So hello, hello. Welcome to lecture five of international business today. We are  talking about political forces and their impact on global trade. So I will tell you  that this one is a little bit of a shorter lecture, but that is okay. We have just in the first four weeks, it's been a lot of information. So, so let's, let's jump into lecture  five. Let's talk about political forces, and let's talk about their importance when it  comes to, you know, not only nations, but international companies as well. So  let's discuss the ownership of a business. So if you think about the ownership of  a business, there is national lines businesses, there are private businesses,  there are different owners that exist. And I think there is a misconception that  says that most government owned businesses are only found in socialist  nations. But that is simply not true. For example, in the United States, the  Federal Government owns many businesses the Tennessee value Valley  Authority is a an example of business that is owned by a government entity, the  Tennessee Valley Authority. So you know, why would a business own? Why  would a government own a business? There's a constant push and pull about  what's right and what's not right, and privatization versus social versus  nationalization and those kind of things. But the motivations for owning  businesses by federal government, they vary, and one is that belief that a  government can manage a business better than a private company. Other  reasons are greed related or related to structure or things like that, so  businesses should be for the public good, like healthcare, therefore costs should be as cheap as possible. That would be another reason maybe a government  would want to own a business. Or there is the belief that those businesses make money which can then be used for public good, and as well as way to increase  profitability and enact political goals. So that is certainly something you see in  some nations where the profits made off of the businesses which they operate  then further their political agenda. There is a idea around privatization as well,  and that government may make a business private because they want to gain  efficiency in the business operations. It is a way to raise money, or it is a result  of a change in political climate, such as going from a socialistic framework to a  democratic framework. So if you think about privatization and you think about  gaining efficiency, that's that's an important notion. So remember that  businesses, private businesses, are in the business of making money, and in  order to make money or whatever that may be, for whatever reason that may  be, whether it's for shareholders and stakeholders like we talked about last  lecture, or if it's for other reasons businesses want to make as much money as  possible. So when, when private business is owned, and one of the things they  have to do is they have to become as efficient as humanly possible, because  that's cost savings. And then those that savings can be then put back into the  company, which would really larger profit, etc. So, you know, a government that  runs a business does not have those concerns necessarily so if you want to  make a business private, then you gain efficiencies by doing so. One of the 

things that you will hear me say, I said it in lecture, one I will say it again, is that  businesses have a goal of wanting to be in stable environments. So stability and protection are major, major, major factors for a private business that's operating.  

So a stable government means that businesses prosper because there are  predictable policies. Companies like stability. They like knowing the. Political,  social, the economic framework of a country, and they want it to remain the  same. So they do not like unrest, because it's bad for business. You can  certainly see this in the United States from their response from COVID and also  from from some of the social unrest that has happened, so when there's social  unrest, when there's a pandemic, when there's instability, which is what this is  instability, when there's instability, then that leads to things that businesses don't like, like loss of income, like, like damage to their their property, to those kind of  things which makes a business not succeed, and many businesses or  franchises or whatever will end up closing as a result of A social, political,  economic unrest, those kind of things. So as a general rule, businesses want  stability, General, General role. Businesses do not like change. So that's an  important component to remember and to recognize, is to make sure that that  you understand that one other thing is businesses will protect their interests of  the citizens over or and nations of over the interests of foreigners. So whether it  is a natural, nationalized business, or whether it is a private business, generally,  they're going to do what they can to protect their interests, because that's their  customer base. So the governments take steps to protect their own national  interests. We already talked about a few of these. Over the course of the four  weeks, we've talked about tariffs, and that's a way that you can protect your  national interests. And we will talk about that as well, a little bit more as well. So  I just want to talk again and just emphasize again the importance of stability,  stability from terrorism, from piracy, from kidnapping, from cyber crime, all these  things are critical that there is stability for a business to succeed. Businesses do  not like chaos. Governments intervene in trade, and we've talked a lot about this through government agreements, through tax holidays, through structures that  are in place. We talked about a lot about this in lecture. Two that governments  intervene in trade, they do, but the reason they do so is for several reasons.  Some is to protect the cost of goods. So they do that through tariffs or subsidies, which can help off tests offset some of the costs that consumers feel. So they  may subsidize, like farming, for instance, in the United States, and subsidize  and that reduces the cost of food for individuals, or they may impose tariffs to  incentivize people to buy American products, or whatever country over other  products as well. So say you have a water bottle from the Staten, United States, it may cost, you know, $1.50 for this water bottle where China produces and  shifts in the United States, it may cost 40 cents and it's a bottle of water. Well,  most people would buy the 40 cent water over the $1.50 water. So the  government can put tariffs and things in place to protect the product and make it 

so they're both $1.50 and then people can choose based on other factors, which bottled water they want. A government restricts raid to protect industries that are critical to security, like energy for patriotic purposes, which I think we have seen  some examples of that recently, or to protect harm on arrival through imposing  

sanctions. So you know, certainly we can say we will not trade with X country  until they change their political structure or they quit whatever, or they do  whatever. So the US has certainly had sanctions against several countries over  the past few years, whether those are warranted or not, whether there's merit  behind them or not. It's definitely a tool that the US has used quite, quite often to to express displeasure at certain practices that are happening. Other reasons  may be to protect domestic jobs again, if you if you have a bottle of water that  costs 40 cents versus $1.50 Then that $1.50 company may go out of business  pretty quickly, if they're an American, based, us, based company, and or any  country, and that would have that would affect the the cost of the water and the  and would ultimately affect American jobs. So I think, I think most of those make  sense that that the idea behind protecting your interests, protecting people, and  then as a government, you have tools to do that, I think makes sense to most  people, but one of the things that you have to think about is the implications of  making that decision. So if you decide that you're going to impose a bunch of  tariffs on, for instance, China, then China can come back and say, Okay, you're  going to impose a bunch of tariffs on our products, and we're just going to do the same back to you. And then that has larger, broader implications, because if  China and the US are engaged in a trade war, then, like companies, investors,  get very they like stability. They don't like uncertainty. So then they're not going  to be investing in products which affects the global economy, etc, etc, etc. So  the point is, is that any sanctions or any measures that you take to protect your  interests, whether you are a national company or whether you're protecting  private business, you got to understand the dynamics and what's going to occur  if you Do that on a global scale, because everything is interconnected, as we've  talked about. One one last thing that I'll mention tariff barriers is a way of raising  the selling price. And we talked about that, but what I didn't mention before was  that you could do it one of a couple ways. You can do it either as a percentage  of the invoice, or it could be a fixed sum. So you could say that, you know, if you sell this bottle for water, there's a 10% tariff on imports of water that are coming  in, so that would make the bottled water $1.10 or you could say every bottle of  water that shipped to the United States has to pay $1 in tariff fees. So that would make the bottled water $2 so you can either make it a percentage, or you can  make it a fixed cost as a country. Those are generally the ways you will go. So I  told you that this would be a short lecture, and I am holding to my promise. I just wanted to explain a couple of the political forces since I made mention to it in  lecture. One, wanted to spend some time just talking about those. We will be  moving to intellectual property rights next, which should be interesting. But 

before we do, as we always do, we take a moment and we highlight a company.  So today we're gonna focus on the German based company Aldi's. So all these  is a grocery store chain. And one of the cool things about them is that they tend  

to be lower priced, much lower prices. They do things like they don't have  people help you out to your car. You have to pay a quarter to get the car. Then  you get your quarterback. When you return it, they they do things like that to  save money, and then they pass those savings to you through the price of other  products, like you can see here that, you know these products are, are a little  cheaper than you might find at other places, and they have all kinds of stuff. I  mean, you can see, you can see that. So let's talk about Aldi as a company, and  not necessarily about their products. So here you go. So here you go. This is,  this is what they talk about. They have, obviously, high standards. There they  have organic stuff. They have exclusive products they believe in those certified  synthetic colors. They value customers coming first, and then, you know,  obviously they do trend things as well, and they are highly recognized for the  things they do. So some of the things they do, community giving as well. They  have social responsibility. You're you're seeing this theme with most companies.  DEI is important to most companies, but but Aldi's is a very well known brand,  and I want to introduce you to it before I go. Want to show you one other thing.  And then we will, we will move on. But you can see here that that they have jobs all around the United States and also abroad. And you can do everything from  part time work all the way to full time work as well. They have jobs and  administration. And look at that. They're looking for Finance and Administration  individuals right now. So anyway, I wanted to spend a moment talking about  Aldi's I appreciate your attention with them, and I would ask you to check them  out as a international grocery store. So with that, let us close in prayer, and we  will move on to the next lecture, lecture number six, Heavenly Father. Thank you for this class. Thank you for the opportunity to learn about some of the political  factors and some of the things that countries can do to protect businesses,  whether they're a national business, or whether they're a private business, and  it's some of the reasons that you would have to be a private business versus a  national business. So Lord, as we move into into different areas, as in our study  of international business, as always, we pray that you will help us use the  information that we learn here today and help us to assimilate it and be able to  use it to further your kingdom work. Lord, that's what's most important, and that  is what is most critical. So, Lord, thank You for this class. Thank you for each  individual that is watching this lecture. I pray that you will bless them and bless  their family and just continue to have them focus on you Lord in Jesus name.  We pray Amen. So thank you so much for your attention in this. And as I said,  we are moving on to intellectual property rights, which should be a very  interesting and robust discussion. So looking forward to it and have a wonderful  day 



آخر تعديل: الثلاثاء، 15 أبريل 2025، 10:28 ص