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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Economy of the United States
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The United States GDP was estimated to be $17.914 trillion as of Q22015. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. The United States has an economy and has maintained a stable overall GDP growth rate, a moderate unemployment rate. Its seven largest trading partners are Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, Germany, South Korea, the US has abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. It has the worlds ninth-highest per capita GDP and tenth-highest per capita GDP as of 2013, Americans have the highest average household and employee income among OECD nations, and in 2010 had the fourth highest median household income, down from second highest in 2007. It has been the worlds largest national economy since at least the 1890s, the U. S. is the worlds third largest producer of oil and natural gas. It is one of the largest trading nations in the world as well as the second largest manufacturer. The US not only has the largest internal market for goods, US total trade amounted to $4. 93T in 2012. Of the worlds 500 largest companies,128 are headquartered in the US, the United States has one of the worlds largest and most influential financial markets. The New York Stock Exchange is by far the worlds largest stock exchange by market capitalization, foreign investments made in the US total almost $2.4 trillion, while American investments in foreign countries total over $3.3 trillion. The economy of the U. S. leads in international ranking on venture capital and Global Research, consumer spending comprises 71% of the US economy in 2013. The United States has the largest consumer market in the world, the labor market has attracted immigrants from all over the world and its net migration rate is among the highest in the world. The U. S. is one of the economies in studies such as the Ease of Doing Business Index, the Global Competitiveness Report. The US economy went through a downturn following the financial crisis of 2007–08. The economy, however, began to recover in the half of 2009. In December 2014, public debt was more than 100% of GDP. Domestic financial assets totaled $131 trillion and domestic financial liabilities totaled $106 trillion, the economic history of the United States began with American settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries. The American colonies went from marginally successful colonial economies to a small, independent farming economy, in 180 years, the US grew to a huge, integrated, industrialized economy that made up around one fifth of the world economy
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International Institute for Management Development
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IMD is a business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2012,2013,2014,2015 and 2016, it was ranked first in open programs worldwide by the Financial Times, the FT also places IMD in the top 3 combined ranking and top 5 in custom programs worldwide. The new organization, the International Institute for Management Development, settled in Lausanne, IMD business school solely provides executive education, it is determinedly not part of a university, and there are no academic departments, just one integrated multidisciplinary faculty. The professors do not have permanent academic tenure but work under one-year contracts, the faculty consists of 60 full-time members, made up of 23 different nationalities. The current President is Dominique Turpin, who follows John R. Wells, the latter ran the school from 1993 till 2008 and has been widely credited with having established IMD as one of the worlds leading business schools. IMD has a focus on training and developing general management. IMD selects experienced candidates for both the Master of Business Administration and the Executive MBA and its other focus is to have a broad international group of participants attending open programs to ensure that no nationality dominates. Every year, some 8,000 executives, representing over 98 nationalities attend one of the programs, the schools MBA program is a one-year full-time program. The program runs from January through December without any break, each class includes 90 participants from various countries. Students will benefit from contact with executives on site given IMD has been recognised as the best business school for open program in executive education from 2012 to 2016. Moreover, Students will also enjoy trips to further expand their knowledge and activate their network, one discovery expedition, a Europe trip. Applicants who are deemed successful in the first, written stage of the process are invited to the second stage. The Assessment Day is an event held either in IMD’s campus in Lausanne, Switzerland. It involves an interview, a short presentation, a business case discussion. The final admissions decision is communicated within 2 weeks of the Assessment Day, the curriculum of the EMBA is different from the MBA because it targets experienced managers with at least 10 years of experience who seek to strengthen their careers without leaving their jobs. The average class size is around 55 participants of more than 20 nationalities, the program has three components, the foundations for business leadership, the advanced management concepts and the mastery stage. All together the program takes one year. It has a focus on leadership skills, integrated business themes
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World Economic Forum
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The World Economic Forum is a Swiss nonprofit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva. The Forum is best known for its meeting at the end of January in Davos. The meeting brings together some 2,500 top business leaders, international leaders, economists. Often this location alone is used to identify meetings, participation, and participants with such phrases as, a Davos panel, beside meetings, the foundation produces a series of research reports and engages its members in sector specific initiatives. The forum was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German-born business professor at the University of Geneva and he then founded the WEF as a nonprofit organization based in Geneva and drew European business leaders to Davos for the annual meetings each January. Political leaders soon began to use the meeting as a neutral platform. The Davos Declaration was signed in 1988 by Greece and Turkey, in 1992, South African President F. W. de Klerk met with Nelson Mandela and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi at the annual meeting, their first joint appearance outside South Africa. At the 1994 annual meeting, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat reached an agreement on Gaza. In late 2015, the invitation was extended to include a North Korean delegation for the 2016 forum, in view of positive signs coming out of the country, North Korea has not been attending the WEF since 1998. In 2017, the World Economic Forum in Davos attracted considerable attention when for the first time and he sharply rebuked the current populist movements that would introduce tariffs and hinder global commerce, warning that such protectionism could foster isolation and reduced economic opportunity. Headquartered in Cologny, the forum also has offices in New York, Beijing, on October 10,2016, the Forum announced the opening of its new Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. The World Economic Forum strives to be impartial and is not tied to any political, partisan, the foundation is committed to improving the State of the World. Until 2012, it had observer status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the foundations highest governance body is the foundation board. During its annual meeting, more than 2,500 participants from slightly fewer than 100 countries gather in Davos, approximately 1,500 are business leaders, drawn from its members,1,000 of the worlds top companies. The foundation is funded by its 1,000 member companies and these enterprises rank among the top companies within their industry and/or country and play a leading role in shaping the future of their industry and/or region. Membership is stratified by the level of engagement with forum activities, with the level of membership fees increasing as participation in meetings, projects, and initiatives rises. As of 2011, an annual membership costs $52,000 for a member, $263,000 for Industry Partner. An admission fee costs $19,000 per person, in 2014, WEF raised annual fees by 20 percent, making the cost for Strategic Partner from SFr500,000 to SFr600,000
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Economist Intelligence Unit
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The EIU provides country, industry, and management analysis worldwide and incorporates the former Business International Corporation, a UK company acquired by its parent company in 1986. The EIU has several offices across the globe including two offices in China and one in Hong Kong, the Economist Intelligence Unit also produces regular reports on liveability and cost of living of the worlds major cities that receive wide coverage in international media. The Economist Intelligence Units Quality-of-Life Index is another noted report and its current Managing Director is Robin Bew, formerly the companys Editorial Director and Chief Economist. Headquartered in London, Bazian was founded by Vivek Muthu and Anna Donald in 1999, clearstate was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Singapore. In July 2015, the Economist Intelligence Unit acquired Canback & Company, renamed EIU Canback, the firm was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Boston. It was created to support a report conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Access China Service, CHAMPS, the report coined the acronym CHAMPS. In January 2011, the Unit released the Government Broadband Index that assesses countries on the basis of government planning, with ambitious targets for both the speed and coverage of next-generation broadband networks, the developed countries of Southeast Asia scored highest. According to the index, Greece is the country measured, due to its relatively low coverage target. Greece also suffers due to the size of its public-funding commitment as a percentage of overall government budget revenues. The goal of the study was to identify the most creative models used by businesses to hire. A full list of The EIUs special reports can be downloaded on their website, in November 2015 the Economist Intelligence Unit launched Market Explorer in Collaboration with EIU Canback. It is a tool which was designed to scan markets in various countries and cities across the globe
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Where to be born Index
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The Economist Intelligence Unit’s where-to-be-born index attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead. It is based on a method that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the determinants of quality of life across countries along with a forward-looking element. The index was calculated for 2013 and includes data from 80 countries and territories, the survey used ten quality of life factors along with forecasts of future GDP per capita to determine a nations score. The life satisfaction scores for 2006 for 130 countries are related in a regression to various factors. As many as 11 indicators are statistically significant, together these indicators explain some 85% of the inter-country variation in life satisfaction scores. The values of the life satisfaction scores that are predicted by the indicators represent a quality of life index. The coefficients in the estimated equation weight automatically the importance of the various factors, the estimated equation for 2006 can be utilized to calculate index values for year in the past and future, allowing for comparison over time as well across countries
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Global Enabling Trade Report
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The Global Enabling Trade Report was first published in 2008 by the World Economic Forum. The 2008 report covers 118 major and emerging economies, at the core of the report is the Enabling Trade Index which ranks the countries using data from different sources. The Enabling Trade Index measures the factors, policies and services that facilitate the trade in goods across borders, archived from the original on June 9,2010. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list The Global Enabling Trade Report 2010
8.
Education in the United States
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Education in the United States is provided by public, private, and home schools. Funding comes from the state, local, and federal government, private schools are generally free to determine their own curriculum and staffing policies, with voluntary accreditation available through independent regional accreditation authorities. About 87% of school-age children attend schools, about 10% attend private schools. Education is compulsory over an age range starting between five and eight and ending somewhere between ages sixteen and eighteen, depending on the state and this requirement can be satisfied in public schools, state-certified private schools, or an approved home school program. In most schools, education is divided into three levels, elementary school, middle or junior school, and high school. Children are usually divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten and first grade for the youngest children, there are also a large number and wide variety of publicly and privately administered institutions of higher education throughout the country. Post-secondary education, divided into college, as the first tertiary degree, the United States spends more per student on education than any other country. In 2014, the Pearson/Economist Intelligence Unit rated US education as 14th best in the world, just behind Russia. In 2015 the Programme for International Student Assessment rated U. S. high school students #40 globally in Math and #24 in Science and Reading. ”King, Jr. acknowledged the results in conceding U. S. students were well behind their peers. According to a report published by the U. S. News & World Report, of the top ten colleges and universities in the world, government-supported and free public schools for all began to be established after the American Revolution. Between 1750 and 1870 parochial schools appeared as ad hoc efforts by parishes, historically, many parochial elementary schools were developed which were open to all children in the parish, mainly Catholics, but also Lutherans, Calvinists and Orthodox Jews. Nonsectarian Common schools designed by Horace Mann were opened, which taught the three Rs and also history and geography, States passed laws to make schooling compulsory between 1852 and 1917. They also used federal funding designated by the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Acts of 1862 and 1890 to set up land grant colleges specializing in agriculture, by 1870, every state had free elementary schools, albeit only in urban centers. His movement spread to many other Southern states to small colleges for Colored or Negro students entitled A. & M. or A. & T. some of which later developed into state universities. By 1910,72 percent of children attended school, private schools spread during this time, as well as colleges and — in the rural centers — land grant colleges also. Between 1910 and 1940 the high school movement resulted in increasing public high school enrollment. By 1930,100 percent of children attended school, during World War II, enrollment in high schools and colleges plunged as many high school and college students dropped out to take war jobs. The 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v, in 1965, the far-reaching Elementary and Secondary Education Act, passed as a part of President Lyndon B
9.
OECD
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 35 member countries, founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Most OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index and are regarded as developed countries, in 1948, the OECD originated as the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, led by Robert Marjolin of France, to help administer the Marshall Plan. This would be achieved by allocating American financial aid and implementing programs for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The OECDs headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris, the OECD is funded by contributions from member states at varying rates. And had a budget of EUR363 million in 2015. It started its operations on 16 April 1948, and originated from the work done by the Committee of European Economic Co-operation in 1947 in preparation for the Marshall Plan, since 1949, it was headquartered in the Château de la Muette in Paris, France. After the Marshall Plan ended, the OEEC focused on economic issues, in 1958, a European Nuclear Energy Agency was set up under the OEEC. By the end of the 1950s, with the job of rebuilding Europe effectively done, some leading countries felt that the OEEC had outlived its purpose and this reconstituted organisation would bring the US and Canada, who were already OEEC observers, on board as full members. It would also set to work away on bringing in Japan. Following the 1957 Rome Treaties to launch the European Economic Community, the Convention was signed in December 1960 and the OECD officially superseded the OEEC in September 1961. It consisted of the European founder countries of the OEEC plus the United States and Canada, the official founding members are, During the next 12 years Japan, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand also joined the organisation. Yugoslavia had observer status in the organisation starting with the establishment of the OECD until its dissolution as a country, the OECD created agencies such as the OECD Development Centre, International Energy Agency, and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. Unlike the organizations of the United Nations system, OECD uses the spelling organisation with an s in its name rather than organization, in 1989, after the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD started to assist countries in Central Europe to prepare market economy reforms. This programme also included an option for these countries. As a result of this, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, in the 1990s, a number of European countries, now members of the European Union, expressed their willingness to join the organisation. In 1995, Cyprus applied for membership, but, according to the Cypriot government, in 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become full members of the OECD. Slovenia also applied for membership that same year, in 2005, Malta applied to join the organisation. The EU is lobbying for admission of all EU member states, Romania reaffirmed in 2012 its intention to become a member of the organisation through the letter addressed by the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to OECD Secretary-General José Ángel Gurría
