Like it or not, globalization is here to stay. Japan, and the impact on supply chains throughout the world, is only going to reinforce the move towards a diverse, diffused world economy.
In the coming years, we’ll see an even greater push toward interrelatedness amongst countries, and each country’s businesses will rely on many countries for their materials. Diversification of supply is key.
Japan is going to recover and recover quickly.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi Clients and Friends, Mike Brady here.
This week I want to talk about globalization. It’s here to stay and Japan is just an example of why it’s going to stay. Periodically, I talk with people here in Boulder who think globalization is a bad thing. I’m not here to say that it is good or bad. I have my opinions, but now is not the time to get into that political discussion. But what I am here to say is that it is not going anywhere but more globalization.
Japan: Toyota and Honda, 68-72% of the parts for those companies are actually made outside of Japan. So they are going to continue to make automobiles. China and South Korea and other places that are getting their materials from Japan are having a little bit of supply issue, supply problems, for their products that they export to the rest of the world; or export back into Japan once it’s finished goods. And so, Japan and South Korea and frankly, much of the world is going to diversify, in my opinion, going to continue to diversify their supply chain. So that an event from one country does not disrupt it, they’re going to need 2, 3, 4, different supply chains, sources, for their goods as they distribute it into the rest of the world.
I do not believe, that Japan, a year from now a year from now, two years, five years from now, that we’re going to look back and say that this was a huge economic event that had this very negative impact. Japan as a country is the third largest economy. It is a very wealthy country. They’re very resilient people. And while this is very painful, what has happened, I think that Japan is going to pick itself up and pick itself up very quickly. In the meantime, countries that have relied upon Japan, and will continue to rely upon Japan will continue to rely upon Japan but also diversify into other countries.
So from an investor point of view, the question we might ask is how can we benefit from this trend of diffused supply chains, diffused need and globalization? And so that I think that is really the question that we need to ask ourselves.
I continue to believe that 2011, this year, will be a positive year for the stock markets. And frankly, I’m not changing that. Nothing that I’ve seen in the last three months has changed that opinion. In two or three months as the buying of the, from the, QE2 changes or stops, that will be another obstacle that we’ll have to watch very closely to see what happens.
Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking about this week. I hope you’re doing wonderful.
My name is Mike Brady. My company is Generosity Wealth Management. I am a registered rep with Cambridge Investment Research. My phone number is 303.747.6455. Hope you’re doing well. And I’ll talk to you next week, bye bye.