Part 3: Just checking in

Hi again, Atlanta.

In case you were wondering, I just wanted you to know that I’ve been here almost two months now and I still like it … a lot. Not sure what “grits” are yet, but that’s okay - I’ll figure it out eventually.

Hotlanta

So … I hear that it gets really hot here in the summer - but as far as I’m concerned, so far so good. However, like our famous ice sculptures, we Canadians tend to melt when it gets too hot.

That means that you may not see me very much over the next few weeks … unless you happen to catch me bolting from my air-conditioned home to my air-conditioned car to my air-conditioned office. Or so they tell me here. 

The mysterious case of the missing lake

Anyway, last month I want to a party at the house of a good friend and colleague at a place called Berkely Lake. Wonderful people. Amazing houses. Great party.

But there was no lake.

Of course, I didn’t really have the heart to tell these nice people there that their lake was gone. They seemed so content to stare wistfully out at the empty basin and imagine it full of water again. But I’m fairly certain that they actually realized the lake was dry.

One of them told me that it’s been like that for a couple of years and that this happened because the dam cracked and the authorities didn’t want to risk a catastrophic accident, which is of course no joke.

Still … I wanted to invite them to borrow some water from one of the zillions of lakes in Canada. After all, we have plenty to spare.  

But I digress.

Captains of industry

 Do y’all remember how I was telling you last time that Atlanta can lead the way for America’s recovery?  Yes, yes I know - we’re not really in a recession anymore, but that’s not what I meant.

I’m talking about taking back your place as world leaders of business. Captains of industry. Quarterbacks of manufacturing.  Point guards of … okay, I think that you get the idea.

You see, Atlanta, there’s a bunch of people from competing countries who are taking over your traditional markets. And a lot of them really don’t like you.

No, not Atlanta - I mean America. Pay attention, okay?

Remember how Atlanta was the boom town of the south a few years ago - but then a lot of those head offices moved elsewhere in America? It’s a bit like that with these foreign competitors, but now the stakes are higher.

Checks and balances

The fundamental problem is that some of these competing countries have no system of checks and balances to ensure that their economic policies are ethical. While that’s not a problem for democracies, it certainly is for totalitarian regimes.

For example, if a French, German, Italian, Australian, British or Canadian company runs a mine in Africa, then they are compelled to follow strict guidelines set by their home governments. Sometimes it takes a while, but sooner or later they are obliged to follow the rules.

Usually that applies to Brazil, India and many other merging economic powers, too ... although sometimes maybe not. However, for China or any other country that is not governed by a democratic government, this premise is simply not so.

It’s not that these competitors are “evil”, as some would have you believe - it’s just that they sometimes have no incentive to ensure that their policies are ethical.

Levelling the playing field

They answer to no one except the ruling regime, which never has to justify its actions to the people. Ergo, nobody protects those African miners (or any other group affected by their investments) from abuse.        

So what can we all do about it, you ask? How can you compete with regimes that don’t follow the rules and thus don’t compete on a level playing field?

It can be done, but it takes a combination of cleverness and integrity – you need to know the rules of the game and use them to your advantage, but without violating your own code of ethics in the process. After all, it kind of defeats the purpose if we behave unethically ourselves for the purpose of circumventing unethical behaviour.

On the other hand, fighting against an opponent who doesn’t play by the rules allows for some leeway. Like they say, you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. We’ll talk about this more another time.