Renewable energy is growing in popularity across the globe, and with good reason—the benefits of renewable energy sources are widespread.  Finding alternative energy sources that don’t require the use of fossil fuels can lower energy costs for consumers, create more stable and reliable energy prices, and make electricity more available throughout the world.  Furthermore, climate change is proving to be a very expensive ordeal—costing $240 billion in economic losses in the United States alone—and renewable energy has a significantly smaller impact on climate change compared to the burning of fossil fuels. Clearly, investing in renewable energy has economic benefits.  Let’s look at how three regions around the world are faring in their journey to use more alternative energy sources.

The Community College Course Syllabi section was recently updated by the globalEDGE team. This section contains a list of International Business focused syllabi from different community colleges in the United States. Including a wide range of disciplines, make sure to check out and utilize the Community College Course Syllabi resources to develop or enhance international business courses, as well as to gain knowledge as an educator.

This year Halloween doesn’t just have everyone scared from horror movies and ghosts, but also the newest Brexit deadline. The United Kingdom is projected to leave the European Union in just over a month, and they still have no planned deal for a quiet exit. With Boris Johnson suspending Parliament, the question stands of how a “No Deal Brexit” will hurt other countries and Globalization.

Recently, big retail giants have been approaching their brick-and-mortar stores differently. Instead of following their traditional footsteps, companies have been looking into alternative ways to stay competitive in the digital economy and to attract a wider consumer base. This trend has just recently surfaced in the U.S., but for other countries, this has already been in practice for many years. In areas with dense population and expensive rents, it is very typical for retailers to downsize.  It allows the company to operate without incurring an unreasonable amount of fixed expenses. Best of both worlds, it offers convenience to customers while staying competitive amongst other retailers.

The world population continues to grow at a rapid rate, currently sitting at over 7.5 billion people.  With each individual comes the necessity for resources that foster survival and growth—mainly, humans need food and water.  As society continues to expand to an astounding size, how much food is really needed to meet our growing needs?

Thomas Philippon, French native, moved to the United States in 1999 to pursue a graduate’s degree. While in the U.S., he noticed that cell phone plans and airfare were much more expensive in comparison to the prices in France. Twenty years later, he discovered that these prices were not only lower in France, but in Europe and Asia as well.

The month of September began with a sudden evacuation for many residents of the Bahamas and southeastern parts of the United States. The slow-moving Hurricane Dorian began its course of destruction with severe flooding and winds the first week of September. In the Bahamas alone, authorities predict it will take billions of dollars to repair the damages created by the hurricane. A country can prepare all they can for a hurricane—whether that means boarding up houses and stores, packing up belongings, or evacuating—but an economy can never be prepared for the deadly effects of a hurricane.

A CNBC report in late August reported the looming challenges that currently face the fast-food industry: high turnover rates.  At Panera Bread, the employee turnover rate has reached 100%, a figure that is surprisingly low in comparison to industry estimates, which top 150%.  A 2013 study by Cornell’s Rosemary Batt, a Professor in Human Resource Studies and International and Comparative Labor, estimated that businesses incur losses of approximately $1,600 per employee due to turnover. The rising minimum wage is also significantly impacting the fast-food industry, and forcing organizations to reconsider how they do business.

Advertising is – and always has been – an ever-changing and evolving way to market goods and services.  As new types of media have developed over time, advertisers have had to make the leap from newspapers to television to websites as marketing platforms.  Yet, there is a new type of advertising that is proving extremely useful to companies: social media influencers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have been skyrocketing over the last ten years. With the emergence of Google’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and other informational AI's, companies continue to try and advance their offerings to be compatible with these tech assistants. The newest breakthrough in AI technology occurred just this week.