Flylib.com

Books Software

 
 
 

Knowledge Without Borders

   

Knowledge Without Borders

Globalization of the work process happens through technology . This is key to understanding how swiftly the world is changing. New industries and companies are being created based on international operations linked by technology. Alongside this, a new class of knowledge entrepreneurs who are international in background and business perspective is emerging.

One such example is Davidi Gilo, CEO of DSP Communications. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, DSPC's engineers are in Israel and its customer base is in Japan. In October 1999, DSPC was acquired by Intel Corp. to be run as a subsidiary. DSPC signal processing technology originated through the Israeli military and is useful in answering and dictation machines.

Davidi Gilo

The high-tech revolution is significantly different from the industrial revolution. When you talk about the global economy or technology, the model may involve, for example, product definition and innovation from the United States, engineering and development efforts could be done in Europe, and manufacturing could be performed in the Far East perhaps. So in that sense, it's very, very different, because a certain level of knowledge is moving from here to Israel, enabling the engineer to design the product, and then on to Japan, enabling them to make the product.

Now you have multinational companies opening offices in Israel and other places. They move people from location to location, who then return to Israel. And while they're here, they learn a lot of the discipline and the technology that they later on employ back in Israel. We live in a very mobile world today and you can see this phenomenon ; it's very good, because that's how knowledge, product development, and marketing ideas get transferred between people and help young companies become more successful.

People in Israel who work on a major project at Intel get the same training as they would in Santa Clara. So basically a company like Intel, Texas Instruments, or IBM that has research centers in Israel operates on a global basis. Every multinational company doing business in different countries and using the same standard that made them successful in those countries helps bring the professionalism from engineering, management, and marketing, which is very significant.

When you have American companies setting up in other countries, then they are tapping human resources, which can be very good. It can be cheaper. The Internet, networking, and optic technology enable you to transfer files in a few minutes. Technological innovation enables all these things to happen. This is huge!

   
   

Deregulation and Greater Risk Are Requisites to Regional Participation

Investment in innovation is risky, which creates great anxiety and doubt. Certainly, the recession of 2000 “2001, the meltdown of the dot-com industry, and the economic roller -coaster ride in core industries such as telecommunications and semiconductors are just a few of the major calamities that have shaken world confidence in the "New Economy" model. Deregulation by nations to open up their markets and industries to international competition is a necessary condition for participation in the global economy. But as evidenced by the recent default on its huge national debt by Argentina, and the bankruptcies of leading large multinational corporations such as Enron and Global Crossing, deregulation sometimes leads to much greater instability. When fraud, corruption, and mismanagement go unchecked, companies that expand too quickly are also more prone to spectacular failures. But the price of the quest for regional riches seems to be to accept the risks of a U.S.-style freewheeling economy with its huge uncertainty and gyrations of boom and bust built into the high-tech “driven economy.

This globalization, deregulation, and attendant risk is not always enthusiastically received. Many see this as Americanization and a new form of economic imperialism. Indeed, it is quite threatening to the established order. Fran §ois Mitterand, the late President of France, said, "France does not know it, but we are at war with America. Yes, a permanent war, a vital war, a war without death. Yes, they are very hard, the Americans ” they are voracious, they want undivided power over the world." [2]