WGU FVC1 - Global Business Exam

Liberalization of the trading system - lowering and/or removing trade barriers such as tarrifs, quotas, and subsidies Capital markets - a stock exchange where long term financial instruments such as stocks and bonds can be bought and sold Transparency - a system of full disclosure and openness that aims to avoid any semblance of corruption and cronyism Accountability - a system of responsibility in which an authority, such as the government, is answerable for its actions Adaptive institutions - government organizations that create strong incentives for private investment and operate under a system of checks and balances sustainable development - economic development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, whether environmentally, socially, or economically multipolar world - a world economy in which the engines of growth could comprise several major industrialized and emerging economies, such as the US, the EU, China, India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa rather that the US alone economic reforms - economic policy changes that promote private sector development, competitive markets, market pricing, freer trade, and deregulation international monetary system - the global system of exchange rates and international payments that enable countries and their citizens to purchase goods and services from one another emerging economies - countries that are implementing more open trade and free market policies Decoupling - a fundamental global shift in which industrialized country-dependent developing economies begin to grow based on their own underlying economic strengths rather than the ups and downs of the world's richest countries Globalization - the socioeconomic reform process of eliminating trade, investment, information technology, and cultural and political barriers across countries, which in turn can lead to increased economic growth and geopolitical integration and interdependence among nations of the world The web - the world wide web, abbreviated "www" and commonly know as the web; a system of interlinked documents contained and accessed via the internet bandwidth - the amount of data and other information that can be transferred in a second via the internet digital divide - the perceived economic gap digital era - the period of transformation that adjusts lifestyles to make the internet and wireless technologies a part of everyday life antitrust laws - national laws aimed at maintaining competition in all sectors of the economy and preventing monopolistic behavior of firms IMF - international monetary fund The World Bank - aid the reconstruction of Europe after World War II; conceived in Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 International monetary system - mission is to ensure stable national currencies and encourage its members to eliminate foreign exchange restrictions that hinder trade World Trade Organization - WTO, based in Geneva, Switzerland political union - the union created when member countries of an economic and monetary union work closely with one another to arrive at common defense and foreign policies and behave as a single country common market or single market - a market formed when member countries of a customs union remove all barriers to allow the movement of capital and labor within customs union spatial transformations - the process of allowing efficient geographic distribution of business activities within and among countries customs union - a group of free-trade member countries that have adopted a common external tariff with nonmember countries Regional integration - implementation of a multitude of economic and/or political steps by member states to increase their global competitiveness, including preferential trade access economic geography - the study of principles that govern the efficient spatial allocation of economic resources and the resulting consequences free-trade area - an area in which two or more countries agree to eliminate all barriers to trade, such as tarrifs, quotas, and nontariff barriers like border restrictions, while at the same time keeping their own external tariffs (within WTO guidelines) against nonmembers economic and monetary union - a union formed when members of a common market agree to implement common social programs (on education, employee benefits and retraining, health care, etc.) and coordinated macroeconomic policies (such as fiscal and monetary policies) that would lead to the creation of a single regional currency. Balance of Payments - refers to a statement of account that summarizes all transactions between the residents of one country and the rest of the world for a given period of time, usually one year. gold standard - monetary system that pegs currency values to the market value of gold spot market - exchange that trades currencies on a real time basis for immediate delivery exchange rate - the price at which one currency can be converted to another currency risk premium - the added return required by investors for risk associated with a security or an asset balance of transfers - the net of transfer payments going overseas and inflows from abroad income balance - the net of investment income from abroad and investment payments to foreigners services balance - the net of exports of services and imports of services trade deficit - when merchandise imports exceeds merchandise exports for a country trade balance - the net of merchandise exports and merchandise imports hard currencies - leading world currencies of developed industrialized countries, such as the US dollar, the Japanese yen, the European euro, and the British pound sterling financial account - describes the second half of a country's balance of payments, which shows how the country's current account balance is financed expatriate failure - cases where an expatriate does not complete his or her full expatriate assignment expatrites - employees working in countries other than their native country host country nationals - workers already living in the foreign or host country where the parent company is opening operation co-determination - employee representation on corporate boards of directors collective bargaining agreements - a contract comprehensively setting forth employee terms and conditions of employment at a given workplace or group of workplaces parent country nationals - employees from the home country sent to work for their company overseas Offshoring - involves transferring an organizational function to another country whether outsourced or not Outsourcing - involves a company subcontracting a certain production function to a third party multi-employer bargaining - negotiations in which a number of employers jointly bargain with a given labor union labor union - a formal organization representing a group or groups of employees balance sheet approach - keeping an employee on the home country's salary structure and then providing additional allowances Performance appraisal - assessing employee performance Development - involves preparing employees for new future assignments or higherlevel positions third country nationals - employees not from a parent or host country being employed in a given host/foreign country. Training - involves providing employees with skills specific to the job they are going to be doing Repartriation - process that takes place when the expatriate employee returns home global product - a product that can be sold in most world market sales potential - the percentage of a market potential that a specific company expects to sell in a specific international market vertical publications - magazine that targets specific industires marketing intelligence systems (MIS) - information collected regularly over time Market potential - the total number of units of a product that could possibly be sold by all companies doing business in a specific international market distributor - a channel of distribution that purchases products from company doing business in a foreign market and then resells them to other buyers direct strategy - bypassing existing foreign channels of distribution by establishing and maintaining marketing and sales offices in foreign countries transfer price - a price a company charges it's overseas subsidiaries horizontal publication - magazine that targets a specific job in various industries