Global Business in 2020: The Roles of the US and UK Thinking back just twelve years ago the internet was in its infant stages as personal computers became mainstream. Nobody knew the extent to the effect that would have on globalization or how it would begin to connect the world. That’s why it is so hard to imagine what the world is going to be like in 12 years. There is so much room for change and as the world economies begin to work closer together and the rules and regulations continue to change. Today, borders and barriers are being torn down to make way for a truly global market place. This is and will continue to create even greater competition and hopefully better products and ideas. With all of this change there will be many questions regarding how things should or should not be regulated. Representing two of the largest and most well known economies, the United States and the United Kingdom will each have a role in shaping the future. For the US, it will be an interesting line to walk between looking out for its own benefit while truly opening up markets and improving conditions throughout the world. For the UK it will be asserting is financial markets and institutions and leading the world on intellectual property. Before discussing the individual roles of the UK and the US in 2020 let’s start by looking at the global economy as a whole. There are basically four globalization scenarios that could play out leading up to 2020. The first is called controlled globalization and assumes that things will continue to progress as they are now. Markets and trading will continue to become more liberalized as countries become less fearful of major security issues and lose some of their protectionist views. This situation requires no major setbacks such as the September 11th attacks or a major economic crisis similar to what happened in Asia in 1997. The second scenario is globalization in retreat. Under this scenario fears about technological security, job loss, terrorism, or a global epidemic (avian flu) would keep countries from embracing globalization. The global market place would continue to expand but not at it’s full potential. A third scenario is called globalization sunk in which the globalization movement would actually move backward. History demonstrates this with the economies before and after World War I. Prior to the war there was a large level of international trade of goods and capital with little barriers on trade or immigration. After WWI, protectionism dominated the cultures and international advances across technology, trade, investment, and immigration were all in retreat. Although this is unlikely, a large scale war could cause much of the same things to happen. The hardest hit countries would be the developing nations. A final situation could be globalization unbound. This would involve trade barriers basically being dismantled, technology and knowledge flowing freely between nations. Financial markets would become almost completely integrated and the result would be increased competition across all countries with the poor developing nations standing to grow substantially. Although no one can guess which situation the world will actually be in 2020, it can be said that the UK and the US will play major roles in which path is taken. Both countries have a lot to hold on to but they can also not afford a fully protectionist path either. If the markets were completely opened the US and the UK would not be able to compete with developing countries for production jobs. As industrialized countries there are too many rules and regulations designed to protect the pay of workers. A majority of these jobs would go overseas. Even without complete open markets this situation is still going to happen to some extent. It’s one way in which developing countries can begin to close the gap with giants like the US and the UK. Much of the leaders in US and UK realize this and