Hurricane Sandy Still Causing Damage

       If you guys don't already know, Hurricane Sandy was a storm in the United States last month that cause a huge uproar because of it's strength.  The main reason it was recognized was because it was the largest recorded Atlantic hurricane. It was estimated to have caused $30 billion dollars in damage and killed more than 200 people before it was over.

       You would think that a hurricane only leaves short term effects like the destruction of buildings, however even after Hurricane Sandy is long gone, people are still being affected in the United States. According to the Labour Department, after the hurricane hit initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose from 78,000 to roughly 439,000 within a week of the storm! This is the highest level of unemployment since April 2011 and the highest change in one week since 2005. Can you believe that? One storm left thousands without jobs! This could potentially hold back economic growth at a whole... Right now the economic growth in the United States is about 2%, but economists expect that the storm reduced it by half a percent. Saying it like this it doesn't seem like much of a change, "only half a percent?" but if you look at it as a whole, 0.5/2 is a decrease by 25%. , now that's a lot. With that being said, it is pretty obvious how this horrible storm is connected to international business. There is no doubt that with the slowdown in the United States’ economy many other countries will be affected as well. The whole world is interdependent on trade, there are rarely any countries rely 100% on themselves the world just can't work like that and every country needs to do trade. With this interdependence a domino effect will appear between partnering countries. When one country does well, their wealth will continue onto the countries that have ties to them; however the same applies when one economy does poorly. The United States has a lot of influence on Canada's economy since we are each other’s major trading partners. If the economy is slowing down in the United States, our economy will slow down as well. As Pierre Trudeau once said “Canada is like a mouse sleeping with an elephant. Everything is fine until the elephant twitches". This was referring to our relationship to the United States, if something bad happens in the United States, we're basically at a loss as well. Even though it may take a while to notice the effect on us, but after a while we should notice it. Despite saying this, economists also predict that this slowdown in the economy will be made up early next year if everything goes right. Overall, this has yet to turn into a huge problem but it is still something to consider when making any business plans any time soon. We should simply stay clear of any huge investments right now, and wait for the storm to pass. :)
Read the article here

Apple Wins Again.....or Not?

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       When the Samsung Galaxy III came out, there was an immediate demand for the product. The glitches from the previous model have been said to have been fixed, so many people were anticipating it's release. However  upon inspection the Apple company noticed that many of the features and additional functions were very similar to the iPhone 5. Eventually the Galaxy S III caused Samsung's cellphone sales exceed those of Apple's. (32.6 % of the market sales of phones, compared to 16.9 %). Obviously after seeing such a difference in sales, knowing Apple, they will come up with something to increase their revenue, and that's what they did! Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Samsung  Electronics Co. for using ideas or features from 6 of their 7 patents for mobile devices. One of which was the home button, everyone knows that the iPhone is not a complicated phone to use because of it's versatile home button. In fact it is actually the only other button besides the power and volume, and that makes it a very organized phone. It was a feature that everyone liked because it was so simple. So of course when the Samsung S III was said to have that feature many people wanted to get that phone. It had all the features of the Android but included the one main thing that made the iPhone .. well the iPhone  However all good things come with a price and the Samsung Electronics Company had to pay it. Near the end of August a nine-member jury decided that all Apple's arguments were valid and that The Samsung Company did in fact copy their patents! Apple sought $2.5-billion US to $2.75-billion US for damages and even pushed for a ban on Samsung smart phones, however the ban was not permitted as it was seen as too extreme and the fine was reduced. Imagine if that had went through, everyone who had bought a phone from Samsung would have to buy a new one! (Talk about a waste of money.) Luckily that didn't go through or many people would have been liable. However, the conflict didn't end here! After this lawsuit there was a rumour going around saying that Samsung paid this fee with NICKELS! This is still a speculation  but the story says that the company sent over 30 trucks filled with coins totally over 1 billion dollars to pay Apple. Hundreds of Apple employees were said to spend hours on end counting the coins because well, there's no law saying you can't pay with coins. Even though this is simple a speculation, it is just fun to know that Apple can lose a fight even when they're always on top. I guess in this case, "they won the battle, but lost the war" Samsung got the last laugh.

       So what does this have to do with international business? Well it's simple. Both companies in this were major international distributors of phones. It wasn't just people in the United States that could buy these phones, different people around the world could buy these phones. With the rivalry between two different companies from different countries, it puts many consumers in a good place. Both companies will strive to be the best, and as a result, they will constantly come up with better products. Without international business, companies like this would never really try to beat what they already have because there are no foreign competitors. But now, we are constantly getting new faster and better products. Do you ever wonder why a new iPhone is constantly being released? What about a new Android?  I always wondered why new models were constantly being released and now I know. The competition international business creates causes companies to constantly strive to make a better product than everyone else, and "beat the best".


To read an article on this you can click here but the story is basically summarized by now.