MSG Team's other articles

9709 How to Leverage the Demographic Dividend and Manage Demographic Deficit ?

What is Demographic Dividend and Demographic Deficit ? We often hear the terms Demographic Dividend and Demographic Deficit being written about and spoken about by experts and economists. These terms are mentioned in the context of how economies in the future can manage either the rising percentage of youth among their population or deal with […]

10199 Looking beyond BRICS for the Next Economic Hotspots

Looking Beyond BRICS: The MINT Grouping The BRICS or the acronym given to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in so far as promising economic growth is concerned, has now reached a stage where global investors are on the lookout for the next emerging economic hotspots. Indeed, for much of the […]

8980 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity – Planning Phase

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans if well planned and implemented can help mitigate risks and loss to the business. With increasing competition and complexity of systems and reliance on IT technology, Organizations are focusing in this area to ensure they do not lose out on the business operations in the event of any disaster […]

9064 The Economics of Electronic Healthcare Records

Administrative costs form a major portion of the cost structure of any health care provider. In the case of the United States, administrative costs account for more than 20% of the total costs which need to be incurred in order to serve patients. It is for this reason that many healthcare organizations are trying to […]

12579 Business Process Improvement – A Perspective

Development of Global Business Organizations, Multi National Corporations and the Corporate has always found a lot of academicians as well as the think tanks and Management Experts taking interest in analyzing the past, the present trends and prophesying the future trends. The study of growth of trade, the industries and the Organizations and the various […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Finite Resources and Infinite Consumption

We live in a world of finite resources many of which are consumed at an alarming pace.

Given the fact that the emerging markets like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are joining the developed countries of the west both in terms of living standards and in terms of economic development, it is inevitable that the voracious appetites for consumption in these countries would lead to protracted and bitter wars over resources.

A trend that has been observed lately among international businesses is that the proliferation of companies that are scouring the world for resources is leading to a winner take all grab for the world’s resources.

For instance, both the Indian and Chinese governments are actively engaged in the Middle East and Africa buying up assets and land, which they believe can be used to sustain the consumption of their citizens in the years ahead.

China’s Winner Take All Resource Grab

Further, the Chinese government has taken a lead over other countries as far as the battle for resources is concerned. It has invested heavily in the MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) region for everything from oil and minerals to metals and agricultural products. This has provoked hostile reactions from the Americans and Europeans who see in this land grab and resource grab a blatant attempt by the Chinese to steal a march over them in the years ahead.

With the Chinese government having large dollar reserves, it is easy for it to give generous aid and other forms of inducement not to mention the money needed to buy up large tracts of land, acquire rights over oil deposits, and metals and minerals.

Global Resource Grab and Implications

The implications of these resource wars are being felt in the capitals of the developed and the emerging world with alarm and trepidation as this race to the bottom can easily turn into armed conflict and be met with resistance from the local populations in those countries.

After all, who would like to see the resources that belong to a native country being carted away to some foreign land? This was the crux of the resource wars in earlier times and this is the bottom line of the now accelerating wars for the remaining resources of the world.

It is significant that many international businesses are now active partners with their governments in this global grab for resources.

Cooperation instead of Competition

The other implications of this resource grab lies in the fact that unless there is a concerted action by the governments of the world, it is but natural that the fight would get nasty. This is because resources are needed by everyone and hence, it is human nature to fight for the share of the resources.

In this context, there is a need for a global gathering of likeminded people to evolve common strategies instead of resource wars. Cooperation should be the key instead of competition.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Cultural Aspects of Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions

MSG Team

Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Some Recent Trends in this Field

MSG Team

Understanding the China-North Korea Trade Equation

MSG Team