SPECIAL REPORT—The potential upside of a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement to liberalize trade, investment, and regulatory barriers between the United States and the European Union is substantial. The economic benefits are estimated to be in the range of a $125 billion annual boost to GDP on each side of the Atlantic.

In business, as in life, short-term thinking never works for very long. Many leaders are content to look only at what is immediately in front of them. While it may be tempting to behave this way in an increasingly complex and interdependent world, such narrow, near-sighted leadership hardly serves the organizations and systems we are a part of. Bigger systems naturally require bigger, broader thinking.

Three decades after the beginning of China’s opening and reform, the stories of Western companies struggling and often failing to enter the Chinese market due to a lack of understanding of local characteristics have become commonplace. But now that more Chinese companies are seeking to “go out” and expand their brands globally, the same can increasingly be said for the opposite side of the coin.

SPECIAL REPORT—Emerging markets continue to grow considerably faster than the United States. And Developing Asia’s economic growth is stronger than other regions. In fact, it is anticipated to achieve a GDP growth rate of 7.1 percent this year and 7.7 percent by 2018, according to IMF data. Much of Developing Asia’s relatively strong performance today is based on its past efforts in lowering tariff levels and successfully integrating with world markets.