What do you think of the Business English Course you took this semester?

Dear FB students,
I would appreciate if you could take a few minutes to take the following survey I put together to get some feedback from you. The results of the survey will be used to improve the overall quality of the course and will help me select the appropriate teaching methods and materials for the rest of the semester. Please be honest - your name will not show up in the survey results :)
Thank you and see you in class next week.
Click Here to take survey

Let's share our Voicethread Projects

Dear ASEM FB students and Forsyth American Partners: this week we are going to share our wonderful Voicethread Project. Your task is to choose 3 PROJECTS you liked and

LEAVE text or voice COMMENTS to at least 3 other projects done by your colleagues!

Let's see which project will get the biggest number of comments; by the end of the project I will assign 3 diplomas to:
- the most original and creative Voicethread Project
- the most entertaining Voicethread project
- the best English narration Project.

Good luck - we are looking forward to hearing your comments on our projects!
Project 1 The World under the Heel (by Alina )
Project2 E-Banking ( by Anatoli)
Project3 The Most Powerful People of Moldova (by Anastasia )
Project 4 Corruption ( by Olga )
Project 5 How does the crisis affect SPORTS (by Stas)
Project 6 Remittences (by Liza)
Project 7 Sweatshops - How big brands violate the world (by Alex)
Project 8 Corruption in Moldova (by Natalia)
Project 9 Sweatshops (by Marina)
Project 10 The End of the World (by Diana)

Project 11 The Tale of Two Brothers: Adidas / Puma (by Iana)

Project 12 Recycling in Moldova (by Aliona)

Project 13 Women in Business (by Valeriu)

Welcome to our Business Exchange Voicethread Project

Dear Forsyth Technical Community College students - welcome to our Moldova-US Business Voicethread Exchange project. Please take your time to find out more about our universities:
ASEM (Moldova) and Forsyth Technical Community College (USA)
Task 1: Let's get to know each other better before we start our exchange - please leave an introductory message as comment on this post:
- Tell us your name,
- where you are from
- what aspect of the Business Microeconomics your are especially interested in
- do you have any special hobbies, interests you would like to share with us
and - what you expect to learn from this collaborative project with Moldova.
Good luck and see you online!

Just for fun - Money trivia

Just for fun - read the following Money-Trivia website and share with us 5 fun facts you learned about money. Choose from the followinf categories:
1. Money Doesn't Grow on Trees? - Fun Money History
2. Seed Money - The Making of Currency
3. Don't Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is - Dirty Money

Other Trivia here:
- Paper Money Trivia
- US Money Trivia

Should Moldovan winemakers seek other markets?...

It is well known that Russia and the former republics are Moldova's main target when it comes to wine exports. According to the latest data provided by Moldova-Vin, wine exports over January-November 2008 have increased by 51% compared with the corresponding period last year. Exports to the CIS states totaled US$152 million, up 56%. Russia imported Moldovan wine products worth US$56 million, Ukraine and Belarus – US$41 million and, respectively, US$40.6 million.
Let's not forget though that Moldova's dependency on this market has its own disadvantes; in 2007 our economy suffered enourmously due to Russia's banning of both Moldovan and Georgian wines. My questions to you is: should Moldova keep exporting its wines to Russia and CSI or start looking for other markets as well? Do we have an alternative? According to Moldova-Vin we .... Read the following report Moldovan Wine Exports and answer the questions below:
- Where did Moldova export alcoholic products worth US$2.947,4 millionin the first half of 2008?
- What does Agroindustrial Agency “Moldova-Vin” say about the first-half wine exports to Romania compared with the corresponding period last year?
- Which country is Moldova’s second largest European import partner?
- Which country is the second?
- How much did Moldova export to Poland over January-June 2008?
- Did the wine exports to the Czech Republic increase or decrease and by how much?
- How much did Moldova export to the EU?

World's Richest People according to Forbes

For those students who are working on their presentations related to World or Moldova's richest people, have a look at the following videos and the links posted below. Let us know if there is anything surprising related to the Forbes' list of billionaires as listed per country (in %):
- Russia
- US
- India
- Mexico
How old are the top 50 people in the list? How many women are there in the list? Who is the youngest self-made billionaire in the world?

Other related videos:
Top 15 Richest people
How richest people in the world spend their money

Business Etiquette - Dos and Don'ts

In class we discussed some of the most common business etiquette do's and don'ts. A special attention has to be paid to exchanging business cards - isome parts of the world, a business card is considered an extension of a person. Etiquette coach Syndi Seid goes over the do's and don'ts of presenting and receiving a card. Watch the video carefully and tell us if there was anything surprising you learned about exchanging cards with Asian busienss people and not only.

Other relevant videos: The Etiquette of Business Dining

Other tips here: Business Etiquette PPP

The Crisis of Credit Videos

Catea has just sent me the links to thsese great videos on The Crisis of Credit (Part 1 and Part 2) - take the time to watch both videos and answer the following questions:
- How is the "World Financial Crisis" defined in the video?
- How is Wall Street connected to the 'houses on Main street'?
- Who did did the investors answer "No thanks!", when and why?
- What can cause banks to go crazy with leverage?
- How does leverage work?
- What is a collateral debt obligation or "CDO"?
- What is a credit default swap?
Engloy the videos and be ready to discuss them in class.

Nash Equilibrum - what Moldovan politicians could learn from "A Beauriful Mind"

Here is a real challenge for you! We discussed in class how the Moldovan government is not exactly creating a friendly-entrepreneurial environment for young people. You all agreed that because every single member of the government cares only about his or her interests and is struggling hard to protect their assets / business ventures, it makes sense that our country is not making any significant progress (so far at least). You have probably all watched "A Beautiful Mind" and the unforgettable performance of Russel Crow and his explanation for the "equilibrium theory" - Read the following article carefully and answer the following questions:
- What did John Nash say about Adam Smith's theory?
- What did John Nash get a Nobel Prize for?
- What could our Moldovan business people and members of the parliament learn fron Nash's equilibrum theory?
- What long and short time impact could it have on the Moldovan economy in general and on the way young people do business in Moldova?
For your reference: Watch the Yale University Lecture on the equillibrum theory.

Forbes Best Countries for Business

Which countries top Forbes' 2008 list of best countries for business? Some of you probably think of Canada or USA or China. Think again, on the very top we have: Denmark, which rose three slots from last year, Ireland (up 19 places to No. 2), Finland (up four to third place), the U.S. (down three to fourth) and U.K. (up five to fifth). Big movers like Ireland, Estonia (No. 10, up 24 spots) and Saudi Arabia (No. 47, up 37) have limited bureaucracy standing in the way of entrepreneurs hoping to do business within their borders. To read more, check the Forbes website. Take each country in the top 5 and tell us how they got on top:
- Why did US go down from place #1 in 2008 to place #4 in 2008?
- How is Finland's governemnt contributing to its country's eceonomic growth?
- Who is Anders Fogh Rasmussen and what did he decide to do about taxes and why?
- Which country organised a referendum in order to centralize power within E.U. through strengthening of the presidential role and creation of a new foreign-policy post?
- What could Moldova learn from these countries?