UB Viewpoint - Think global,
By CHRISTINE NIELSEN,
Special to the Daily Record
International
business activity plays a vital role in
Statistics help put this economic activity in perspective.
For many of us, the impact on employment and job creation numbers may be even
more persuasive. International business is responsible for more than 220,000
new jobs in
According to a U.S. Department of Commerce report, for every $45,000 in export
sales, one job is created -- more than double the rate of jobs created by
domestic sales. So that $4.94 billion in
Add to this number the 112,000 people employed by foreign companies that have
invested in
And international activity
adds not only to the quantity of jobs available, but also to the quality of
employment opportunities. Jobs supported by export activity pay 13 percent more
than jobs in non-exporting sectors.
Beyond
this impact on job creation and growth, evidence suggests that exporting firms
grow 20 percent faster than those that don't, and these same firms that sell
abroad have a higher survival rate. In fact, most businesses cannot survive
without a global market and/or production base.
As we learned from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s 2004 State of the State speech,
the
Perhaps even more important to those responsible for providing our citizens
with public services in times of severe budget constraints, international trade
provides $1.5 billion in annual tax revenues. Let's take a look at one leading
example of international business activity in
Northrop Grumman: a global business leader
Northrop Grumman Corp. is a $26 billion global defense company with 120,000
employees and operations in all 50 states and in 25 countries.
The company employs 11,000 people here in
Northrop Grumman is a high-technology business with several thousand engineers
and scientists among its ranks in
Currently, there are job openings in
In addition to NGES' contributions to the state economy, it is significant to
note its contributions to national defense and homeland security through
international aerospace and defense products and programs. Here are just two of
many examples:
v New radar systems and upgrades for several
thousand F-16 fighter aircraft serving the U.S. Air Force and 22 allied nations
v Communications, navigation and surveillance
systems operating in airports, control centers, test ranges and mobile systems
in 167 countries.
Northrop Grumman takes pride in its ongoing education and training initiatives
tailored for employees engaged in international business activities. Through a
program called IMPACT (International Management Program and Compliance
Training), more than 2,100 employees have benefited from seminars on various
international business topics, taught by professors from the University of
Baltimore, Loyola College and the University of Maryland, College Park.
UB: a leader in
international business education
According
to its mission statement, the
Beyond the school's responsibility to the individual goals of its students, the
institution has an added responsibility to serve
The
Students gain a theoretical basis for understanding key aspects of
international management, as applied to both small companies and multinational
corporations.
Courses emphasize human-relations skills, such as cross-cultural communications
and negotiations, as well as technical skills, such as those required for the
strategic operation of global organizations.
The market-driven
rationale
In a way, the University System of Maryland is itself engaged in international
business activity.
Take, for example, the number of foreign students who attend the
UB's international students come from around the world, literally from A (
One estimate of the annual tuition revenues contributed by foreign students to
UB's coffers topped $2.5 million (granted, this number errs on the high side
because a substantial number of foreign students work their way through
graduate programs as research and teaching assistants.)
Now multiply this revenue figure across higher education institutions in the
state, ranging from relatively small universities such as UB to large ones such
as the
Revenues from foreign students add to the resource base of the universities at
a time when local sources of funding are shrinking. These revenues positively
contribute to state institutions' abilities to provide educational services to
International education as
a public good
Since
The majority view now is that international education is essential to the
national interest, both for the
Paraphrasing remarks by University System of Maryland Chancellor William
"Brit" Kirwan to the Maryland International Education Association
annual meeting
Higher education must produce a new generation work force that is worldly wise,
culturally aware and foreign-language literate.
At the national level, 9/11 was a wakeup call to this generation as Sputnik was
to mine. We have gotten a wakeup call that we are not creating a generation of
internationally educated students.
We must learn about foreign countries' economies, customs and cultures, language
and politics or we certainly will be at a large disadvantage. They certainly
know everything about us.
Our national security depends on creating specialists educated about different
regions of the world. International issues are on
So, think global,
The
future of this state's economy depends on it.
The
state's potential for advancing opportunities for its citizens depends on it.
Safeguarding
the public welfare depends on it.
Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Pete O'Neill and the expert foreign-trade staff
in
Completing this article, I have learned that C. Lloyd Carpenter, one of the
finest global business leaders in
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Christine Nielsen is a professor of international business and strategy at the
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