Egobal warming

An increasingly globalized, volatile and a growth-oriented world present its citizens numerous challenges – be it in economic, social, environmental and indeed cultural spheres.

As the global economy steams ahead in full speed, geographical borders are becoming less and less significant as people move around, migrating into cities and countries in search of better opportunities and better lives.

Business corporations in both the East and the West are interchanging knowledge and capital in a mutually beneficial exercise. To succeed in this increasingly border-less world one needs to go beyond the familiar and the uniform and embrace the unfamiliar and the diverse, one must tolerate and accept different customs, behaviors, languages, attitudes and values. In other words, one must embrace multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism, however, isn’t simply just good business, but rather something that contributes a great deal in transforming modern day conflicts in the world and indeed here, in Sri Lanka. Roots of most conflicts or at least lack of progress in resolving them, has a lot to do with lack of understanding and lack of space for a different cultures and identities, which leads to marginalization and discontent which sometimes results in violent aggression and cycles of hatred. It is clear then, that multiculturalism is no longer simply a nicety but rather, a dire necessity in the times we live in.

Despite what seems like a commercial drive towards greater understanding of cultures, the raging conflicts of the world are evidence enough that not enough cultural dialogue takes place, Multiculturalism doesn’t mean homogeneity nor does it mean segmented societies tolerating different cultures because they have no choice. To create sustainable and more fruitful intercultural relationships one must make a genuine effort not only to tolerate but to understand, nurture and foster cross cultural interaction and understanding.

People are in their own ways always different from one another, they have their own identity derived from their cultural backgrounds and their personal value systems, but also it’s important to understand that people do have a great deal in common. Every person at a fundamental level needs more or less the same things, like acceptance, respect, love, security, peace and generally- a good life. The differences - and there may be many - is what makes this world a vibrant and creative place to live in.

Too often though, closed minds and open mouths get in the way of building more cohesive communities. Young people in this regard have a special role to play, it is they who have most at stake, it is they who will inherit the problems created today and yesterday and therefore young people have a right, not just a responsibility to have a significant say in what goes on in their countries, communities and indeed the world. Young people should not only aspire to be the leaders of tomorrow but they should also be ready to be the change-makers of today.

All over the world young people tend to idealistic, enthusiastic and passionate on many things, be it against poverty, racism, brutality, war, and AIDS. To harness the power of global youth voices pertaining to the issues that really matter, one needs to go past the arbitrary wars between cultures, young people can and should come forward in harnessing the power of multicultural exchange so that things would be different when they grow up to be the leaders, policymakers and movers of the world. This I believe is the most sustainable path for continued multicultural exchange, community cohesion and ultimately continued development.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization

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At the present, economy all over the world is unstable. Governments have to figure out the ways to solve the unemployment people. Some people think that giving unemployed people mobile phones and making sure they has access to the internet is the best way to reduce the problem of unemployment. However in my considered opinion, they are wrong because these measures do not necessarily help unemployed fin job, they make them have more expenses, they make them have more expenses and mobile phones are only aids. There are several ways to partly solve these problems: governments should create more building. They should provide people with free programs and they might give people privileges.

There are three important reasons why mobile phones and the internet can not ameliorate unemployment problems. First of all, Mobile phones cannot really help unemployed find jobs. Thesis because everyone already has mobile phone already, they cannot find jobs. Secondly, mobile phones cause people to have more expenses. Unemployed people have to pay for prepaid cards or services fees, even though, governments give them mobile phones. Lastly, moiled phones and the internet are only aids. These tools may help people to search for a job and contacted employers but they do not give people chances to work. All of these points are reason why mobile phones and the internet can partly relieve unemployment problems.

However, there are several measures that can partly solve unemployment problems. First, governments should create more building projects. When governments construct buildings, they need labor to build them. This will give those jobs, secondly, governments should provide unemployed people have more skills; they will have more alternatives to find jobs. Finally, governments might give unemployed privileges. For example, governments could give land to unemployed people and they can grow crops or propagate cattle. All of these points are measures to partly solve unemployed problems.

In conclusion, giving unemployed people mobile phones and making sure they have access the internet cannot support unemployment problems. However, governments could create more building projects and these three measures can largely solve unemployed problems. From my point of view, governments should not only encourage people to work but also they might help people to save their money.

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“Problems and Prospects concerning Income Tax related to the expenditures in connection with research and development within multinational companies”  Business contacts between countries are steadily becoming more intensive and more diverse. This reflects the increased integration of technological progress between head office and their branches or juristic partnerships. With technological development and production competing in global business, research and development of companies become important because it can benefit companies to produce their products effectively. In practice, Parent companies establish research and development in one place and share expenditures head office and their branches or juristic partnerships. Afterward, parent companies will distribute technological progresses, which is intellectual property, to their branches to utilize them. Each company can use technological progresses as same as own properties and does not have to pay licensing for utilization.  To promote economy in Thailand, Thai government wants to share technological progresses and impose tax measurement. In case of foreign companies providing assistance or rendering service to the business of its Thai branch, the Revenue Department of Thailand allows that companies may charge expenses based on such facts, and it can be treated as ‘expenditures’ in the computation of net profits for payment of corporate income tax in Ruling Of The Commission Of Taxation 13/2529 (1986).  In addition, the Revenue Department recently issued Departmental instruction No. Paw 11/2545(2002), Subject :  Income Tax on Corporate Income - Establishing Transfer pricing based on  the Market price, in order to provide tax officials with guidelines to standardize the assessment of transfer price between a juristic corporation or partnership incorporated  under the Thai law or incorporated under a foreign law. However, implementation of theses tax mechanisms have not facilitated cost contribution on Research and Development within Multinational companies. (main topic)   Thai Revenue Code does not sufficiently regulate the act of allocating expenses in relation to research and development to cost contribution arrangement of Multinational Enterprises because the  Ruling Of The Commission Of Taxation 13/2529 (1986) cannot be adopted for use in this case properly. According to Departmental instruction No. Paw 11/2545(2002), establishing Transfer pricing based on  the Market price has no precise scope and definition and  Thai Revenue Code does not extend to cost contribution. To promote research and development within multinational companies, the Revenue Department needs to improve its regulation of international tax relief in relation to cost contribution. This can be achieved by drafting either a new specific Act for this situation or new laws in the Revenue Code.

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What do you think?

In the present, education plays an important role in society. Students will have to choose university for pursuing higher education. One criteria that the students have to think about is size of university. However, in my opinion, I think large universities is better than small universities. This is because large universities provide best academic knowledge, good infrastructure and have a variety of courses.

The first reason why large universities is better is large universities provide best academic knowledge. Nowadays new technology occur everyday and lecturers have to update knowledge. For example, specialist doctors keep up modern knowledge to teach their students. Moreover, large universities have a huge library. For example, in Harvard University, there are about 2 million books in a law library.

The second reason is they provide good infrastructure. They organize modern equipments in class. In some large universities, lectures teach students by displaying fact with projects but in small universities, lecturers show fact on blackboard. In addition, they provide a decent standard of living. In large universities, student facilities are safe clean and secure.

The third reason is there are a variety of courses. They offer a lot of course offered. For example in university of Sydney, there are over 30 subjects in just faculty of law, such as, master of taxation and master of intellectual property. Besides, they may offer special programs for international students. This is because large universities have a great number of international students. Therefore, they provide an international program for them.

In conclusion, best educational knowledge, good facility and a variety of course are three reasons why large universities are better than small universities.
From my point of view, students could study in small universities as well, although, large universities have a better quality.

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In   “ Aging” (The  Columbia  Encyclopedia,2006),Biologists have advanced a variety of theories to explain aging, but most of them agree that this process is largely determined by genes. This view is suggested by the great range of life-spans among different animal species  eg,  tortoises  can  live  for  more  than  100  years.

Also , in  “Cattaca  movie”,  this  movies  made  from  the  same  process  as  biologists.  The  movies  believes  “only  second  old ,the  exact  time  and  cause  of  death  was  known  and  the   underclass  wasn’t  determined  by  social  status  or  skin  color  ,  now  today  discrimination  is  Gene.

Furthermore, in “Aging”, the author believes that environmental factors have been observed to affect aging as well. Scientists have discovered that they this   by providing monkeys with very low-calorie diets, and   they appear to be having the same results.

However  in “ Live long?  Die  young ?  Answer isn’t  Just in  Genes”(The  New york  Times ,September  1,2006).  Many  researchs  have  established   that genes may not be so important in determining how long someone will live and whether a person will get some diseases - except, perhaps, in some exceptionally long-lived families. That means it is generally impossible to predict how long a person will live based on how long the person’s relatives lived.  On  the  other  hand  ,  it  is  generally  impossible  to  predict  how  long  a  person  will  live  based  on  how  long the  person’s  relative  lived.

The  new  report  gives  examples  of  recent  cases  in  which  genes  don’t  determined  life-spans.  First  ,  James  Vaupel, who directs the Laboratory of Survival and Longevity at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany,  seems  to  think  that  life-spans   are nothing like a trait like height, which is strongly inherited.   ” Vaupel said.  ” only 3 percent of how long you live compared to the average person can be explained by how long your parents lived”.

According  to  Vaupel,  Caleb  Finch, a researcher on aging at the University of Southern California,  found   that Genetically identical animals, from worms to flies to mice, living in the same environments, die at different times. The reason is not known, Finch says, “It’s random,” he said. “Since we can’t find any regular pattern, that’s the hand wave explanation - randomness.”

Later  on,  scientists  have  been  trying  to  find  out  of  there  really  is  a  strong  genetic  link  to  life-spans  but  data  analysis  has  been  difficult  and  definitive  answer  elusive    because  they  share  some  genes  or  because  they  share  an  environment.

Consequently, How could it be that two people with the same genes, growing up in the same family, living all their lives in the same place, could age so differently? The scientific view of what determines a life span or how a person ages has swung back and forth.

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Cross Cultural Marriage  According to Cross cultural marriage is a marriage between two people from difference  linguistic, religions or ethnic groups. Cross cultural marriage is occurred quite  common these days. However, there are big problems in cross cultural marriage.  Therefore, a couple needs to study how to maintain cross cultural marriage   Cross culture marriages are more and more popular now. There are some causes for this phenomenon(http://www.china.org.cn/). Love, trust, understanding are usual the most important fact in the marriage. Another aspect that, marriage has no boundary and every country is opening more and more too outside world. People can communicate and understanding each other much easier and deeper. But there is also negative problem in international marriage. After the country began to open up that people went crazy for marriage with foreigners, with the purpose of getting anther nationality and going abroad. In family ethics, different cultures have their own customs (http://www.china.org.cn/). For example, an Indian boy gets married with a girl who is not an Indian girl, and a lot of percentage they live with the boy’s parents, then the girl must do all their family’s housework, such as washing dishes, cleaning the carpets. First, the girl should try to train the Indian boy to do a little housework for her and it is a challenge for both because Indian man never steps into the kitchen or laundry room, and parents will be opposite it but the couple must overcome the barrier. Then the girl shares half of her housework to the boy gradually. Moreover, according to www.InternationalPenpal.com, Cross Cultural Marriage effects on homesickness. Homesickness factor is depended on personal history and the socioeconomic class. Personal history can have an influence on homesickness. For example, if someone has an anticipation of a marriage relationship, that could make someone disappointed. In fact, the socioeconomic class country is different in international countries (thttp://www.hinduonnet.com). Therefore, the socioeconomic class can cause of homesickness. For example, if scholars from developing countries live in industrialized country, they might not receive the same respect the same as in their country. It is well known that respect is the most necessity of maintaining
the good Cross-Cultural Marriage. According to www.larabell.org, there are
some sound advices. At first do not try to change other pepole’s
belief, religion and lifestyle, for every person has a different
background, culture, growth environment. If people start to expect change, it
is not respect for their partner, and he/she would get into
trouble. Accepting the fact is the best choice for them. And learning to
respect partner is the same as respecting their parents. Keeping good
relations with their parents pave the way for happy Cross Cultural marriage.   In conclusion, these days marriage between a couple from different country and culture is fashionable. Cross cultural marriage faces numerous problems and difficulties, although, couples can encourage to dispose of the culture gap and homesickness. It is predicted that international marriage will become in general in the nearly future.

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Financial Crisis of 1997 National Environment Prior to 1997 From 1988 to 1995, the Thai economy had attracted massive volumes of capital in-flow from overseas investors due to its accommodating economic policies, healthy-looking conditions, cheap labour, its geographical location in the heart of South-East Asia, and the stagflation of Japanese economy. World Bank figures show that Thailand’s real GDP growth from 1980-90 was an annual average of 7.6%, followed by 8.4% during 1990-95. Growth in 1996 fell to 6% but still exceeded the rate experienced by most OECD countries. Thailand’s export driven economy relied on the following industries; manufacturing, agro-industry, tourism, and, increasingly, financial services.             Amidst these seemingly happy picture there were some economically unsound conditions underlying practices in the financial sector. This included a rapid increase in the number of financial institutions, the influx of foreign credit into the economy, a heavy reliance on informal networks to conduct business, poor attention to credit analysis, and the existence of money politics. The main problems that were significant causes of the financial crisis included; a) Weaknesses in domestic macro-economic fundamentals leading to a current account deficit.  Thailand had a persistent current account deficit ranging from -5.08 to -8.10 % of GDP. The main reasons behind the current account deficit are the appreciation of the Thai baht in real terms, poor exchange rate management, and demand driven economic growth as the population experienced a large increase in real wages as inflation remained low. The Thai government’s exchange rate regime before the crisis involved pegging the Thai Baht to the U.S. dollar. The Baht had fluctuated very narrowly between 24.91-25.59 baht per dollar. However by launching the Bangkok International Banking Facility (BIBF), the government opened the floodgates to foreign currency loans, which Thai companies and financial institutions exploited for short-term relief. By not allowing the Baht to undertake natural adjustments caused by the influx of foreign currency, the value of the Baht was maintained at an artificially high level.  b) Speculation in the real estate market             Many of the foreign loans were channeled towards the property market in Thailand. Speculators bought large amounts of property and launched projects hoping and expecting the price of property to rise in the near future. For a short while, the inflation in the real estate market caused by increased demand for property by speculators themselves, led speculators to mistakenly believe that a boom was on the way. When it became clear that no boom was coming, speculators began to sell their stakes and the price of real estate collapsed. The loans behind the collapsing projects however still needed to be financed, however now there was no future revenue stream to pay back those loans. The creditors of many loans granted to real estate speculators were finance companies.  c) Speculative Attacks and the Floatation of Baht In May 1997 foreign speculators sensing the bubble was about to burst, attacked the baht. The Thai government spent 90% of its foreign reserves to defend the baht against the speculative attack. In a matter of days, the Baht fell from its peg at 25 Baht per dollar to about US$1 for 52 Baht. This had a catastrophic effect on the cost of repayment for the excessive number of foreign loans borrowed by Thai companies and financial institutions. Financial institutions became insolvent and Thai companies declared bankruptcy as the number of non-performing loans skyrocketed. Widespread panic by all stakeholders in the Thai economy led to offloading of Thai currency and quick-fire sales of shares on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. By December 31 1997, the SET had fallen from a level of 787 in January 1997 to 337. In response to the crisis, on July 2 1997 the Thai government changed its exchange rate regime from a fixed exchange rate to a floating exchange rate. The Thai government also requested “technical assistance” from the IMF, and on 5 August 1997 Thailand received a $17 billion loan from the IMF and agrees to adopt tough economic measures in return.

Should Thailand adopt the Madrid Protocol Or Develop a Regional Trademark Registration System, Trade

Should Thailand adopt the Madrid Protocol
Or Develop a Regional
Trademark Registration System,
Like the CTM, for ASEAN?

Introduction

Globalization is rapidly expanding business and making national borders less significant. Products and their brands travel all across the world, which makes the trademark an increasingly important piece of intellectual property. A trademark enhances customer loyalty, builds brand identity, identifies a product’s origin, signifies a product’s quality, and earns good will and recognition for a company and its products. As businesses launch products in new markets they need to be secure in knowing that they have exclusive rights to use their trademarks, ensure that they are not infringing anyone else’s marks, and prevent others from using or registering their marks. Consequently it is very important for business owners to apply for trademark protection for products and services they are exporting or producing overseas.  Trademark protection is the legal method of preventing others from exploiting original signs and to ensure that the mark owner derives the full benefits. However, trademark rights are normally characterized by a territorial limit of registration, therefore protection granted in one country will not extend to others. Therefore, in order to obtain and assert trademark rights, a trademark owner, must apply for registration in each of the countries in which the owner seeks protection. A further problem experienced by businesses is the different trademark laws encountered in countries which creates uncertainty as to the rights afforded by registration. This paper will explore the most viable alternatives to a territorially dominated system of trademark registration and examine the advantages and disadvantages of two major community-based registration systems, the Madrid System and the Community Trade Mark of the European Union. Thai businesses are active participants in the global market and would benefit from the adoption of a community-based system that would allow multi-country registration through a single application. We will first discuss the broader issue of harmonization of substantive trademark laws and the challenges in a world dominated by territoriality based trademark laws, which is a future obstacle to a truly international trademark law framework.  In conclusion, from Thailand’s perspective ratification of the Madrid Protocol is a relatively easier objective than the formation of a community-based regional registration system for ASEAN. An ASEAN based system for registration and protection of trademark laws would go further towards harmonization but it would also require more concessions by member countries. The purpose of a community-based system is to ensure that a trademark can be registered, assigned, or licensed with the filing of a single application, and that the applicant has the same rights across all members of the system. The extent of harmonization can be as extensive as setting up independent community legislative, administrative and judicial bodies, or limited to ratifying international protocols that depend on the rights granted by national systems. The success of harmonization depends on how far countries will concede on their principles of territoriality and national sovereignty and grant authority to a community-based system.

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