Can Global be Noble?

Trade has been a fundamental development tool for peoples all over the globe since ancient times. However, not all trade benefits all parties involved, and not all trade is fair. Some corporations take advantage of their political or financial strength to impose on others trade conditions that only worsen the situation of the weakest. The Fair Trade movement is an international campaign/trade policy which aims to pay producers a fair price for their products, considering other factors in setting prices than the ‘market price’ (usually set by powerful companies).

2. Examine and analyse the following economic data about one of the directions of the movement mentioned above. Use questions given below.

Coffee-primary commodity

• Biggest producers:Brazil(1.3milliontonnes),Colombia(780,000tonnes),and Indonesia(390,000 tonnes)

• Annual world production: 5.6 million tonnes.

• There are 41 producer countries in the world.

• Main consumer countries: USA (22% of total), Germany(16%), France(7.6%).

• Coffee is the most important internationally traded commodity after oil.

• Coffee is the second largest source of Third World export earnings.

• Coffee only grows in the tropics.

• Profit shares information: growers 10%, exporters 10%, shippers and roasters 55%, retailers 25%.

1. Where are such products as coffee, tea and chocolate produced?

2. What are the shared features of the growing countries?

3. What do you think about the fact that only 10 percent of your payment for instant coffee goes to the producer?

4. How might natural disasters affect the lives of producers?

5. Why do the most coffee consumer countries import raw coffee beans and carry out other processes, such as roasting, at home?

6. What is the role played by the consumers in improving the situation for producers?

3. Work in groups. Discuss your viewpoints. Choose a spokesperson in the group to make a presentation to the whole class, summarizing the opinions. Hold a Questions and Answers (Q&A) session.

Writing

Abstract writing

Read the text about Gillette company an it’s one-size-fits-all strategy and write an abstract to it. Use clichés given in Appendix 5.

Most of us would look at Brazil, Belgium and Bangladesh and see three different cultures. Al Zeien, chief executive of Gillette, the US razor maker, simply sees a lot of people in need of a shave. He believes Gillette is a ‘global’ company in the way few corporations are.

“A multinational has operations in different countries,” he says. “A global company views the world as a single country. We know Argentina and France are different, but we treat them the same. We sell them the same products, we use the same production methods,we have the same corporate policies. We even use the same advertising, in a different language, of course.”

The company’s one-size-fits-all strategy has been effective. The group makes items almost everyone in the world buys at onetime or another, including shavers, batteries and pens. It aims to dominate the markets it operates in: its share of the worldwide shavers market, for example, is 70 per cent, which the company hopes to increase by the launch next week of a new razor for men.

To make sure managers worldwide are on the same wave­length, Mr Zeien insists they move from country to country and division to division. Being moved around places them in the role of ‘idea ambassadors’ who can transfer concepts. “I believe in diagonal promotions,” he says. “You don’t move up in a nice progression through one area or country.”

Managers joining Gillette should expect to be geographically relocated three or four times in their first dozen years. During the last few years, Mr Zeien has concentrated on increasing the number of Americans in overseas posts, and the time foreign managers spend in the US.

There are problems with his approach, he admits. Being transferred from country to country can be hard on staff. People in dual-career marriages, he says, probably should not work for Gillette. The company's commitment to standardisation, moreover, costs it customers in niche markets within countries.

Mr Zeien long ago decided the drawbacks were worth suffering. “I tell my workers all the time that we'll only be in markets where we can be number one,” he says. “Focus is what gives us bang for the buck.”

From the Financial Times

Essay writing

Write an essay on the following idea. Use clichés given in Appendix 6.

Some multinational firms are not welcome in the countries where they do business. This may be because the multinational corporation doesn’t understand the culture and customs of that country or because the multinational corporation is taking over or replacing local companies. Show how a particular multinational corporation ended up being resented by the natives of a country in which it had established operations.