola brand with great taste and uplifting refreshment. Through the 'One Brand' strategy we will move away from multiple brand campaigns, to one single iconic brand campaign that celebrates both the product and the brand."

"Taste the Feeling," will roll out at various times across all markets globally in 2016 and will come to life through a number of elements, including:

10 Television Commercials

100+ Campaign Images

New Visual Identity System

New Music Anthem and Audio Signature

Shareable and Customizable Interactive Digital Experience

The creative campaign is anchored in the fundamentals of the Coca-Cola brand - the Spencerian script, the red disc and the iconic glass bottle - but with a modern take, featuring authentic and real moments with the product at center stage.

Coca-Cola gathered global creative minds from 10 different agencies to begin the development process, and ultimately the 10 Television Commercials created for the campaign were produced by the following 4: Mercado-McCann, Sra. Rushmore, Santo, and Oglivy & Mather New York. The spots give the viewer momentary, but intimate glimpses into everyday stories, feelings and experiences that people share while enjoying an ice-cold Coca-Cola. At the close of each commercial, the family of Coca-Cola trademark products unite as one under the famous red Coca-Cola disc.

"There is nothing quite like the taste of an ice-cold Coca-Cola," said Rodolfo Echeverria, Vice President, Global Creative, Connections & Digital, The Coca-Cola Company. "The campaign creative was designed to celebrate the notion that the simple pleasure of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola makes any moment more special. The universal moments and storytelling depicted in the campaign were created to resonate with our consumers globally. The same images and television creative in Japan will also be seen in Italy, in Mexico and around the world."

At launch, 5 of the 10 spots will be released. The lead television spot, "Anthem" ( Mercado-McCann), comes to life through a series of ordinary moments linked by a Coca-Cola, such as ice-skating with friends, a first date, a first kiss, and a first love. The spot will run in all markets in 2016.

The soundtrack to "Anthem" is an original songcreated for the campaign and titled "Taste the Feeling." Coca-Cola worked with Music Dealers to write and produce the song. In select markets, the song features the voice of newcomer Conrad Sewell. Sewell, a London-born, Australia-raised singer was featured in the breakout single "Firestone," which produced 300 million Spotify streams and 3 million-plus worldwide sales. The anthem includes a new audio signature, inspired by the sounds of the experience of enjoying a Coca-Cola - the pop of the cap, the fizz, and ultimately the sounds of enjoyment. The new audio signature will be used throughout the campaign.

"Break Up" ( Santo) follows the journey of a young couple's romance from the first date and early feelings of excitement and love to an explosive break-up and ultimate reconciliation over an ice-cold Coca-Cola. The spot features a new song titled "Made for You" by new artist Alexander Cardinale.

"Brotherly Love" ( Santo) captures the universal story of love and conflict between family, highlighting the unique and challenging relationship experienced between two brothers. When the younger brother finds himself without his ice-cold Coca-Cola, his big brother comes to the rescue. The spot features a new version of the hit song "Hey Brother" by renowned songwriter and producer Avicii.

Following a partnership that started in 2014, Coca-Cola has also tapped Avicii to produce a remixed version of the "Taste the Feeling" campaign anthem featuring Conrad Sewell, and he will produce versions of the anthem for the UEFA EURO 2016 TM and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games TM campaigns.

The additional television commercials available for launch include:

"Under Pressure," (Ogilvy & Mather) tells the story of every day "pressures" that we all face. The spot highlights the importance of taking time to pause, release tension, and enjoy the moment.

"Supermarket," (Sra. Rushmore) tells the story of a young female cashier mesmerized by a handsome male consumer who pauses to enjoy an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

"What is a Coca-Cola For?" (Sra. Rushmore), "Professor" (Sra. Rushmore), "Arctic Summer" (The Cyranos-McCann), "Empty Bottle" (Mercado-McCann), and "Real Enjoyment" (Mercado-McCann) will be released later in 2016.

The new campaign features100+ Campaign Images shot by noted fashion photographers Guy Aroch and Nacho Ricci capturing people from around the world enjoying ice-cold Coca-Cola in a variety of everyday moments. The new campaign imagery will be used in print advertising, out of home billboards, in-store as well as digital media.

The shareable and customizable interactive digital experience is made up of different GIF scenes that reflect feelings associated with drinking Coca-Cola set to the "Taste the Feeling" anthem. The experience allows users to pull a GIF scene directly from the microsite, personalize the scene with real-time feelings, and share it on social platforms with #TasteTheFeeling.

For more information, to see the commercials and view the campaign images, please visit www.coca-colacompany.com/tastethefeeling.

Media: download high resolution b-roll videos here and here.

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About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognizable brands, our Company's portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands including, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, POWERADE, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia, Dasani, FUZE TEA and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.9 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo, visit our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com or find us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/the-coca-cola-company.

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PARIS, Jan. 19, 2016 - Drinking a Coca-Cola, any Coca-Cola, makes the moment special. Today at an event in Paris, the Company's Chief Marketing Officer, Marcos de Quinto, revealed a new 'One Brand' global marketing strategy that, for the first time ever, unites Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life under the iconic Coca-Cola brand positioning in one global creative campaign, "Taste the Feeling."

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* Here's what to drink to be healthy

The body starts to produce more dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls the brain's pleasure centres - "physically the same way heroin works, by the way".

By the time the hour is up, you will want to urinate, and start to have a sugar crash, making you drowsy and irritable.

"You've also now, literally, p***** away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like hydrating your system, or building strong bones and teeth," the account concludes.

The infographic's creator, former UK pharmarcist Niraj Naik, says that this pattern "applies to pretty much most caffeinated soft drinks, not just Coke.

"If you care about your heart, health and mind then please remember this article next time you reach for that bottle."

A Coca-Cola spokesperson said: "People have enjoyed drinking a Coca-Cola for more than 129 years. Like all soft drinks, it is perfectly safe to drink and can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle. We provide a choice of colas to meet the needs of different consumers, including options that are lower sugar, sugar free and caffeine free."

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This is what happens to your body when you drink Coca Cola

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Here's what to drink to be healthy The body starts to produce more dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls the brain's pleasure centres - "physically the same way heroin works, by the way". By the time the hour is up, you will want to urinate, and start to have a sugar crash, making you drowsy and irritable.

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Remember to check the specification to develop your notes and understanding

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Remember to check the specification to develop your notes and understanding

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The True Cost (2015) - Full Documentary [Fashion & Clothing Industry] (w/multiple subtitles)

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I've uploaded this documentary for educational purposes. I believe it contains crucial information that by sharing with the world will help improve society. Subtitles included: Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Korean, Serbian, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, Indonesian and Persian.

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Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange. Globalisation has increased the production of goods and services. The biggest companies are no longer national firms but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many countries.

Globalisation has been taking place for hundreds of years, but has sped up enormously over the last half-century.

Globalisation has resulted in:

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a company operating in more than one country

greater dependence on the global economy

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recognition of companies such as McDonalds and Starbucks in

Although globalisation is probably helping to create more wealth in developing countries - it is helping to close the gap between the world's poorest countries and the world's richest.

The animation shows how wealth is distributed. Click on the income brackets to see where the richest and poorest countries are located.

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What is globalisation? - Globalisation - GCSE Geography Revision - BBC Bitesize

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Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange. Globalisation has increased the production of goods and services. The biggest companies are no longer national firms but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many countries.

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Worldmapper is a collection of world maps called cartograms, where territories are resized on each map according to the subject of interest. Our range of maps is continuously extended and updated. Explore the world as you've never seen it before!
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"High impact weather" has gripped much of the world so far this year, the UN weather agency, WMO, reported on Friday, with "dangerous and extreme cold in North America, record high heat and wildfires in Australia, heavy [...]

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