People worry about love, food, shelter, clothes, weather, and `the economy', but not necessarily in that order. According to public opinion polls, the economy is always one of our foremost concerns. To understand the present global economy, one must learn to think in global terms. Many are becoming increasingly aware that their job prospects and the prices they pay are somehow related to national trends in prices, employment, unemployment, and economic growth. Although some people think in terms of price indexes, graphs or economic cycles, most of us now recognize the importance of major economic events. Despite the widespread concern for the economy, only a few people really understand how it works. We spend much of our time working to produce the goods and services that flow from our factories and offices. We spend a good part of the remaining time, consuming the same goods and services. The demise of communism has not only opened new markets in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but has also reduced the demand for some products and intensified global competition with firms taking advantage of the emerging opportunities. Firms need to comprehend and contemplate the situation to stay abreast of new developments within their own industry and economy. Electronics companies must be competitive in using the new digital technologies for their audio and video equipments. Automobile manufacturers survive only if they keep the costs down by using advanced robotics for assembly. Computer suppliers can stay profitable only if their machines include the state-of-the-art chips, display terminals, and storage devices. In view of these factors, this article addresses and analyzes the global economy, marketing and technological changes and targets the global markets for success.
In
seeking to figure out how the global economy works today,
it is useful to start with the simple truth - `the
economy is us'. "The economy" is simply
an abstraction that refers to the sum of all our individual
production and consumption activities. What we collectively
produce is what the economy produces; what we collectively
consume is what the economy consumes. In this sense,
the concept of "the economy" is no more difficult
than the concept of "the family". |