There was a time when most regions were economically self-sufficient. Locally produced foods, fuels and raw materials were generally processed for local consumption. Trade between different regions was quite limited.
Today, the economies of most countries are so interconnected that they form part of a single, interdependent global economy.
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What is globalization?
It is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture.
Globalization began in the 19th century. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the connectivity of the world’s economies and cultures grew very quickly.
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Types of Globalization
1. Economic
Countries that trade with many others and have few trade barriers are economically globalized.
2. Social
A measure of how easily information and ideas pass between people in their own country and between different countries (includes access to internet and social media networks).
3. Political
The amount of political co-operation there is between countries.
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Globalization Involving Us All
Nearly 23 trillion dollars accounts for the total value of import/export that cross national borders each year.
One shirt sold in the United States could have been made from Chinese cotton by workers in Thailand. Then it could have been shipped on a French freighter that had a Spanish crew.
Cells phones connect people all over the world like never before. Around 60 percent of all people in the world use cell phones.
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The effect of Globalisation
1. Changed Food Supply – food supply is no longer tied to the seasons. We can buy any food anywhere in the world at any time of the year.
2. Division of Labour – because MNCs search for the cheapest locations to manufacture and assemble components, production processes may be moved from developes to developing countries where costs are lower.
3. Improved Communications – the development of communication technologies such as internet, email and mobile phones have been vital to the growth of globalization because they help multinational corporation (MNC) to operate throughout the world.
The development of satellite TV channels such as Sky and CNN have also provided worldwide marketing avenues for the concept and products of globalization.
4. Improved Transport – the development of refrigerated and container transport, bulk shipping and improved air transport has allowed the easy mass movement of goods throughout the world. The assits globalization.
5. The Growth of MNCs – The rapid growth of big MNCs such as Microsoft, McDonalds and Nike is cause as well as a consequence of globalization.
6. Globalization lets countries do what they can do best. If, for example, you buy cheap steel from another country you don’t have to make your own steel. You can focus on computers or other things.
7. Globalization gives you a larger market. You can sell more goods and make more money. You can create more jobs.
8. Consumers also profit from globalization. Products become cheaper and you can get new goods more quickly.
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1. Globalization causes unemployment in industrialized countries because firms move their factories to places where they can get cheaper workers.
2. Globalization may lead to more environmental problems. A company may want to build factories in other countries because environmental laws are not as strict as they are at home. Poor countries in the Third World may have to cut down more trees so that they can sell wood to richer countries.
4. Some of the poorest countries in the world, especially in Africa, may get even poorer. Their population is not as educated as in developed countries and they don’t have the new technology that we do.
5. Human‘s, animal‘s and plant‘s diseases can spread more quickly through globalization.