Essay on Indonesia: World's Most Populated Muslim Country With 500+ Languages

Introduction

Indonesia is a huge nation. It has a populace of 220 million people who are spread across its 17,000 islands. The islands extend from Sumatra in the west and Irian Jaya in the east within a radius of 3,200 miles. Indonesia is regarded as the world's most populated Muslim state-about 85% of Indonesians are Muslims. In addition, the country has over 500 languages while separatists are spread across the provinces (Hill, 2010).

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For three decades, the slumping country was managed by President Suharto. He was an effective despot who was supported by the army. During his reign, the economy of the country grew progressively yet there was a price to be paid. Suharto dealt with the dissidents brutally. He was also prominent for 'crony capitalism' utilizing his power to favor companies owned by his allies and family. Eventually, Suharto was overhauled by huge debts that the country had amassed in the 1990s. Notably, the country's economy went into a nosedive in 1997.

Although the International Monetary Fund issued a $43 billion fund drive to revive the economy, the money was amassed by Suharto and his cronies. When people learned that, they protested until Suharto resigned. After Suharto's reign, Indonesia developed into a democracy and in 2004, Bambang was elected as president. The economy also grew and Public debt in GDP proportions reduced to 60% in 2004.

At that time, the economy also grew at about 4% per year from 2001 to 2005. In terms of economic progress, Indonesia is behind its Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and China. There are also high rates of unemployment ranging to about 10% (Hill, 2010). Inflation is also a prevalent problem peaking 14% in 2005. The country has no growth in labor due to corruption practices.

Numerous observers believe that Indonesia is derailed by its poor infrastructure. There has been a decline in public infrastructure for years. The road infrastructure is poor while about half of the entire populace has no access to electricity. Additionally, the country does not have modern sewerage facilities. Another thing to note is that oil production has reduced to point that it is not generating the country the intended profits.

World Bank has noted that business operations in Indonesia were damaged by extreme red tape. It usually takes an average of 151 days to finish bookkeeping essential to initiate a business compared to just eight days in Singapore and 30 days in Malaysia. Indonesia ranks as one of the most immoral nations in the world. Bribes are demanded in almost every government office making it difficult to provide the intended services. There is no political goodwill in the country and the people in power are corrupt and only address their interests.

DMG-Shanghai (Pg. 88)

In regards to variations of culture, Dan Mintz is an ideal example. In 1993, Mintz migrated to China working as a freelance film director. He had no marketing experience, no contacts and no knowledge of Mandarin. He started a company named DMG for marketing purposes. However, by 2006, the firm had become one of the emerging companies in the Chinese market. The firm had a client list of firms like China Mobile, Volkswagen, Audi, Sony, Unilever, Nabisco, Budweiser and some other firms based in China.

Mintz based his prosperity in what the Chinese refer to as guanxi. Guanxi can be referred to like associations, though in business contexts it can suitably be comprehended as links. The term has its foundations in the Confucian viewpoint of appreciating social pyramid and mutual responsibilities. Confucian philosophy has a two-millennium history in China, Confucianism emphasizes the significance of associations, especially in the family as well as master and servant.

Confucian philosophy states that individuals are not created equally. Allegiance and responsibilities to one's masters are considered as a sanctified obligation, but consequently, this allegiance has its costs. Social masters are responsible for rewarding the allegiance of their social servants by conferring 'blessings' upon them, the responsibilities are mutual. Nowadays, the Chinese value relationship and mutual responsibilities (Hill, 2010).

In a society that does not have a rule-based legal convention and lawful ways of addressing wrongs like business contracts violations, guanxi is a crucial mechanism for establishing long-lasting business connections and having an effective operation in China. Nowadays, Mintz is fluent in Mandarin and has managed to do business with two young Chinese Peter Xiao and Bing Wu. The latter is responsible for production activities in the company. On the other hand, Xiao has military links due to his family heritage. The three have been able to do good work and established advertising activities that can be envied by Western advertising organizations.

A notable case was DMG's initiative for Volkswagen, which assisted the German fort to become pervasive in the Chinese market. The advertisements utilized conventional Chinese personalities, which had been proscribed by Chairman Mao in the course of Cultural Revolution favoring simplifies forms. To attain approval to utilize the characters in film and print advertisements in contemporary China, there was high-level involvement of top government officials. They won their case by claiming that the characters should be viewed as art. DMG has videoed inside Beijing's Forbidden City, although the law does not approve it. Expending his links, Mintz convinced the administration to lift the ban for one day. Mintz noted that he does not discontinue when met by restrictions. He notes that limitations are found everybody but the best thing is understanding how to circle them and doing what needs to be done.

Moving U.S. White-Collar Jobs Offshore (Pg. 169)

Economists have been having a lengthy argument that free trade generates profits for all nations that engage in a free trading framework but as the next upsurge of globalization strokes through the United States economy, numerous individuals are speculating whether it is true, exclusively those of the verge of losing their jobs due to globalization. In the previous quarter-century, free trade was linked to the flow of low-skill, blue-collar production occupations out of wealthy nations like the U.S. and toward low-income nations-textiles to Costa Rica, electronic items to Malaysia, steel to Brazil, athletic shoes to the Philippines and other countries with low-wage demands.

Although numerous economists complain about jobs leaving the U.S., others noted that high-competence and highly-salaried, white-collar occupations linked to the knowledge-oriented economy are likely to remain in the U.S. Although computers might be fabricated in Malaysia, the designing part is likely to remain in Silicon Valley where there are high-skilled computer specialists (Hill, 2010).

When the global economy slackened in 2000 and companies reported low profits, most of U.S. firms reacted by shifting professional 'knowledge-oriented' occupations to emerging countries where they could be undertaken at very low costs. In the 1990s, there was an economic boom that resulted in a competition of scarce skills in the information technology market. This propelled yearly wages to about $100,000 in that sector. Nevertheless, due to pressure in the business between 2002 and 2003, corporations like Bank of America reduced their jobs by 5,000 to 20,000 (Hill, 2010). Some of the occupations are outsourced to India where labor costs were $20 hourly instead of $100 an hour in the U.S. In Philippines, Procter & Gamble engages 650 specialists who are tasked with generating the firm's worldwide tax returns. The tasks used to be undertaken in the U.S but since the Philippines offer low labor costs, most of the activities have shifted there.

Outsourcing to low-cost areas has also involved architectural work. For instance, Flour Corp, a California-established building corporation, engages about 1,200 specialists and architects in Philippines, India, and Poland to establish designs of engineering facilities into comprehensive specifications. Flour Corp has about 200 engineers centered in the Philippines making less than $3,000 annually. These young engineers interact with British and U.S. engineers who earn about $90,000 annually (Hill, 2010).

Outsourcing decreases costs of a venture by 15%, thus offering the corporation a competitive advantage in the construction design market. The corporations that outsource such competent professions usually operate in a low-cost environment, improved competition in the international market and great profits. In addition, American customers often benefit from reduced costs attributed to global outsourcing. Emerging countries like Philippines and India are known to supply skilled labor at low costs. Nevertheless, the lingering question is whether global outsourcing will affect white-collar jobs in the United States.

References

Hill, C. W. L. (2006). Global Business Today 7th (Seventh) Edition. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.