Book written by OHMAE Kenichi The Next Global Stage written by OHMAE Kenichi
Ohame in his book has been arguing that technology will change fast and only those countries that can move with it will be able to reap the benefits.There has been change in the concept of traditional wealth creation and economics and countries has been willing to enter competition mode and attract more investments.There has been change in perception and knowledge has been considered as the biggest wealth creator along with technology.The business will have to become more pragmatism and become more practical to adjust to changing times.Ohame has said that there are features to globalization and borderless, and has been connected using Internet.The author also argues that globalization has been bringing an invisibility and the real factor is profit.The author also argues that global economy is passing through different complexities and there has to be explanation that can be difficult to produce.
Ohame has not been a big supporter of suppression of the role of government but this paper has been put forwarding the concept that government should be having the role of facilitator rather than the role of dominance.The paper would be arguing that Internet revolution has benefited and that would be helping the business to do things for itself.Ohame has been also not a big supporter of democratic values and human right values.This paper has not gone in depth to that issue.The paper has mentioned only certain arguments in to the possible reasons why Ohame judgment stands valid.
Ohame has been putting forward the idea that it is the market that would be determining the prosperity rather than government.The paper highlights the statement by citing the example of BPO in which individual will be gaining the economic prosperity and will be willing to spend big on the economy.The professionals will not be limited by the role of government, and they can change the way society economy functions.Ohame has been also a big advocate for leadership and this paper also supports the argument.It is change in tactics that would be bringing the much needed change in business world.There has been argument in the essay that e-business has been good for the overall growth of the economy.
BUSINESS IN A CHANGING WORLD
Kenichi Ohmae cites that country reluctant to embrace globalization will be wiped out by new economy and this theory will not be limited to any nations.The author cites that the principle of globalization if neglected by individual ,will also lead to failure of individual.The author has stated that company who has been reluctant to get used to latest technology will be left behind.Companies must be willing to make changes to their management decisions and that will be the main cause in business success.There should be radical change in the corporate mission statement and that should be suiting the latest globalization. Global recession has made business much tougher. Business firms will have to devise ways to retain their existing consumers and take new ones.Internet has been considered as a powerful tool in this process of globalization.There should be a certain management tactics to move forward in todays globaleconomy.
The prime example of companies or industries that has been forced to change the way they function can be said in department of photography.There has been manual cameras that has been ruling the world for long time.That had changed when globalization has taken place and the world has been raving about digital cameras.Camera companies that has been reluctant to change from manual mode has been left behind and the latest advancement in the camera field has been the entry of mobile cameras.
There has been change in the way customer relationship has been taking place in global era.Companies has not been reluctant to take into personalized customer service.The business leaders has to be bold to take radical decisions that will be suiting the need of the global world.That means the leaders should be willing to change the way companies function or will perish.
The author points out that increased use of English language has led to a concept of global language (Clott,2004,p.167).Recent trends has seen that higher education globally has turned to English and those willing to embrace the language has been able to travel extensively.More over there has been lot of career openings for persons who has been well versed in English.
The growth of computer and Internet has also led to the growth of a global communication system and Microsoft has created more waves in operating system.There has been increased global brands and marketing efforts has become more international.
Countries has been willing to put economic freedom on top of their agendas and the author has cited the example of China.China has been following a rigid political system but has not been reluctant to follow the economic freedom.Leaders of the present era has been focusing on improving their technical knowledge and scientific knowledge.
The book highlight has been that it has been giving an insight to economic problems.There has been investment insights and there has been insight to wealth creation also.The author also cites that wealth or capital is the key to growth and countries will have to attract foreign direct investment.The book has been criticized for its outright comments in supporting the capitalism, and the reason has been that there has been no comments against human right violations in name of globalization.There has been more importance to the factor of capital over human relation factor.
Ohame has been against the traditional practice of economic theories and he has been trying to promote innovation and good leadership.The author has been projecting the world wide musical tours as part of globalization process.The author has been able to point out Riverdance as a metaphor for global economy.This has been Irish company and the participants have been from different countries and that has been enjoyed throughout the world.This is the same way author tries to portray globalization.The evidence of globalization has been witnessed throughout the world.The author cites that China has been like a region based block trying for investment and that means China has been looking to the world not as an unified block.But the investment flow has been heartening for China.
Ireland has been one country that has attracted foreign direct investment and has embraced globalization .Finland has been another country that has been embracing internationalization and innovation ,knowledge based economy has been their secret to embrace globalization.The main features of all these three countries has been that they were willing to embrace globalization without any feeling of nationalism.
Global economy has been normally considered as a border less feature and the main reason has been because tariff has been decreasing.There has been increased setting up of companies beyond the place of origin.Business has changed track thanks to effective communication through Internet.Internet has bought worlds close together with e-mail mode of communication.That has changed with social network ,Twitter and other method of communication through Internet.There has been improvement in the phone communication system with mobile technology coming into place.Internet has helped the spread of business communications faster and there has been increased marketing using social networking sites and blogs.
There has been deregulation of capital markets and world has been taking US dollar as base currency.There has been increasing setting up of offices in different parts of world like setting up manufacturing plant in India , setting up of R D in China while the company headquarters is in USA.
The Internet and computer has helped the development of e-commerce.That has helped the consumers to know more about the product pricing and the various options the consumers while choosing a product.The consumers has got more freedom in choosing a product from USA and shipped to home in SriLanka.There has been another advantage for business people.They can get raw materials at lower price from different parts of world and that can be assembled at home place.There has been improvement in cash transaction thanks to the concept of online banking .People can do banking transactions from their home and that has also changed the speed in finance dealing.There has been increase in purchase using credit card transactions.Voice over Internet protocol has helped the communication to improve.The author has stated that share market has become global and there has been increased forex trading from different parts of world.The author also states that there has to be improvement in the globalization process and the process will not be slowing down.The author also states that globalization will bring economic prosperity provided countries make full advantage of globalization.
The key point that the author has raised is that there is opportunity through globalization and countries can either make full use of it to move forward.There has been creation of global cities throughout the world.The gap between the international economy and local economy has been less and GATT ,WTO organizations has taken the process of globalization forward.The positive effect of globalization should be taken forward to protect the human rights, protecting the environment and values of democracy.The fall or collapse of Soviet Union ,with the rise of Microsoft has accelerated the process of globalization.Countries like India and China has been embracing globalization in their own terms.Ohame has been correct in stating that process of globalization will continue and world will become close to a stage.There has been communication systems like Wi-Fi system that has accelerated the process of Internet connection.The world has seen many cultural festivals that has broken many barriers.The notable has been the Berlin film festival ,Toronto International film festival, and many other films festival.The most notable highlight has been the Cannes film festival.There has been media firms like CNN , BBC, Reuters ,New York times and so on.
Google has taken the process of globalization forward.Harry potter has been a clear example of how globalization has taken forward the process in publishing business.This has been because of Internet communication skills.
Global economy has been working all over the world.There has been many countries that has embraced globalization.Dubai has embraced globalization and has benefited.Dubai has tried to attract international tourist and international business companies .Business firms has been willing to set up offices in Dubai thanks to their tax free environment.Dubai shopping festival has been a big success and Dubai has constructed many tall buildings of global standard.
Global economy has meant that more consumers have been willing to spend money on hedge fund , derivatives and share market.The global economy has been moving away from theories of Adam Smith and so on.Economic conditions and theories has been changing very fast.
Kenichi Ohmae has argued that liquidity of money has been the hall mark of globaleconomy.Technology has helped to faster deregulation of markets.Capital has been flowing to areas that has offered the highest returns and that has no other sense.In shot it has been used to increase gains and nothing else.
There has been change in interest rates that has been offered by companies and there has been more cross country investments.Foreign investment would mean that investment made by the resident of a country in the assets and manufacturing process of another country.There has been developing countries that been offered capital and technological know how and this has been made possible because of globalization.
Asian countries has been opening their economy from 1990s and India has been one country that has liberalized their economy.There has been more Foreign direct investment to India.That has helped to increase the international competitiveness of the country.There has been integration of Indian economy with global economy.There has been major shift policy in the inflow of capital.European countries has been the major source of capital investment countries and that had changed after globalization took place.Countries like USA and other countries has been investing more in India.Countries like Japan , South Korea has joined the band wagon (Palvia,2003,p.8).
The changed policy in favor of attracting foreign direct investment by India has helped the country to fill the gap between the domestically available supplies of savings , foreign sexchange , government revenue and management skills .
Investment has been attracted by countries like India because of their policies.countries globally know that they are a part of buyers market and they have to improve their competitiveness to attract the market share in form of investment.Investment would mean that more job creation and more economic prosperity.
Indian professionals has been earning money faster these days and compensation package has been the best globally.That has ensured that there has been a reverse brain drain to India.There has been situation in which professional from India after completing their study went abroad for jobs.That had changed with Indian professionals returning to India.The main reason for this increase of salary has been that India has been attracting investment from large and medium foreign based firms.Indian companies has been going global and business conditions has become favorable.
Companies like Nokia has set up manufacturing base in India.That means the size of the market is spreading evenly across the world and that has created more employment opportunities.There has been reduction in traditional jobs and modern era has created new job opportunities.
Customer relationship management has become a buzzword among global companies(Ghose,2004,p.232).Global companies need the expertise to function in an economic environment that can be termed global and complex. (Agenor, 2004,p.28).The relationship will be improving with increased communication.There has been improved method of communication thanks to e-mail system.A sales person can update the sales figure fast by using attachment option in e-mail.Companies can supply goods faster thanks to the stock updating that has been taking place faster.Companies can ship goods to remote areas and get customers outside their choice of operation.All these show that globalization has created opportunities but to make full advantage of it , the companies need to change their style of operation.
There has been many firms that has found that globalization has helped them to improve their business.There has been more profit markets beyond their traditional market and innovation has been the key to success.International business has helped to remove all political barriers and new technology has helped to bring the world together.The difference between the nations has lessened and globalization has been the main drive behind this.Colgate has been operating in many countries outside USA and has been generating more revenue.That could be taken forward as Sony has been selling mobile in India and Boeing has been selling airlines to different parts of world.
South Africa has the largest diamond in world and this has been an exception.In many cases it has been just comparative advantage only.USA has been a manufacturing hub but globalization has ensured that China has also become a manufacturing hub.That had increased the competitiveness of countries and products.There has been more research and development that has been meeting global standards.There has been a clear cut policy on exporting and importing.countries like India has been exporting their knowledge.Countries like China has taken the support of USA to influence English language.There has been a clear role of balance of trade in a globaleconomy and that has been countries has been trying to increase their revenue by exporting more.
Countries like India has been earning more revenue using tourism and that has helped to create a value chain.That had influenced the creation of good hotels that has been meeting international standard.
Tourism has helped countries like Maldives to earn much needed income.Singapore has grown with the help of tourism.Globalization has helped to improve the trade practices and there has been much importance for transparency and accountability.Globalization has also helped companies to come out with products that has been innovative.
The most notable has been the Mecca Cola that has been sold in Middle East.The product has been able to meet the competition of Coca Cola.There has been improvement in infrastructure and that also includes electricity generation and clean roads.There has been instances in which companies that has been making losses in local market has been able to make profit outside their area of operation.Kodak has been one example of getting good market share in countries like China and India.Globalization has helped the developing countries to improve their airports and shipping facilities.There has been improvement in railways and other infrastructure.
Globalization has given importance to exchange rates .There are countries that are devaluing the currency and that would mean that if a country devalues the currency ,it would be beneficial for tourists and the cost of goods that has been exported from the country.That means the domestic local goods sales will be increased and tourism will increase.Mexico has been country that has been devalued currency.There has been another alternative in the form of revaluing the currency and countries rarely try this.
Globalization has helped the legal issues to be in tune with global standards and there has been global labor laws.Globalization has created problems in areas like copyright laws with countries has very different view point and laws on this subject.The process of globalization has helped to improve the copyright and patent laws.There has been increase of piracy rates and that has been affecting the sales of Microsoft and there has been an effort to counterfeit this.
Counterfeiting has been affecting the quality of goods and this has been happening because of the increased popularity of the product.There has been political instability that has been associated with countries like Iraq,Honduras,South Africa.There has been cases when economic sanctions for political reasons has been imposed against certain countries.There has been countries like Cuba that has been forced to stand alone against USA and take a new path to the process of globalization.
Civil wars in Sudan and Sri Lanka has affected their process of globalization.countries like Sri Lanka has been able to gather some foreign exchange money in tourism.There has been cases like Afghanistan that has been pressurized by Taliban to step away from the process of globalization.Countries like Cuba has not been away from the process of globalization because other nations has been stepping in place of USA.That include nations like Canada and so on.There has been cartel formation by oil producing firms and this has been against the principle of globalization.
There has been cultural barrier that globalization has to address and that would include a cross section of countries.Countries like Australia are reluctant to try out food beyond their home country while American has not been reluctant.Globalization has helped the advertising business to reinvent themselves.There has been an increase in online banner ads and companies has been careful in using words and images.This is to prevent an second meaning in some other countries.
Globalization has helped in creating new talent for ad companies and that can be said as a example.Number 4 when used in Asian market will be signifying death and when used in American market will be signifying more growth.Splashing of Red and Gold colors more in an ad will try to send out a message that the ad has been meant for Chinese markets.All these factors has to be looked by ad companies and ad companies will not be reluctant to take the help of local members.
Globalization has created opportunities for local models as companies has been looking for local models to promote their global brand.That would include usage of celebrities.Pepsi used the ad of Sachin,a popular cricketer in India to market their products in India.Sharuk Khan ,a key bollywood actor has been used in the ad of Hyundai.Another popular actor Aamir Khan has been used in the ad of Samsung mobile.All this has shown that globalization has been willing to respect local values and ethics when it comes to all departments.
Globalization has helped in improving business practices and there has been a marked improvement in sticking for deadlines.There has been involvement of global budgeting systems.There has been increased commitment to the local community and there has been measures that has been taken to improve the environment.Globalization has helped the people to understand the implications of weather change and implications of destroying forest in unwanted manner.
Globalization has helped in improving media ties and that would include the case of Al-Jazeera getting afoot hold in Middle East market.Shot into prominence by airing the Iraq-Kuwait war,Al-Jazeera has been able to show a detailed report on the problems between Palestine and Israel.
There has been a speed to the process of globalization thanks to mobile technology.That has meant more communication systems to large number of people.Consumer has been benefiting in various FMCG areas thanks to globalization.There has been wireless communications globally.
INTERNET BRANDING AND BPO
North American firms has been increasing their operations thanks to Internet.Internet has helped many companies to operate in Europe.This has been the best feature of globalization .There has to be number of issues that company or global marketers has to choose like the language,culture,regulations,differing standards for telecommunication and so on.
The most dominant language that has been used in Internet has been English.That does not mean that other languages has been neglected.The popular language over the Internet can be said as Spanish,Japanese,German and french.Chinese nationals has not been reluctant to use their Mandarin Chinese language and that has been also helping the growth of Internet in china.There has been use of Swedish,Italian and dutch languages through Internet.But still the language that has been preferred by all has been English.
The possible reason has been that there has to be rewriting of codes when translation has to be done.Content has to be updated faster in local language and in English language.The content in the local language should not be an exact copying of the content that has been written in English language.The problem with local language will be that it will supported in only limited area and that can affect the revenues that will generated from ads.
The site content should be looking at the interest of local people.For example sports content writing in India should be covering more Cricket than Baseball.The reason is that Cricket has been more passionate in India than Baseball.In the same format there has to be adjusting of content in other sectors like entertainment,media,news and so on.The web content should be addressing the local,national and international issues with good judgment.
There has to be clear addressing of privacy issues and security issues in web content writing.There has been many web publishers who would be reluctant to share the online visit traffic details on the web site and there would be many web sites who would be willing to share the data through online.There has to be creating of customized content for online sites and that would be bringing in more revenue to the site.
That mean to become successful in a globalmarket,there should be the ability to look beyond the normal procedures and that will mean more objectivity.By the term objectivity what is inferred is hat companies should be willing to address the issues of knowing more about the opportunities that has been happening in the world and tapping in to the opportunities that has been happening.There should be proper respect of cultural values of different format and that will be helping the companies to move forward.
There has been many trade agreements that has reduced the borders within countries and that has created many more opportunities.There has been many exciting career opportunities in export and import management and there has been improvement in the logistic department.There has been improvement in the retail practices that has been followed due to globalization.
Internet has helped the creation of online education system where by which students can access programs of their choice in their favorite institutes.
Reading the book written by Kenichi Ohmae will help us to understand that globalization will stay on .There has to be improvement in soft skills for a person to get good job.Soft skills will mean a combination of personal qualities ,habits,attitudes and social graces that would make a good employee.Business has been done very faster and there has to be improvement in soft skills management.Soft skills will be including communication,listening,negotiation,language skills and soft skills will play a profession role.
The personal soft skills that are required in modern day are responsibility,self-esteem,sociability,self-management,integrity and honesty.There has to be certain interpersonal skills like the ability to participate as members of a team,the ability to share knowledge with others,the ability to understand the need of customers and meet them,the ability to undertake leadership,the ability to work in cultural diversity.The person in short should be able to give positive work ethic,display a good attitude and should also possess the desire to learn and be trained.
There has to strong work ethic that has to be possessed by workers in a globaleconomy .Globalization has helped workforce diversity in companies and in this era companies should know how to manage this workforce diversity.
The increased globalization has meant that there has been tie up and joint ventures .The most notable tie up has been between Maruti and Suzuki in India.Suzuki is a Japanese global giant and entered the Indian shore by tying up with Indian government.There has been entry of Honda into Indian market by tying up with Hero group.There has been companies that has come directly to Indian market and that include Hyundai company from South Korea.That has helped the competition to increase in Indian automobile market.Indian manufacturers like Mahindra has exported their SUV variant Scorpio to different parts of world.That has been just like setting up global plant.All this has been made possible by the improved work force that has been willing to adjust to the international culture.
Countries like India has benefited very much by Business outsourcing.That has helped many youngsters to get a job directly after completing their degree.The work time has been normally in UK or US time and the employees has to possess the necessary soft skills to adjust to Western accent.The main advantage that a country like India possess has been that English has been like mother tongue in Universities of India.That has helped to create a global work force ready to embrace global values.
There has been a creation of multinational tactics by firms and that will be helping the growth .There would be difference in packaging,advertisement that would be satisfying the local culture and there has to be looking at alternatives also.This can be said as an example.Google has a search engine option in English that has been popular worldwide.When it comes to India,Google has not been reluctant to allow searching in Hindi,National language off India and in regional languages like Tamil,Malayalam and so on.That means more and more people has been willing to use Google as their search engine.
The principle has been taken forward in blogs.Blogs are social communication messages that has been written by consumers.There has been an option of publishing blog in English and other regional languages in India.Internet has helped many e-commerce sites and many people over the world.There has been change in the way media has been looking at Internet.Media companies has been willing to start publications of news using Internet and has been able to increase their readership base because of it.The reason for this is that local regional newspapers has been able to generate content in their own language and that has bee read by people staying away from their homeland.This can be cited as an example in which a local regional paper that has been published from Kerala , India named Malayala Manorama has a website .The site publishes news , sports news, entertainment news and other news in popular regional language Malayalam.This has been helpful for people from Kerala who has been residing in Middle East countries.The advantage that the publisher has is that it will cost more money to publish newspaper from Gulf.Moreover the youngsters has not been reluctant in getting updates from Internet.
People from India can gets access to the publications all over the world.There has been increased branding and that has not been restricted to jeans market.People has been coming forward to buy Levis from online stores.Online stores like Amazon.com has changed the way business has been done.
Content has to be updated regularly in web sites or the sites will lose traffic in popular search engines.That has been a big opener in career avenues for web content writers who know more about search engine optimization.
Globalization has helped to create a cult in Jackson music and had if Jackson had sung in an era when TVvideos were not popular , would he have retained the fan base following There has been helping of watching TV channels through Internet and that has helped consumers to watch other nation channels.for example ,a parson from India can choose from a list of popular American channels through Internet TV and can watch it at their own pace.
Internet has helped the consumers to record the favorite programs of consumers and Internet has helped to watch TVs while traveling and in privacy.That has helped in the sense that people will not be losing their favorite programs.
There has been increase in the use of satellite TV and that has helped the people to come together.Internet has been used for viable business platform by E-bay and that has helped the growth of e-commerce globally.There has been increase in the brand recall globally .Market people has not been reluctant to consider Internet as part of tactics process and there has been more social networking sites that has helped the growth of messages.
BPO has succeeded because of technological revolution and there has been cost reductions.India ,Ireland has benefited with the rise of BPO.There has been accusations that BPO has been making full advantage of low cost service from developing countries and there has been another accusation that local employment has diminished.But in reality BPO has helped in spreading wealth and that has been the true way of globalization.Kenichi Ohmae has been stating that wealth will be going directly to the hands of individual and from which the individual will be either spending the money or saving the money.In both cases ,it will be a success of economy.Spending more cash will make more brands to come and more business to flourish.China and countries like Philippines has also benefited with the BPO wave.
The rise of BPO has also led to transfer of clerical jobs to computer and that has helped the government to reduce their cost and increase their competitiveness.There can be better improvement of BPO service that will help in taking forward of borderless world.
The rise of BPO has been associated with the increased use of English as business language.There has been efforts to promote other international languages.That has not clicked and the use of English as business language has been spreading throughout Asia.
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Globalization has helped in changing the political atmosphere globally.Countries has been willing to share or enter agreements based on the returns that they can get.There has been more economical dealing with things rather than human rights issues.There has been no problem in doing business with China even though there has been doubts about their political stand and human right issues.
The same principle applies when doing business with America .America has been accused in indulging in war with Iraq and them have been accused of various human right issues.But that has not diminished the interest of business people to start business in America or trade with America.This has been well supported by the author Ohame.
Countries will have to become more technological and knowledge intensive to move forward.There has to be more proactive organizational involvement .Globalization has created borderless world and that has been seen the way government has been tackling terror links.Globally the world has been united against the terrorism and there has been concrete measures taken against terrorism.
Government has understood that technology is the future and government has not been reluctant to use web site as a platform for promoting their government initiatives.There has been more spending from government for tourism promotion and that has helped to attract tourist more.There has been more news about the political situation in Internet.
The government of a country will be competing with other governments to attract foreign direct investment to their country and there has been increased competition that has led to decreased barriers to economy.Like the author Ohame has pointed out ,it is the capital that has been ruling the world.There has been wavering of laws sometimes to attract extra investment.That has helped in creation of Special Economic Zones for business companies.China has been in forefront in creating SEZ and has helped to attract big companies to that area.
Government like China has been encouraging manufacturing that can takes on the world and there has been more scholarship that has been offered to students to travel outside and learn new things.
Government like UAE has been encouraging media companies and has set up Dubai Media City.Government has been willing to trade currency in US dollar.There has been another set of currencies like Euro ,Yen and Chinese currency.
Government has to be willing to encourage technological platforms like HTML and credit card ,ATMS and smart card.
Government has been willing to change the way they function and Indian government has been willing to make railways booking through Internet.That has helped to increase the revenue of railways.There has been change in the perception of government services and public services once they went online and that has been the biggest advantage of globalization.People has been able to book tickets , know about their investment , their bank statement without any hassles and that has helped the process of globalization a good one.
There has been effort from government to increase communications with big business houses using e-mail and there has been more transparency of contracts.There has been improvement in e-payment system and e-customer service system that has been improving the image of government services.Government has been willing to take the role of facilitator and that has been creating an environment for business.
CONCLUSION
The argument that this paper has been discussing has been the benefits of globalization and has been trying to support the arguments put forward by Kenichi Ohmae in book The Next Global Stage, Challenges and Opportunities in our Borderless World.The role of this essay has been to support the arguments put forward by Kenichi Ohmae .There has been more concrete efforts to support the role that has been displayed by e-business and e-commerce applications.The paper goes through the social networking sites , blogs,Internet,Internet TV,VOIP and BPO in support of the arguments put forward by Kenichi Ohmae .There has been a distant approach to the role that the government plays and the paper also argues that when government has taken to Internet as a medium , it has been able to get a new brand image.There has been an argument for the need of soft skills in the changing environment and that has been discussed in this paper.The paper has also discussed the role of banner ads and Internet in promoting the brand value of product.The paper has also been able to establish English as
universal language though there has been usage of other languages in Internet.
The statement made by Kenichi Ohmae that globalization will stay will remain true.This essay will also make a statement that economic prosperity is the key issue in todays globalworld and the currency has been revolving around US dollar.It is technology and knowledge based economies that will be driving forward the world rather than political role.The paper has not highlighted any human right issues or any other social issues that has been supposed to rise through globalization.The paper has also cited some relevant examples from countries like India and China.There has been mentioning of countries like Maldives and other countries like Sri Lanka,Philippines and so on.
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