Emerging Markets

Last night I had the first session of my Emerging Markets class. Taught by Martin J. Siegel, formerly of LTCM, it promises to be a very real and interesting class.

Martin's an old salt, from the rag trade to being a forex arbitrageur to investing in emerging markets. This class is shaping up to be a series of war stories punctuated with real advice. It's interesting - he's interesting.

I also have to say that this continues my experience that upper-level courses are taught with more nerve and personality.

On the Road - with Google and Microsoft

Slate's The Big Money has an interesting article covering Apple and the automotive industry. Their verdict? Not a good idea. What I found interesting was the broader background of consumer technology with Big Three stalwarts GM and Ford.

Some of the Google products caught my eye. I am not clear on whether or not they are real, but put them together with some of Google's other privacy law skirmishes and I can put forward some interesting legal scenarios.

What if Google/OnStar reported back positioning of cars it was installed on to a central site that provided data for traffic management? Imaging a service that tracks the location of all Google/OnStar vehicles and extrapolates traffic conditions, then provides recommended alternate routes? Can drivers opt out?

What about a third-party service that pays both GM and Ford for this kind of information, then resells a service available to multiple platforms for drivers to use. Imagine installing a app on your 'smartcar' that gathers real time traffic data from a database generated by Sync and Android devices, maybe some free government public data as well?

What about telemetry? Black box technology that transmits your speed, mileage, road conditions, fuel consumption, and whatever else. how's that for privacy? What if the government started issuing tickets because your Android phone reported that you were doing 80 in a 65 for ten minutes?

Europe

I'm still digesting my recent two-week course in Germany, which mostly covered doing business in the European Union (EU).

The first couple of days focused on the structure and regulatory environment of the EU. The EU started as an international coal and steel agreement in the 1950s and later developed into a trade and tariff zone before becoming the modern EU.

The EU tends to have a heavier regulatory hand that the US, in particular with respect to competition. Their goal is to keep the playing field open; market dominance is permitted, but watched very, very carefully.

Europe tends to finance from banks more than markets. There is also a tendency in governance to focus on the success of the enterprise, as opposed to the primacy of enhancing shareholder value. I found this very interesting, after having the latter repeated in every other class at school. The notion that the employees, bank, and partners have a guiding stake in the enterprise is somewhat refreshing.

We discussed Eastern Europe; I was part of a team that presented a high-level plan for bringing a pet products retailer in through Slovenia (developed economy, on the Euro, burgeoning middle class). Having lived in Europe during the Cold War, I found this portion most interesting: the East is still different from the West, culturally and economically. It's a huge potential market, but it's not "business as usual" in any sense.