globalEDGE Blog Podcast

Having survived the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are looking to strengthen their security measures by controlling private information, namely the Chinese and American governments. Throughout 2020, the United States government attempted to ban the controversial app “Tik Tok” from platforms like the App Store on Apple devices because of its former ties to China. Similarly, the Chinese government is now restricting the use of Tesla’s vehicles by military and state employees as a result of privacy concerns of their own. With back and forth blows struck between the two countries, an international privacy war could be looming on the horizon.

The ads a consumer sees from day to day have changed drastically in the platform they are presented on.  While television ads and billboards were once on the cutting edge of advertising, digital ads have taken over the majority of ad spending in the United States and around the world.  Digital advertising is estimated to account for fifty-four percent of total ad spends in the United States in 2021 and is forecasted at just over fifty percent of total ad spending globally. In addition, digital advertising spending hit three hundred fifty-six billion USD in the United States in 2020.  Clearly, companies are willing to spend to have access to digital advertising.  Let’s take a look at some of the methods they use to access consumers on the internet.

What Are Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property rights (IP) are legal rights that protect creators’ inventions, creations, developments, etc. There are four types different types of IP: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. IP can differ from country to country, so it is important to be aware of local IP laws and enforcement.

The Coronavirus pandemic has greatly modified every aspect of modern life for over a year now. The entertainment industry has had to change in many ways to adapt to the inability to perform in-person. A previous globalEDGE blog covered how the music industry has seen a massive drop in revenue, especially since up to 80% of a musician's revenue is gained during live concerts. How have other versions of live entertainment held up during the last year, and what are they planning on doing going forward?

The exploding cannabis industry has seen the most growth in the last year as ever before and is looking for an even better 2021 with Mexico set to legalize sometime in the coming months. Assuming this does happen and Mexico follows the lead of some U.S. states, Canada, and Uruguay, they will then become the world’s largest country to legalize Cannabis with a population of 121 million. This large input of new customers will need suppliers meaning that many Cannabis companies across the U.S. and Latin America are looking to seek substantial growth when the bill officially passes.

One of the most common ways a private company can generate capital for its business is through issuing equity (i.e. going public).  This is typically performed through an initial public offering (IPO).  An IPO is a two-step process, where a company issues stock in the primary market to institutional investors, after which shares are traded on the secondary market to retail investors.

The pandemic has led to millions of people relying on technology more than ever. From phones to laptops to televisions and much more, technology has become the center of our lives over the last year. One thing that all modern technology has in common is the use of microchips. Microchips help with memory, logic, and functionality in electronic devices. The increase in demand for different forms of technology has finally caught up to microchip suppliers, and now multiple industries are facing shortages and shutdowns.

As technology advances, scientists and environmentalists are testing new ways to further the recycling efforts for our planet. Plastics are a long-debated problem that often ends up in landfills where it will never decompose, so what if we could find a way to take that durability and use it to our advantage?

In late January, a popular Reddit chat named “WallStreetBets” successfully inflated the stock price of many publicly traded companies. The group of bullish traders had been focused on buying stock and placing options on particular companies that hedge funds had been shorting in order to force them into a “short squeeze.” As a result of such an extensive army of traders all buying into these companies within a similar time frame, the WallStreetBets group was able to pump stock prices of companies like Gamestop (GME) from $20 a share to $483 in only two weeks. Now, hedge fund managers are flustered, brokerage dealers such as Robinhood are facing lawsuits, and federal prosecutors are investigating as to whether or not market manipulation or other criminal actions took place.

The Cloud is a computer service that has the ability to deliver a wide range of resources over the internet for business and personal use.  The Cloud brings innovation and speed to computing services, as there is no software to download to a device and a lessened need to save copies of documents to a computer.  Let’s take a look at the future of the Cloud and how it can be used to ease the technology side of doing business.