November 3rd, 2009
Connecting Hydrogen Convergence to Post-Globalization Marketplace
In the past, the ebTDesign Forum has published numerous blog segments about the post-Globalization marketplace. We’ve alerted readers and twitter followers to the open economic fissures that threaten to swallow them up. Now it’s time to talk about how the current investment environment and post-Globalization marketplace will impact hydrogen convergence.
The post-Globalization marketplace represents an economic transition period. The world entered into it in the summer of 2006 after the suspension of the Doha Round of international trade talks. With the end of these negotiations, the investment community was thrust into uncharted territories. Now, we are at a point in time where everything we knew about business in general and international business specifically must be challenged.
As many of you know, hydrogen convergence is the process of converting all of our energy choices to a single energy carrier which protects consumers from radical changes in energy prices. This process can be thought of in much the same way as globalization. It is happening everywhere at once and advances in one part of the world turn into investment opportunities in another part of the world in mere moments.
Traditionally, American executives have thought of international business as a means of extending product or service lifecycles. During the globalization process, international business was thought as a means of shifting labor costs. Post-Globalization, we must think of international business and foreign direct investment as a means of establishing emerging industrial movements like hydrogen convergence.
In this context, Invest in America® is the perfect means of connecting hydrogen convergence to the post-Globalization marketplace. Both government and private equity options are off the table for funding emerging industries. Foreign direct investment provides a potential third option for funding hydrogen infrastructure projects while the White House and the domestic investment community morn the loss of big oil.
Economic development professionals with years of experience and inexperienced entrepreneurs would be well-advised to find ways to work with and promote foreign direct investment. Invest in America® is the primary U.S. Government mechanism to manage foreign direct investment (FDI) promotion. Invest in America® is a program of the International Trade Administration at the Department of Commerce.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: FDI, hydrogen, international-business, post-Globalization