I learned a lot in chapter 1, like how global commerce thrives during peaceful times. I have traveled to many different places in my life time, and looking back I can see the chain reaction: tourists come to visit, locals sell things they have made, that’s their income, and more. I always knew America played a big role in global commerce because of chain restaurants and tourists, but I didn’t realize how many foreign direct investments we had. When you stop to look at it, you realize how many countries rely on each other to get basic needs/wants. There is a lot of peace being disturbed right now. We learned that trade and international marketing play a big role in peace. What will happen in a few months when things (hopefully) get better? Will we be able to go back to normal trade?
You’d think it would be obvious, but it really clicks after reading it, that foreign environments are very uncontrollable or predictable. I have experienced this first hand with my job opportunity in Hawaii for Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA). MCAA was holding a conference March 15 – 20th, 2020, however when I landed on March 12th they cancelled the conference. The MCAA conference is so large they completely booked up 5 hotels, which resulted in almost all of the reservations getting cancelled as well. While I was there I had the chance to talk to some locals, they said they have never seen the island so empty. On my flight to Hawaii almost every row was full, but on my flight back there wasn’t one full row. This pandemic has effected global commerce like we have never experienced firsthand. It’s very sad to see our trip has been cancelled due to unpredictable circumstances. It will be very interesting to see how different trade will be after this is all over.
Skyler Smith says
Rachel,
I agree with everything you said. Now is an interesting time to learn about international trade and marketing given the circumstances. Before this, I almost feel as if we have taken our ability to trade internationally for granted. However, we are now experiencing how different our world is if we cannot trade, travel, and engage with foreign firms like we could previously.
I can’t believe that happened to you on a trip to Hawaii! I’m so sorry. During late March when I returned home from Australia, I had a nearly empty flight as well. I actually took this photo of all the flight cancellations in the Atlanta airport. My flight from Springfield to Atlanta had only seven people on board, two of whom were other study abroad students. It was definitely a little eerie…