The Reasons Why You Need to Study Global Business

The Reasons Why You Need to Study Global Business Global business is a term used to describe both international trade and the act of a company doing business in more than one area (i.e. country) of the world. Some examples of well-known global businesses include Google, Apple, and eBay. All of these companies were founded in America, but have since expanded to other areas of the world. In academics, global business encompasses the study of international business. Students learn how to think about business in a global context, meaning that they learn about everything from different cultures to the management of multinational businesses and expansion into international territory. Reasons to Study Global Business There are lots of different reasons to study global business, but there is one primary reason that stands out among all of the others: business has become globalized. Economies and marketplaces around the world are interconnected and more interdependent than ever before. Thanks, in part, to the internet, the transfer of capital, goods, and services knows almost no boundaries. Even the smallest companies are shipping goods from one country to another. This level of integration requires professionals who are knowledgeable about multiple cultures and able to apply this knowledge to selling products and promoting services around the world. Ways to Study Global Business The most obvious way to study global business is through a global business education program at a college, university, or business school. There are a number of academic institutions that offer programs focused specifically on global leadership and international business and management. It is also becoming more common for degree programs to offer global business experiences as part of the curriculum even for students who are majoring in something like accounting or marketing rather than international business. These experiences may be known as global business, experiential, or study abroad experiences. For example, University of Virginias Darden School of Business provides MBA students with the opportunity to take a 1 to 2 week themed course that combines structured classes with visits to government agencies, businesses, and cultural sites. International internships or training programs can also provide a unique way to immerse yourself in global business. The Anheuser-Busch company, for example, offers a 10-month Global Management Trainee Program that is designed to immerse bachelor degree holders in global business and allow them to learn from the inside out. Top-Notch Global Business Programs There are literally hundreds of business schools that offer global business programs. If you are studying at the graduate level, and youre interested in attending a top-tier program, you may want to start your search for the perfect school with this list of high-ranking programs with global experiences: Stanford Graduate School of Business - At Stanford, every MBA student is required to participate in global experiences to increase their knowledge of international business and management. While participating in the schools Global Management Immersion Experience (GMIX), students live and work in another country and learn about global business through complete immersion.Harvard Business School - Harvard curriculum combines the case method with the field method. Part of the field method involves global intelligence, which requires students to gain real-world experience by developing a new product or service for one of Harvards global partner organizations.Kellogg School of Management at Northwest University - Kelloggs global MBA curriculum requires students to partner with other international students to gain an understanding of international markets and develop market-based growth strategies for international organizations.

Gamma Rays are Part of the High-Energy Universe

Gamma Rays are Part of the High-Energy Universe Everyone has heard of the electromagnetic spectrum. Its a collection of all wavelengths and frequencies of light, from radio and microwave to ultraviolet and gamma. The light we see is called the visible part of the spectrum. The rest of the frequencies and waves are invisible to our eyes, but detectable using special instruments.   Gamma rays are the most energetic part of the spectrum. They have the shortest wavelengths and highest frequencies. These characteristics make them extremely hazardous to life, but they also tell astronomers a lot  about the objects that emit them in the universe. Gamma-rays do occur on Earth, created when cosmic rays hit our atmosphere and interact with the gas molecules. Theyre also a by-product of the decay of radioactive elements, particularly in nuclear explosions and in nuclear reactors. Gamma rays arent always a deadly threat: in medicine, theyre used to treat cancer (among other things). However, there are cosmic sources of these killer photons, and for the longest time, they remained a mystery to astronomers. They stayed that way until telescopes were built that could detect and study these high-energy emissions. Cosmic Sources of Gamma Rays Today, we know much more about this radiation and where it comes from in the universe. Astronomers detect these rays from extremely energetic activities and objects such as supernova explosions, neutron stars, and black hole interactions. These are difficult to study because of the high energies involved, they are sometimes very bright in visible light, and the fact that our atmosphere protects us from most gamma rays. To see these activities properly, astronomers send specialized  instruments to space, so they can see the gamma rays from high above Earths protective blanket of air. NASAs orbiting  Swift satellite and the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope are among the instruments astronomers currently use to detect and study this radiation. Gamma-ray Bursts Over the past few decades, astronomers have detected extremely strong bursts of gamma rays from various points in the sky. By long, astronomers mean only a few seconds to a few minutes. However, their distances, ranging from millions to billions of light-years away, indicate that these objects and events must be very bright in order to be seen from across the universe.   The so-called gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic and brightest events ever recorded. They can send out prodigious amounts of energy in just a few seconds- more than the Sun will release throughout its entire existence. Until very recently, astronomers could only speculate about what caused such massive explosions. However, recent observations have helped them track down the sources of these events. For example, the Swift satellite detected a gamma-ray burst that came from the birth of a black hole that lay more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth. That is very early in the universes history.   There are shorter bursts, less than two seconds long, which were really a mystery for years. Eventually astronomers linked these events to activities called kilonovae, which occur when two neutron stars or a neutron star or a black hole merge together. At the moment of the merger, they give off short bursts of gamma-rays. They can also emit gravitational waves. The History of Gamma-ray Astronomy Gamma-ray astronomy had its start during the Cold War. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) were first detected in the 1960s by the Vela fleet of satellites. At first, people were worried that they were signs of a nuclear attack. Over the next decades, astronomers began searching out the sources of these mysterious pinpoint explosions by searching for optical light (visible light) signals and in ultraviolet, x-ray, and signals. The launch of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory in 1991 took the search for cosmic sources of gamma rays to new heights. Its observations showed that GRBs occur throughout the universe and not necessarily inside our own Milky Way Galaxy. Since that time, the BeppoSAX observatory, launched by the Italian Space Agency, as well as the High Energy Transient Explorer (launched by NASA) have been used to detect GRBs. The European Space Agencys INTEGRAL mission joined the hunt in 2002. More recently, the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope has surveyed the sky and charted gamma-ray emitters.   The need for fast detection of GRBs is key to searching out the high-energy events that cause them. For one thing, the very short-burst events die out very quickly, making it difficult to figure out the source. X-satellites can pick up the hunt (since theres usually a related x-ray flare). To help astronomers quickly zero in on a GRB source, the Gamma Ray Bursts Coordinates Network immediately sends out notifications to scientists and institutions involved in studying these outbursts. That way, they can immediately plan follow-up observations using ground-based and space-based optical, radio and X-ray observatories. As astronomers study more of these outbursts, theyll gain a better understanding of the very energetic activities that cause them. The universe is filled with sources of GRBs, so what they learn will also tell us more about the high-energy cosmos.   Fast Facts Gamma rays are the most energetic type of radiation known. They are given off by very energetic objects and processes in the universe.  Gamma rays can also be created in the lab, and this type of radiation is used in some medical applications.Gamma-ray astronomy is done with orbiting satellites that can detect them without interference from Earths atmosphere.