*{ICC 33rd World Congress Report 

Budapest, 3-5 May 2000 

More opportunities than downsides [http://www.iccwbo.org/home/conferences/reports/budapest/report/opportunities.asp]}

Although the main focus was Europe, speakers at different sessions returned again and again to the global economy and the question of where globalization is leading - and even the meaning of the word itself. 

Vaclav Klaus, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, said this overused word represented a continuous evolution with no sharp turning point. It was not a policy, and it was therefore nonsense to organize anti-globalization demonstrations.

Most participants agreed that globalization was opening up exciting new opportunities for companies and offering developing countries their best chance of entering the economic mainstream and raising the living standards of their populations. They agreed with Mr Klaus that, although it might sometimes aggravate existing differences, globalization ultimately enriches people's lives.

Klaus Friedrich, Chief Economist of the Dresdner Bank, urged economists and business people to communicate more effectively the basic message that globalization presents 'more opportunities than downsides'.

Shafik Gabr, Chairman and Managing Director, ARTOC Group for Investment, Egypt, questioned whether developing countries had any choice about the kind of globalization they wanted, and said they had a problem letting go. 'They are used to a government/state control mindset.'

In a session on the new competitive stakes for global companies, Manuel Martinez Dominguez, President, Laboratorios Columbia, Mexico, outlined challenges to businesses in emerging economies: to think world class, concentrate product lines and business activities, optimize quality and price, and form alliances. 

Martin Broughton, Chairman of British American Tobacco, UK said that global companies had a positive effect on local economies, particularly by their outsourcing to local business. The symbiotic relationship between multinationals and local business was a potent weapon against unemployment.

Rainer Masera, CEO, San Paolo IMI Bank, Italy, listed main trends underpinning the global market economy. At the top of his list was demographics and the need to transfer resources to developing countries in order to avoid turmoil and huge migrations. 

Jacques Manardo, Global Managing Partner and Member of the Executive Group, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, France, presented "the global accounting challenge", an initiative pursued by the International Forum on Accountancy Development (IFAD), whose purpose was to raise reporting and auditing standards worldwide and create common ground for transparency and reliability.

Phil Watts, Group Managing Director of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, UK, said globalization was much more than just an economic phenomenon. 'It is a whole series of profound changes in expectations, principles and practices, which are interconnected and have multiple implications for businesses and for societies,' he said. 

Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, asked whether globalization really did lack a human face and concluded: 'No, but it does need cosmetic surgery.'

Speakers at an opening roundtable on the state of the global economy were generally upbeat about the immediate outlook. Arthur Dunkel, board member of Crédit Suisse Group and Nestlé and former Director-General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, noted that world trade was growing at 6% a year and that the world economy was also growing at a healthy pace.

Other speakers said there should be greater cross-border movement of skilled and technical personnel and stressed the need to ensure industrialized countries open their markets to developing country exports, in particular agriculture and textiles.

Three main areas of concern were identified in the session:
the need for deeper and more rapid structural economic reforms; 
the importance of safeguarding the rules-based multilateral trading system in the context of rising protectionism; 
negative public reaction to the perceived impact of globalization.

Some media organizations may well succeed in their efforts to create a truly all-encompassing global market. However, most companies will continue to focus on selected market segments. 

These were among conclusions drawn by Matti Packalén, CEO of Finland's Alma Media Corporation during the session on the new competitive stakes for global companies. 

Mr Packalén stressed the influence of consumers in shaping tomorrow's media. Innovations in media services will only spread if they have cultural value people appreciate not just economic value. And cultural differences offer scope for a number of smaller media producers to serve the diversified needs of their customers.

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