Chapter 2 The Dynamic Environment

Chapter 2 keyterms:
1. Scenario: A plausible story of the future based on assumptions about how current trends might play out.
2. liberalization: An economic policy of lowering tariffs and other barriers to encourage trade.
3.Historical force: An environmental force of unknown origin and mysterious action that provides the energy for events. The discussion divides this force, somewhat artificially, into nine separate but related forces causing distinct chains of event.
4. Industrial Revolution:  Transforming changes that turn agricultural economies into industrial economies. This transformation occurs in the presence of certain economic technological, political, and philosophical conditions.
5. Gini Index: A Statistical measure of inequality  in which 0 is perfect equality (everyone has the same amount of wealth) and 100 is absolute inequality (a single person has all wealth).
6. Replacement Fertility rate: The number of children a woman must have on average to ensure that one daughter survives to reproductive age.
7. Globalization: The creation of networks of human interaction that span worldwide distances.
8. Nation-state: An international actor having a ruling authority, citizens, and a territory with fixed borders.
9. Ideology: A set of reinforcing beliefs and values that construct a worldview.
10. Trade liberalization: A Philosophy in which nations promote trade by easing restrictions, including both tariff and non tariff barriers. This philosophy, sometimes referred to as simply liberalization, is the bedrock of economic globalization.
11.Foreign Direct investment: Capital investment by private firms  outside their home countries.
12.Nanotechnology: Technology that is developed on the scale of a nanometer, which is one-billionth of a meter.
13. Wiki: A web site open to collaborative editing by multiple individuals.
14. Culture: A system of shared knowledge, values, norms, customs, and rituals acquired by social learning.
15. Postmodern values: Values based on assumptions of affluence, for example, quality  of life and self-expression.
16. Democracy: A form of government requiring three elements-popular sovereignty, political liberty and majority rule.
17. Soft law: Voluntarily adopted codes  of conduct setting forth rules about corporate behavior. Guidelines are often derived from emerging international conduct standards.

Reaction:
The dynamic interconnections of business with historical forces and current events-the text goes on to talk about how the deep historical forces act to shape seven key environments where as the actions of  a business constantly influence the deeper course of history- that to me, I found very interesting.