Pitfalls When Doing Business Abroad

Pitfalls When Doing Business Abroad

Posts 11-12 of 12
  • Peter Luiks
    Peter Luiks    Group moderator
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    Re^2: Does Russia belong to Europe or Asia?
    Hi there All,

    Well, well, well! Great topic. Who is right and who is wrong is not the matter here I think. Having had the privilege of traveling and working in Russia (btw. for the Americans) just after the collapse of the Warsaw pact, I was struck by its extremes. But so was I by my first visit to China in 1979...! Nothing was like I was used to; life, housing, buildings, cities, infrastructure, industries, logistics, pollution, health care, people, maintained land, farming etc.

    Looking back at history, learning about the harsh conditions of the climate and its sheer incredible large size, it made me think outside the bigger cities of a huge Finland, Northern Sweden, Canada. Some parts even Southern Chili. Now bearing in mind the shear size of the country, which has a tremendously strong own identity as well as culture, it could well be the immigration country of the future, when the current global economic equilibrium has struck the West hard enough in about 30 years from now!

    After all, Russia has some of the best scientists of the world, (they never seize to amaze me), a lot of natural resources as well as minerals, plenty and I really mean gigantic opportunities to explore in environmental planning, townplanning, space to live, eat, work and after a good clean up in some places a great wide open space to live...

    To me Russia is neither Europe (granted geographically - yes) nor the East, as was already defined before but a still sleeping entire continent, that has one gigantic future if and when it gets its act together! And they will..!!! It is just that they hardly do see it yet, or are already aware the new ways of strategic and tactical positioning the global economic power-shift to China, India and Asia will bring to Russia!

    Russia will soon be forced into some harsh reality checks on its global stage position as a player, but I do have all trust that it will have a future like a rising star in the new economic world, competing with the Asian nations at large on an unimaginable scale!! Now, whether it is the continental divide between Europe and Asia to me is semantics as many of the countries we currently live in here in the West, could well wish they had a future the vast Russian country alike in the not to far away future...

    In my view, Globalization will lead the Russians to a complete new global economic awareness on a brand new set economic playing field and will create unprecedented chances for the huge nation to bloom in the very near future, that it could well pale many other, now rich nations today.

    Enjoy it while you can in the West. Reality will rule here. .. and then I am not even speaking about the geopolitical chances Russia will get soon if the West continues with its current politics and its lacking of measures in renewed economic strategies toward the global economic equilibrium shift to Asia...!!

    Peter R. Luiks
    This post was modified on 25 Jun 2006 at 02:32 pm.
    • 23 Jun 2006, 7:32 pm
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    Dr. Sanjay Sharma    Group moderator
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    Re^2: Does Russia belong to Europe or Asia?
    Dear all,

    Prior to that question, I would like to ponder over if we need to fit in a country within what is already given - I mean only 5 continents? What about subcontinents? For example, could we think Latin America reflects the 'American-ness' in the strict sense of the term of cultural connotation....or Mangolia that of East Asia. I used to be highly amused whenever I interacted with my East Asian friends because some of them thought Asia stops at Thailand or Myanmar, and thereafter starts Middle East :) So countries like India could be perceived not as South Asia but Middle East.

    I would like to think that for a smaller geographical entity, it maybe relatively easier to define itself in the broader continental context; but for a country like Russia or for that matter India, it is more meaningful in terms of cultural, geopolitical understanding, to see them as subcontinents (holistic approach). This in my view also enables us to understand them better as a seperate set of cultural blocs.

    Regards
    Sanjay Sharma
    • 11 Jan 2008, 08:34 am