The modern business environment has been shaped by political and economic events. Rapid growth and change in many areas have been typical in the past two or three decades. In the midst of growth and change, some trends have emerged as the drivers of change. Political and economic trends have different dynamics. The international business manager needs a clear vision and understanding of world events and the markets and countries in which he or she operates. Putting current events into the historical context provides the manager with the ability to distinguish anomalies from trend events. The same vision and understanding offer the manager insights into timing and opportunity.

The transformation of the political economy of the world's nations has been driven by a wave of democratic revolutions and the strong move toward a more free market economic model. International business managers must assess the attractiveness of specific locations. Countries with democratic regimes, market-based economic policies, and strong protection of property rights are more likely to attain a high and sustained growth rate. These countries are attractive locations for international business.

Select whether each trend below is primarily political or economic in nature.

1. Markets move more freely, and private enterprise grows in a supportive environment.

a. Political Trend.
b. Economic Trend

2. Sub-Saharan Africa was the poorest region in the world for decades, but democratic reform has allowed it to revel in an annual growth rate of 5 percent over the past decade.

a. Political Trend
b. Economic Trend

3. The end of the Cold War ushered in a "new world order."

a. Political Trend
b. Economic Trend

4. Privatization is a way to stimulate growth and efficiency by offering private investors the incentive of profits. Privatization can mean increases in productivity, entering new markets, and leaving losing ones.

Lohn corporation is expected to pay the following dividends over the next four years: $18, $14, $13, and $8.50. afterward, the company pledges to maintain a constant 4 percent growth rate in dividends forever. if the required return on the stock is 14 percent, what is the current share price?

Which of the following is located at the point where the supply and demand curves intersect? a. the equilibrium price. b. the minimum supply. c. the level of efficient production. d. the maximum demand. 2b2t

Gino's restaurant is a popular restaurant in boston, massachusetts. the owner of the restaurant has been trying to better understand costs at the restaurant and has hired a student intern to conduct an activity-based costing study. the intern, in consultation with the owner, identified the following major activities: activity cost pool activity measure serving a party of diners number of parties served serving a diner number of diners served serving drinks number of drinks ordered some costs, such as the cost of cleaning the linens that cover the restaurant's tables, vary with the number of parties served. other costs, such as washing plates and glasses, depends on the number of diners served or the number of drinks served. data concerning these activities are shown below. serving a party serving a dinner serving drinks total total cost $47,600 $153,000 $59,800 $260,400 total activity 7,000 parties 30,000 diners 46,000 drinks prior to the activity-based costing study, the owner knew very little about the costs of the restaurant. she knew that the total cost for the month was $260,400 and that 30,000 diners had been served. therefore, the average cost per diner was $8.68.required: 1. compute the activity rates for each of the three activities 2. according to the activity-based costing system, what is the total cost of serving each of the following parties of diners? a. a party of four diners who ordered three drinks in total b. a party of two diners who do not order any drinks c. a lone diner who orders two drinks 3. convert the total costs you computed in part (1) above to costs per diner. in other words, what is the average cost per diner for serving each of the following parties: a. a party of four diners who order three drinks in total b. a party of two diner who do not order any drinks c. a lone diner who orders two drinks 4. why do the costs per diner for the three different parties differ from each other and from the overall average coast of $9.80 per diner?