Globalization in the NBA

Globalization of the NBA as always been a vision of NBA commissioner David Stern. No league has had more success or has a more involved future with the international market than the NBA. As interbasket.net has recorded, last season a record whopping 84 international players from 38 different countries were on a official NBA roster. In a further point of view, only two of the league’s 30 teams were without at least one foreign player on opening night. In fact international players within the NBA are become a common commodity and can hold their game up to the standard of the NBA. Steve Nash, from Canada, has won 2 MVP awards while Dirk Nowitzki, from Germany, has one MVP award. Financially speaking, globalization has skyrocketed NBA revenues. According to this article, the NBA has made basketball second to the world's most popular sport, soccer. International customers now consist of nearly fifty percent of jersey and merchandise sales. Fifty-three percent of NBA.com traffic is now coming from outside the U.S.. The NBA also has TV deals with over 100 countries and the playoffs along with several regular season games broadcast live across the globe. For example, when the Milwaukee Bucks played the Houston Rockets on Nov. 9, 2007, an audience of over 200 million people viewed the game because Yao Ming went against Yi Jianlian, who are both from China. Commissioner David Stern, along with retired and current NBA stars are raising the interest and awareness of the NBA worldwide. Prolific retired NBA centers, Vlade Divac and Dikembe Mutombo, are strong voices that are sparking interest of NBA game play in their respected homelands. NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Carmelo Anthony are loved in foreign countries which only elevates foreign sales for the NBA.

Ian Thomsen from SI.com said it best, "Stern won't be commissioner when the NBA realizes the profit from his investments. But the short-term benefits have themselves been worthwhile. It is with thanks to Stern that basketball in Argentina, Spain and other nations has so improved that USA Basketball needed to overhaul its own selection and training processes in order to keep up. His Basketball Without Borders initiative has dispatched more than 300 NBA players abroad to work with more than 1,300 young players from at least 100 countries and territories." That right there is the true vision of globalization.

1. What entry barriers do you think the NBA had to go through, if any?
2. With the globalization of the NBA such a success, do you see other leagues following its footsteps? 

Outside (External Environment) - Apple's Future Sales

Since Apple's revolutionary release of the iPhone in 2007, the business and social world have been in an uproar over them. With Apple on the verge of releasing the iPhone 5 in October, it's no wonder such animosity is surrounding the phone. In the business aspect, Apple's stock could hit an all time high of $1,000 per share in the next 12 months. According to Forbes, Apple could break the $1,000 barrier by the year 2014 with the release of both the iPhone 4s & 5, two iterations of the iPad, and several upgrades to the iMacs & Macbooks. Apple is moving strong ahead and in doing so is helping several other companies by requiring its own demand to make its products. Apple is helping the economy while helping itself too. Not only is Apple rising its stock value but the iPhone 5 has also created an uproar within society. Never has a cell phone been under the microscope so much and  anticipated to this extent like the iPhone 5. People have been constantly trying to get sneak peaks of the iPhone 5 and rumors have been swirling nonstop about what the phone may look like and what system it will run on. The original iPhone reinvented the smart phone world and the iPhone 5 has even more hype that it will do it again. Socially the iPhone 5 is all anyone can talk about. People are anxiously waiting for it and are looking forward to see the official phone during Apple's official showing on September 12. With the iPhone being the only thing on people's mind, analysts are saying the iPhone 5 is predicted to reach sales of 170 million over the next year. That is an unprecedented number for a smart phone. Yet this is still all speculation, only time can tell if Apple, the iPhone 5, and the rest of the Apple products live up to the hype.

• Economic
• nationally it will strengthen the economy
• consumer spending influences the company
• their products' parts help other companies with opportunities

• Social and Cultural
• society values on smart phones influence the company
•  Generation Y is based on gadgets

• Technology
• breakthrough phone
• will cause competition (winners & losers) 

1. How much does society's values of smart phones influence the sales of the phone?
2.  With companies constantly upgrading devices, does Apple really have a shot of selling 170 million phones?