US and American Companies & the Global Marketplace

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1. Where you think the U.S. and American companies are headed in the future?

In a write-up in the New York Times, the reporter discusses where US and American companies presently are, and then predict future trends. For example, the reported says this: - "Love it, hate it, embrace it, deny it, American power, American influence and American values are the defining features of today's interconnected world. Questions of an American "empire" -- whether we have one, whether we want one, whether we can afford or keep one -- aren't just the white-hot topic of the day among statesmen and political scientists. The world really is becoming more "American." The pervasive pull of American ideals, popular culture and media, and economic opportunity works in mysterious counterpoint, and not always harmoniously, with overwhelming U.S. military might and diplomatic clout. This pull is felt in every corner of the globe in the age of Google, Michael Jordan, Eminem and SpongeBob SquarePants. (2)

Let's look at the following write-up is an excerpt from the New York Times WHICH COINS United States and American companies as powerful components of the global marketplace, (so please reference appropriately):

1. "America becomes global marketplace"

Coke, Big Macs and IPods.
The United States creates some of the world's most innovative products, dominating brands and profitable business models, exporting them around the globe with tremendous success.
Of the world's 100 most valuable brands, 62 are American, according to Interbrand, a consulting group that annually evaluates products. It's a fair accomplishment for a country that produces less than one-third of the world's economic output. "It's testimony to the superior marketing and business acumen of American companies. We punch 200 percent of our business weight," says John Quelch, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied and written about global brands.
The successes of companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Apple create wealth and jobs in the United States and overseas. But American brands also generate resentment, copycats and fierce competition.
Business and commerce is one arena where the world is increasingly "American." This series examines nonmilitary, nonpolitical aspects of this pervasive U.S. influence — from democratic ideals and entrepreneurial ingenuity to language, sports and popular culture — and some of the consequences of this influence.
The United States is the world's leading exporter and importer, and its companies spend more money establishing and expanding overseas operations than those of any other nation.
In 2003, U.S. exports of merchandise and commercial services totaled $1.01 trillion, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Top exports include $46.1 billion in semiconductors, $31.3 billion in computer accessories, $36.2 billion in vehicle parts, $22.1 billion in cars, $23.3 billion in civilian aircraft and $20.5 billion in pharmaceuticals, according to 2003 Commerce Department statistics.
The United States plays another important role as the world's largest market, with free-spending consumers looking for good deals on quality products.
U.S. imports of merchandise in 2003 more than doubled those of the second-leading country. Consumers and companies bought $1.3 trillion in goods and an additional $229 billion in services, the WTO says.
"The U.S. is the locomotive for global growth. If we were not providing that stimulus, it seems quite possible that the rest of the world economy would slip back into recession," says Kent Hughes, director of the America and the Global Economy Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

More than a market

• American consumers are not just a market; they are an entire business model for some companies.
• It's 100 percent [that] we sell in the United States," says Ziad Salah, commercial and finance manager or United Garment Manufacturing Co. The Amman, Jordan, company makes pants, jackets and other clothes and sells them to retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target.
• The enterprise employs 750 workers. Each of the 300,000 garments made every month goes to the United States.
• "If the U.S. market is open, it will create more opportunity and employ a lot of people — it will reduce unemployment in Jordan," Mr. Salah says.
• But America's role as the world's most voracious consumer may not be sustainable.
• The U.S. current account deficit, the broadest measure of trade, hit $164.7 billion in the third quarter of 2004. The figure represents 6 percent of U.S. economic output and is a record. The deficit is financed by borrowing from abroad and foreign investment in the United States.
• Continuing deficits has made the United States the world's leading debtor. Other nations held almost $2.7 trillion in government and private U.S. securities, stocks, bonds, cash and other assets at the end of 2003, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That position is expected to worsen.
• "A quarter of a century ago, the United States was still the largest net lender on earth; 20 years ago, its global assets still exceeded its liabilities. Today, however, its net investment position is sinking below negative $3 trillion," Peter G. Peterson, chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Nixon administration commerce secretary, writes in the September-October issue of Foreign Affairs. "Americans may hope that the rest of the world will go on lending unlimited funds forever. That wish, however, is unrealistic."
• Mr. Peterson says the United States must export more and save more while the rest of the world must import more and consume more, an adjustment that requires substantial shifts of labor, capital and culture.
• "Although no one can predict how the current imbalance in the global economy will play out, trade economists marvel at just how many ways this lopsided flywheel can spin off the axle," Mr. Peterson says. (1)

Investing abroad

• Even as the rest of the world finances American consumption, U.S. companies ...