lcc liberal arts studies / 2010 volume iii - LCC International University

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PRABHU GUPTARA / THE BUSINESS CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBALIZATION AND HOMOGENEITY
bottom of society, so to speak, that the whole education system would change to
encourage creativity and innovation. There is a huge amount to discuss here, and I
will be happy to take these matters further during our time for discussion.
The second is professional skills, specifically in marketing and logistics.
Why marketing? Because the whole of the world economy is now producing too
much, whether it is wine or beer, potato chips or computer chips, steel or cars.
There are too many banks, there are too many universities, and the list would be
pretty exhaustive if we were to really go through it; are only a few niche areas where
there is less production than demand. And why logistics? Because business
around the world is being reconfigured and, if you are trained and gifted in logistics,
you won't be out of a job for the rest of your life. I say that slightly tongue in cheek,
because one matter to keep in mind, in connection with professional skills of any
sort, is how rapidly knowledge becomes obsolete. I am told that roughly half of what
engineering students learn at college is already outdated before they graduate.
Fifteen years ago, I had a neighbour in the IT world, who did not go on holiday even
for a week because he was so scared of being left behind by the rapid pace of
change in his industry with newer and newer products, services, companies,
mergers, acquisitions, scientific and technical developments, the reconfiguration of
the industry through changes in customer preferences, and so on. So if you are
making a living today selling your time and labour, do not assume that your labour
will still be in demand in ten years or even in two years. Make sure that you are
keeping yourself professionally up to date. In fact, it is much better if you try and
avoid selling your time and skills and try instead to add value by developing
something new. That is what really produces wealth, whereas selling your time and
labour produces at best, a wage.
That brings me to the third factor on which companies, whether large or
small, depend and thrive: money. No doubt some of you are laughing. You can
imagine Lithuania producing creativity and innovation, and even producing
professional skills in marketing and logistics. But money? For that you think
perhaps of Germany or the USA or even China and India. However, you need to
take very seriously this dimension or factor of money. If you don't know how to
accumulate wealth as an individual or as the director of a company, I would
recommend to you any of the numerous books that now exist on the subject of how
to go grow rich. The secret of doing so is however basically fourfold: (a) spend less
than you earn, (b) investing what you save on the basis of portfolio theory, that is, by
distributing your risks as widely as possible, (c) do not borrow, except to invest, and,
LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2010