Marc Ross Daily: So how good do you want to be?

So how good do you want to be?

Marc Ross Daily
August 20, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits

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TOP FIVE

✔️ Brazil sends troops to Venezuela border after clashes

✔️ Trump lawyers don’t know what Mueller’s team has been told

✔️ US, China plot roadmap to resolve trade dispute by November

✔️ ‘Made in Cambodia’ 

✔️ Today: The 35th annual MTV Video Music

ROSS RANT

So how good do you want to be?

Best in the city?

Best in the county?

Best in the state?

Best in the nation?

Best in the hemisphere?

Best in the world?

Make a choice and execute accordingly.

-Marc A. Ross | Brigadoon Founder + TLC

GEOECONOMICS

Venezuelan crisis escalates as economic plans fuel tensions: WSJ reports, the exodus of Venezuelans gained pace as the government’s plans to address the collapsing economy fueled anxiety, while tensions grew in neighboring countries that have strained to absorb refugees.

WP: Maduro has a plan to fix Venezuela’s inflation — which may make things worse

"Maduro late Friday outlined a dramatic effort to curb inflation that has been spiralling toward 1 million percent, raising the minimum wage by more than 3,000 percent and officially devaluing the already nearly worthless bolívar by more than 90 percent."

Bloomberg: Venezuela's 95% devaluation adds to turmoil after drone attack

Bloomberg - Editorial: Venezuela’s crack-up is accelerating

"The country’s neighbors — and the world — should prepare for the worst."

AFP: Brazil sends troops to Venezuela border after clashes

More than 1 million people have left Venezuela since 2015.

US-China commercial relations: Wang Shouwen, China's vice minister for commerce, is slated to visit the United States for trade discussions Aug. 22-23. Wang's visit will mark the first government-to-government talks in two months.

The talks will be hosted by the Treasury Department's under secretary for international affairs, Davis Malpass.

WSJ: US, China plot road map to resolve trade dispute by November

"Chinese and US negotiators are mapping out talks to try to end their trade standoff ahead of planned meetings between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at multilateral summits in November, said officials in both nations."

US business ‘friends’ staying out of trade war as they try to push China to act, sources say: SCMP reports, Beijing’s lack of progress on promised reforms said to undermine support from American business community in China.

Beijing orders banks to boost lending to exporters: FT reports, the move comes ahead of a critical week of trade talks as Chinese stocks and currency wilt.

Robert Z. Lawrence: Trump's trade war with China has everyone confused. Here's what America's president really wants. https://nbcnews.to/2MCM92Y

"When it comes to trade policy, the White House has arguably set a new record for its inconsistency and chaos."

Hiroyuki Akita: US-China trade war is battle for tech hegemony in disguise https://s.nikkei.com/2ONMxce

"Washington fears loss of both economic supremacy and security" 

FP: Botched CIA communications system helped blow coverof Chinese agents http://bit.ly/2PleVDP

"The number of informants executed in the debacle is higher than initially thought." 

Taiwan independence: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen asserted the island's independence during a speech in Los Angeles last Monday, marking the first time in 15 years that a Taiwanese leader has made a political speech on US soil.

Taiwan's Tsai makes historic trip to NASA space center: Nikkei reports, US welcomes island's leader to Houston facility in snub of Beijing.

RIP: Kofi Annan

Nobel prizewinning diplomat was the first black African to head the UN.

Canada’s auto capital caught in crossfire of trade dispute: WSJ reports, in Windsor, Ontario, angst is rising that the border town’s ties to the U.S. auto industry, already strained by steel tariffs, could soon be ruptured by Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian-made cars.

OTD: In 1882 Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in E Flat Major, Op. 49 — commissioned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Russia’s victory over Napoleon in 1812 — received its premiere in Moscow.

Superdry founder gives $1.28 million to anti-Brexit campaign: AP reports, the co-founder of the fashion brand Superdry said Sunday he has donated 1 million pounds ($1.28 million) to a group seeking a new referendum on Britain’s departure from the European Union, as the U.K. government prepares to publish its assessment of the impact of leaving the bloc without an agreement on future relations.

Guardian: Italy's crumbling infrastructure under scrutiny after bridge collapse

"Construction boom of 1960s led to mafia involvement and use of cheap materials to boost profits" 

Brigadoon Scotland 2018 = Nov. 11-13, 2018

AMERICAN POLITICS

NYT: White House Counsel, Don McGahn, has cooperated extensively in Mueller inquiry

"For a lawyer to share so much with investigators scrutinizing his client is unusual, but Mr. McGahn views his role as protecting the presidency, not the president."

Trump lawyers don’t know what Mueller’s team has been told: NYT reports, although Mr. Trump’s lawyers said that they were confident that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, had said nothing injurious to the president, the lapse has fueled concerns.

NYT: Cohen is being investigated for loans in excess of $20 million

"Any criminal charges against Mr. Cohen, which could be filed by the end of the month, would deal a significant blow to the president."

Election 2018: There are 43 Republican seats now without an incumbent on the ballot. That's more than one out of every six Republicans in the House — a record in at least a century.

Election 2020: 40 percent of New Hampshire Republicans—say a 2020 GOP primary for Trump “would be a good thing.” That’s the finding of the latest New Hampshire Journal poll, 18 months ahead of the New Hampshire presidential primary.
 
@costareports: Kasich's political shop just sent out this email: "Polling has also shown Governor Kasich to be a threat to the Trump in New Hampshire and elsewhere. For this reason, the RNC is already taking steps to rig the Party’s nominating process in 2020."

Trump redefined what's possible in presidential politics. Enter Michael Avenatti: LAT reports, the pugnacious Newport Beach attorney is following an improbable path blazed by his nemesis in chief, testing the waters in early-voting Iowa and New Hampshire.

SCOTUS: Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin on September 4.

For McCaskill, re-election may rest with vote on Supreme Court nominee: WSJ reports, Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, is facing pressure at home to back Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and pressure from outside groups she’s relying on for money to oppose him.

HBD: Larry Kudlow, economic adviser to Trump, director of the National Economic Council, 71

Fewer Americans uproot themselves for a new job: WSJ reports, fewer Americans are moving around the country to pursue new work opportunities, as better job prospects near home and changing family ties make people less willing to uproot their lives.

LAT: Trump backed 'space force' after months of lobbying by officials with ties to aerospace industry

ENTERPRISE

Google in China: More than 1,000 Google employees signed a letter to company executives criticizing the alleged development of a censored search and news service for the China market. The employees are demanding greater transparency in internal decision making so that they are able to make "ethically-informed decisions about our work, our projects, and our employment."

Bloomberg: China purges 40 officials in widening vaccine fallout

Uber autonomous: Since a self-driving Uber car killed a pedestrian in March, the company’s executives have been divided over its autonomous vehicle efforts.

Tesla short-sellers sitting on profits of $1.2bn: FT reports, bets against the carmaker’s shares have been lucrative since Musk tweeted buyout plan.

Trade war strains America Inc's factories in China: Reuters reports, Larry Sloven arrived in southern China three decades ago. Since then, he has exported millions of dollars of goods, ranging from power tools to LED lights, to some of America's biggest retailers. That era may now be coming to an end.

Bloomberg: ‘Made in Cambodia’ may become new fashion label with tariffs hitting China

Global luxury brands again chase China's young, rich and spendthrift: Reuters reports, global luxury brands from Prada to LVMH are investing in China for the first time since a crackdown on conspicuous spending five years ago, focusing on smaller, less developed cities even as the world's second-largest economy slows.

Bloomberg: Benettons go from preachers to pariahs after bridge disaster

"For half a century, Italy’s Benetton family has preached compassion through eye-popping ads for its eponymous clothing line... But now the Benettons themselves are the focus of public outrage after at least 43 people died when Genoa’s Morandi Bridge collapsed, threatening part of the family’s other, much more profitable business running airports, turnpikes and roadside diners from Santiago to Rome."

CBC: Tim Hortons hopes to rebuild its brand with better lid, new marketing campaign

"The only people who are going to be pissed off are dry cleaners and car-washing companies. They will wash fewer shirts and fewer cars."

TRENDS

WSJ: Late to the driverless revolutionhttps://on.wsj.com/2N18unU

"America’s car industry dismissed the potential of autonomous driving for years as tech companies plunged ahead. Now Detroit is racing to catch up."

“Being right is the enemy of staying right because it leads you to forget the way the world works.”  -- Jason Zweig

Steven A. Cohen and Matthew W. Granade: Models will run the world https://on.wsj.com/2MYNuhz

"The software revolution has transformed business. What’s next? Processes that constantly improve themselves without need of human intervention."

Louis Hyman: It’s not technology that’s disrupting our jobshttps://nyti.ms/2ORlsVT

"The insecure nature of work is a result of decisions by corporations and policymakers." 

CULTURE

BO: “Crazy Rich Asians” made its debut at No. 1 in North American theaters over the weekend.

Today: The 35th annual MTV Video Music awards take place in New York.

HBD: Amy Adams, actress, Enchanted (2007), American Hustle (2013), 44

SOTD

U2 - With Or Without You (U2 At The BBC)http://bit.ly/2MXNluH

SPORT

AFP: 'We made incredible mistakes': Mourinho fumes as United crash

@BleacherReport: How soccer became the "biggest sport in Atlanta" thanks to the city's black community — including Waka Flocka Flame and 2 Chainz https://bit.ly/2vWuY2S 

LAT: Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza, his body broken by one fateful fall, is holding on for dear life

AFP: Djokovic downs Federer to win long-sought Cincinnati crown

Today: The preseason college football AP Top 25 will be released at 12:00 noon ET.

Memo: Google in China: Values, Missions, and Business Development

MEMO: MEDIA TENDENCIES + TRENDS: US-CHINA COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

"When you start with an ethical, mission-driven company and take out the ethics, that’s a problem." --Tiffany C. Li, Yale Law School’s Information Society Project

As outlined last week, consumers don’t like companies to get political, but they do want them to stand up for their “values” -- attributes like diversity and sustainability that companies increasingly tout, mainly when trying to attract new employees and being good corporate citizens.

And just like consumers, employees want to work for companies that stand up for “values” and adhere to the inspirational mission of the organization.

How CEOs and brands navigate the waters of globalization and politics with internal and external stakeholders will continue to shape business news reporting for the foreseeable future, even more so when China is involved.

This week, news reports suggest over 1,000 Google employees signed a letter asking for more transparency from Google executives about the expected rollout of Dragonfly, a censored search engine designed for the Chinese market.

The New York Times led with the headline: “Google employees protest secret work on censored search engine for China.”

Wall Street Journal technology columnist Christopher Mims penned a column with the header: “Google outgrows its youthful ideals” and wrote “everybody's got to grow up sometime. For Alphabet Inc.'s Google, that transition from youthful idealism to crusty, middle-age realism is in full swing.”

Google employees are taking action and what know what they’re building for the Chinese marketplace.

"Google employees are demanding answers from the company's leadership amid growing internal protests over plans to launch a censored search engine in China," The Intercept writes.

The public affairs environment where technology applications and business development objectives clash when companies need to work under with local rules and demands will continue to be newsworthy.

This is an ideal news story for reporters and editors. A news story involving a well-known, blue-chip American company complying with local rules and mandates many in the West find troublesome.

Interestingly, the employee letter notes that the Google staffers only learned about the China project from media reports and not from internal news sources or communications. "We urgently need more transparency, a seat at the table, and a commitment to clear and open processes: Google employees need to know what we're building," the letter says.

This type of employee grassroots activism isn’t new for Google employees who have been outspoken lately and also protested the company's work in a Pentagon program to use artificial intelligence to analyze military drone footage. Google pulled out of the program in June.

As you know, Google did suspend its China search engine in 2010 to avoid censorship restrictions. But the company does maintain a research and development presence as well as employing hundreds of employees who sell ads to Chinese companies that want to reach consumers outside China.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees the company is "not close to launching a search product in China," as he defended Google's push to do more business in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported.

What some see as a business necessity others see as a controversial topic: work the company is doing with China that could include a censored search engine. Criticism for this application has come from inside and outside the company, with stakeholders demanding transparency around the ethical issues involved.

Co-founder Sergey Brin, who was vital to Google's decision to pull its search engine out of China in 2010 in protest of government censorship, has supported doing more Chinese business though he reports progress is "slow-going and complicated."

Do Google’s employees have the right to push back on where and how the company operates?

Business thought leaders, MBA professors, and boardrooms would be divided on that answer, but here’s what’s clear: No global business executive navigating US-China commercial relations should be surprised to see this sort of internal grassroots activism gaining momentum, particularly at a blue-chip American company like Google.

Even companies that see themselves as mission-driven can say it’s essential to be present in China, no matter what that takes. However, not all employees may agree, and indeed, some may take issue especially when discovering from outside sources what the company is doing.

When Google pulled out of China in 2010 the company's leadership stressed how “opposing censorship and speaking out for the freedom of political dissent” was Google’s “key issue.”

Google’s internal dissent is supposed to be part of its corporate culture.

How Google's senior business executives deal with this current employee revolt could very well set the tone and outcomes for other American multi-national corporations working in China.

Talking about Trump: What consumers want to hear and not hear

"When brands or CEOs speak about Trump, whether in a positive or negative light, it’s far more likely to create backlash on one side than goodwill on the other."

Last Tuesday night, Trump dined with senior business leaders, many who have sizeable investments and business objectives in China. Many of the attendees of the dinner were once part of presidential business advisory councils that disbanded last year.

If you did not see many pictures or news reports about this event, that was the point. Polling suggests that it is a good strategy as there is little consumer upside to mention Trump by name.

According to a survey produced Morning Consult, the analysis found that when brands or CEOs speak about Trump, whether in a positive or negative light, it’s far more likely to create more backlash on one side than goodwill on the other.

The Washington Post reports: "The report found that when companies say something negative about Trump, 55 percent of Trump voters were much less likely to have a favorable view of the brand, while just 32 percent of Clinton voters have a more favorable opinion. Making a positive statement about Trump was about as likely to aggravate Clinton voters, with 56 percent saying they’d be much less likely to have a favorable view.”

“No matter the position you take on Trump -- whether you oppose or support him, whatever -- you’ll appease one person but alienate two others,” said Jeff Cartwright, managing director of marketing and communications for Morning Consult. “Why we’re talking about this so much is Trump is so different from any other president we’ve had before -- it’s just created this incredible challenge for companies and brand leaders.”

The Morning Consult report shows there is a strong aversion for corporate activism among the public. Sixty percent of the national sample of 2,200 adults said corporations generally should not get involved in political or cultural matters, compared with just 22 percent who said they should use their influence. 

A Weber Shandwick report found that -- when asked a different way -- consumers did want to see a CEO "speak out when their company’s values are violated or threatened,” with 81 percent of women and 74 percent of men agreeing with that statement.

Such divergent analysis will put CEOs in a bind if they fail to recognize the difference between politics and values.

Consumers don’t like companies to get political, but they do want them to stand up for their “values” -- attributes like diversity and sustainability that companies increasingly tout, particularly when trying to attract new employees.

This recent polling matches earlier analysis from Edelman.

Released in January, the Edelman Trust Barometer found consumers expect business to lead.

64 percent of the participants in the trust survey believe CEOs should take the lead on change rather than waiting for the government to impose it.

How CEOs and brands navigate the waters of globalization and politics will shape the business news reporting for the foreseeable future.
 

-Marc A. Ross

Marc A. Ross is the founder of Caracal Global and specializes in global communications, thought leader management, and event production at the intersection of international politics, policy, and profits. Working with senior executives from multinational corporations, trade associations, and disruptive startups, Marc helps business leaders navigate globalization, disruption, and politics.