What Will Be the Focus of the G20 Summit?

The City of Pittsburgh is making its final preparations before over 20 of the world's leaders converge on the city on Thursday and Friday. Many of the people who live and work in the city are thinking more about the travel restrictions and protests than the actual summit, or what will be discussed during the meeting. So, what will the G20 members be meeting about later this week?

The main topic that the G20 members will discuss is the worldwide economic situation, and how they can bring balance to the global economy. In a document that outlines the U.S. position on this topic, the US believes that exporters (like China, Germany, and Japan) should consume more, while countries with a lot of debt (like the US) should boost their savings. The document claims that "The world will face anemic growth if adjustments in one part of the global economy are not matched by offsetting adjustments in other parts." The US also imagines that the International Monetary Fund will have a greater hand in policy recommendations and assessments.

This kind of approach makes sense to us at IntellaCore. The world is no longer run by only a handful of large countries. Instead, as countries develop, they are gaining even footing with the once dominant countries. Many countries should be included in the solution to the problem.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to push for a larger role for developing countries in the global economy. He is also expected to restate India's position against all forms of protectionism, including trade, goods and services, and investment.

There will also be some focus on tightening financial regulations. There will be proposals to restrain bank executive pay and tightening the standards in the banking system to prevent another economic meltdown. Recently French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called to limit banker bonuses, and has actually promised to walk out of the summit if there is no agreement to cap executive pay and compensation.

But with all of this hype that we are experiencing in Pittsburgh, will anything actually come of the summit? The G20 has no real lawmaking power, so any changes that come from this summit will be the result of the lawmaking authorities for each of the countries. Some experts who have covered meetings like this in the past state that there will be a lot of self-congratulation, and the participants will say it was a great success. If any changes do come about because of this summit, don't expect anything to really start until November.

The IntellaCore Experience

We enjoy working with interns at IntellaCore. The interns work with us to gain experience, and we benefit from their unique perspectives. We had a few great interns with us this summer, and we thought that it might be interesting for you to read one of the interns' perspectives.

Dear readers,

I’m Lucile, a French student who is completing a summer internship at IntellaCore. To do my internship abroad, in an international company, was the best opportunity I ever had in my young life. In 3 months, I was able to use my English in a global working environment thanks to IntellaCore.

In US, internships are really considered as a job, executives trust young students who have just graduated from college. They give you the chance to have some responsibilities inside the company and they train you to become efficient with many tasks and independent.

I was so surprised the first time when an employee or my supervisor asked me: What’s your opinion? Which value could you bring to the enterprise? My first French reaction: I’m just an intern, why they need my point of view?

This way to manage people, especially for interns in France, that doesn’t exist. Who cares about the point of view of a 22-years-old girl? In France, you have to follow the boss, he’s the only one who has an opinion and you have to be agreed with him at anytime. The hierarchy is really important in my country of origin.

I learned from that: your thoughts have the power to create (both good and bad things) but sometimes when you let others know your mind that is the problem. Let’s think about it, you have grand dreams and things you want to accomplish. This is the number one killer of dreams, sometimes it is good to work on your aims silently. That means to stay positive and motivated. I need to be more confident with myself and to act as a specialist in my own field. How to sell myself? That’s the question.

A good point in US job environment is COLLABORATION; you have to work with your team and your manager to achieve a common goal. In an American company everyone is an important part, managers adapt the tasks to the employees’ strengths and capabilities, and people are more efficient with this method. They know what are your skills and your personality, so they give you a task in ad equation with that. In my opinion, I learn more like that, and when you’re ready, you have more responsibilities and you can feel free to take some initiatives. I think it’s a cultural difference; American people don’t like uncertainty so they explain to you everything and your role is so much explicit in a corporation.

More about my job at IntellaCore:

During the last past 3 months, I learn so many things on how to do business in US, to analyze different kind of markets, to work in a global environment, to improve my computing skills by using social media and software. I was able to work with the marketing team and the sales department on several projects.

Regarding my job in marketing and communications, we set up the marketing plan for the company with a calendar, we try to find the best tools to have an efficient Internet presence, we write the newsletter, the Global Guru blog. We organized several webinars (online seminars) with the CEO, Michael Malloy, it was the first time I use this tool to share some knowledge. The world changed, and businessmen don’t need to travel anymore in this global Internet economy! I translate informative documents in French for IntellaCore. An important part of my work is to find good articles in economics news focused on the businessmen’s interests. It’s a daily task, useful for me because I have to read professional articles in English and be able to do a selection, in order to post them on Twitter.

The main goal for this part of my internship was to understand exactly: Which are my company’s needs, which capabilities I can bring to them, how I can help them to succeed and give them a new point of view on their company.

Regarding my job with the sales department, I was able to work on a project for a client. How they can go into new markets: Canada and UK. For this part, my first language, French, is really useful to call resellers and distributors in Quebec. I noticed that these prospects really appreciate to talk first with someone in French. Don’t be worried, most of them speak really well English so our client and IntellaCore will be able to continue to build these relationships. It’s one of the main advantages to work with IntellaCore, they give to companies really good advices in international business and Internet technologies.

I learn a lot on how to analyze a market, how to find appropriate people in these companies, how to stay in touch with them, how to adapt my communication to their culture.

I’m sure you will be interested to know, what are the differences between working in France and in US:

• Hierarchy is more important in France than in the US.
• In France you never include religion, stories concerning your private life, or a sense of humor when you call a partner in a work environment, it is common in the US.
• In the US it’s harder to organize an event outside the office to gather all the co-workers; they don’t like to share their private life and professional life. In France, it’s common to go out with your co-workers, to offer them some gifts for occasions and become friends with them.
• In France, interns are not well treated like in US, we do the same job as a employee for free and without recognition by your boss. In US, they believe in young people like interns, and you can easily give your point of view.
• American businessmen and young graduated people don’t hesitate to travel in US or abroad to find the job of their dreams, whereas French people don’t like to leave their country.
• French students speak more foreign languages than American students, even if we have the reputation to not speak English with a good accent (I agree on this point…). Everybody has to learn 2 foreign languages until the High School Exam.
• In France, we have more laws to protect workers from bad working conditions like a maximum working hours of 35 hours per week, which doesn’t exist in US. Americans work more than French.

What Happens After The Recession?

Much of this week's Intelligent World is focused on current international events. Many commentators and business owners are focused on what is happening right now in the global economy. And who can blame them for keeping their head down to focus on their business so they can become more competitive. But it is important to not lose sight of what will happen in the long term. How will the long-term effects of the recession affect your company? It is good to be aware of this now so you are prepared for it later.

The past decades of prosperity have made Americans consumption-oriented, possibly more so than any other nationality. We have spent more than we have taken in for some time now. This debt-to-income ratio proved to be too much for us to handle. As a result, consumer spending may decrease after the recession ends. Along with this idea, the recession has fundamentally changed the way people spend their money. It has changed their motivations and the psychology behind purchases. We will have to pay attention to consumer spending data worldwide to see how this will affect the global economy, as well as your local economy and your own business.

Remember $4.00+ gas last summer? Well, don't be surprised if gas reaches that figure again. Recently, prices have increased with even slightly positive economic news. And prices will most likely increase now that there will be more of a demand for fuel in developing countries.

And businesses in the US can also expect higher taxes. Because of the cost of the bailout, along with the funding needed for government programs like Medicare and Social Security, and the goals of the Obama administration, there is no way to pay for it all except with higher taxes.

This recession has changed people and governments around the world. It will definitely be interesting to see what changes as the economy recovers. And who knows what surprises will pop up along the way?