Goodbye 2012 and Hello 2013

Saleh Sadi,

Editor (Business)

 

2012 has come to an end and with 2013 beginning, it’s time to think in retrospect.  There have been many events that affected the economy of the world in one way or another. Here is a list of these events, analysing their consequences, which might help us in having a better 2013.

The global economy crisis seems to have no sign of ending.  It is getting more complex than ever as the economies of the world are connected to each other like never before. Stock and bond markets remain volatile, while food and energy prices continue to rise.  China is listed, according the HBSC, as second largest economy and in further year will overstep the U.S. A real estate bubble is about to burst in China, threatening to plunge the world into further chaos. With protests continuing in many countries, various movements for change are emerging, aided by social media like Twitter and Facebook.

The hosting of the Olympic games in the UK for the third time. London is the only city to have done it 3 three times. This particular event had aimed the largest security operation ever seen in peacetime Europe. Beside the large amounts of commercial venue and the increasing tourism attraction, London is transformed this decade by a number of massive construction projects. In addition to the Olympic Games venues themselves, the development extended to the neighbouring Stratford City, a whole new business district with over 13.5 million square feet of floor space. Apart from this, there is Cross rail - a £15 billion rail connection, linking Heathrow Airport with the central and eastern parts of the city.

The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Poland and Ukraine, which affected the countries marginally in the same way as the Olympic Games in the previous example. A symbolic purpose to include these countries into the Eurozone and increase the economic level.

The world of technology released, this particular year, the so called Quad-core smartphones and tablets, which harbours 4 cores in each processor, thus offering a substantial boost in processing power of a device. This new generation includes the Samsung Galaxy S3,  HTC One X+, LG Nexus 4, Asus Transformer Prime and so on. This created competition and rivalry between companies as never before. Each company tried to increase their markets in different countries, with the purpose of creating prime devices and to become the largest company economically, which led to a number of legal battles among some of the biggest names in technology.

The idea of a greener and more environment friendly world was encouraged by British politics through the construction of the largest ever offshore wind farm in the south-eastern coast of England . This wind farm is estimated to supply enough power for 750,000 homes. With a total of 341 turbines, it will reduce carbon emissions by nearly 2 million tonnes per year, an important milestone in the government’s plan to cut emissions by 80% by 2050. This reduces the country’s dependence on foreign energy and also results in creating thousands of new jobs in the green industry.

The re-election of Barack Obama in the U.S saw the highest campaign spending ever in election history. This might give the idea that money has more influence than policy. However, the social media also had an essential and crucial role in this context, which shows how the market and business idea is shifting toward the use of algorithms and cookies.

Of course this list could go on and on, but we have attempted to sum up the events that affected the world of business in the past year that might have impacts for many more to come.