Stephen PrenticePresenting Gartner’s Top 10 Predictions for 2009 to an Australian audience brought both a predictable comment and a reassurance that we are all in the current mess together. First off there was the comment, “well these are global high level trends – how about something specific to the local market?”. But the headlines in the Australian newspapers were all about local initiatives to create “green” jobs and protests about “Australian jobs for Australian workers”. Funny that, when I left the UK the news was all about creating new jobs as a result of environmental issues and local strikes in the UK, France, Spain and elsewhere about jobs being taken by immigrant workers. So not much difference there then!
Protectionism has been in the news a bit recently and is an understandable, emotional response to the tragedy of people losing their jobs. But in today’s global economy it simply is not an option. You can protect your own industries but don’t complain when you suffer as a result of other countries doing the same. The technology industry especially is global and that is the end of it.
The current economic gloom is depressing enough, without the feeling that someone else is having a much easier time of it!
Comments Off
Category: Behaviour Tags: protectionism
