Saturday, November 21, 2009

Globalization Trends: No Crisis In Research And Development Spending

The recent crisis negatively affected nearly anything BUT research and development spending.

According to the Economist, ``BIG carmakers and drug and technology firms devote the most cash to research and development, according to the European Commission’s latest tally. These types of business rely on developing new products or constantly updating old ones to compete for customers. Toyota was the world's leading R&D spender in 2008. The Japanese carmaker increased its annual R&D budget by 7.6% to €7.6 billion ($10.6 billion), knocking Microsoft off the top spot. Worldwide R&D spending increased by 6.9% in 2008, having also grown by 9% in 2007."

This only serves as proof of the well entrenched globalization trend in spite of the crisis.

To quote Dan McLaughlin, `` Modern society is highly dependent on the division of labor, on vast networks of traders, on information and communications. The goal of modern society is not full employment, but rather the increasing prosperity that comes from continuing innovation and increasing specialization, trade and capital accumulation, where even the poor are better off than most people in the world. Economic freedom in fact reduces unemployment to levels significantly below those in less free countries." (emphasis added)

Or from Peter F. Drucker, ``Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth."

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