Collateral Affects of Globalization on Families

As I continue to rack up frequent flyer miles this week I visited Dallas, Texas and attended the Supply Chain World conference hosted by the Supply Chain Council (which celebrated its 10th Anniversary). I met with dozens of supply chain professionals, but I'd like to share a summary of a conversation that I had with some attendees from India.

In asking them about India, they explained the rapid growth is very exciting and it is forcing huge improvements to the infrastructure of the country. But what I didn't expect to hear is how the tremendous economic growth is affecting daily family life and social interaction. Many of the recent graduate students in India are getting paid a salary that dwarf's the salary of the students parents and this is causing a huge strife in family structures. No longer are parents the bread winners, now it's the children and parental pride is causing a strain. According to the gentleman I was speaking with, as the 3rd generation becomes more affluent, the parents only become more and more ashamed and in some cases have cut off ties with the children. This is also widening the gap between the lower and upper class, thus eliminating the middle class. Which opens up several other economic issues

There is no easy solution to this problem, it's a societal problem that will only get worst before it gets better. It's simply going to take time for parents rid themselves of the shame they feel and turn it into being proud of what their children have accomplished. I'd say more established economies, such as in the US, have similar problems as more women get paid equal salaries to men. Many men still cannot date or marry a woman that has a higher salary, but it certainly has gotten better. I certainly have no problem with it!

Trend Alert: Living in a Cargo Container

I think of myself as the a modernist. I shop at Ikea, I drive a Mini Cooper and a Vespa scooter and I like pop art from Warhol to Close. While I love living in Brooklyn, my 1905 brownstone apartment never quite fit my personality. The doors are a little slanted the windows don't close all the way and the floor creaks like a 100 year old floor should. But moderists like smooth lines and sharp angles, which are hard to find in an old building.

A few years back I came across a magazine targeted at people like myself called Dwell and it featured a new style home called the Prefab. Now this isn't the Prefab Sears homes from the 1920's. They are cargo containers stacked, cut apart and reassembled into homes. Yes, you heard me right. The same TEU containers that are "homes" for lettuce shipping from China can now be your home with a little added flair.

The beauty of these prefabs is that they are cheap. A 2000 sq ft home could run in the area of $75,000, which leaves plenty extra to spend on a nice piece of land along the ocean. The one I am eyeing up is designed in Austria and can be assembled by a team of 10 in three weeks. They are highly customizable and a lot of fun to look at. Talk about taking your work home with you.

Logistics and the Environment

Today I am attending the 6th Annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference in Long Beach. I expected to hear about supply chain security, trends in the logistics industry and globalization - which I did. What I didn't expect to hear about was the environment and the effects of the logistics industry on it. The keynote speaker Kuo-Cheng Chang, chairman, Evergreen Marine Corp. enlightened me.

Apparently all of the shipping, 75% of global trade is shipped via ocean, is causing havoc on oceanic life. This may sound obvious, but it's just not something that is top of mind when most people think about logistics. According to Evergreen it would cost $70 billion to retrofit all of the current active ships to be environmental friendly and legislation to do so takes effect in 2010. Since that isn't really an option for an industry with low margins, Evergreen recommends that as shippers upgrade their fleets they consider:

1. Ships with new fuel tanks with duel electric motors that shut down during docking
2. Fuel tanks with double skins to prevent oil seepage
3. Ship coatings that are tin free
4. Low sulfur exhaust
5. Sewage separators

Stay tuned for more updates from the conference.