Input: Useful and Not China is reportedly taking credit for its leadership this past year in the World Trade Organization. It says it believes in the multilateral process and is committed to the reform of the organization. The latter claim is somewhat sullied by the nation’s continued claim to the same developing country exemptions from free trade obligations as WTO members with a fraction of the per capita income. Nonetheless, China’s engagement brings positive value to the broader institution and should enable a transparent debate about future rights and obligations for its membership. Separately, it is reported that Japan will begin producing its own global food production forecasts. Apparently, Japan’s Aerospace Expl...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.