Globalization Case

Globalization

The term globalization is very easily defined and millions of examples can be given on how globalization is a part of every day life. In a nutshell, globalization is the circulation of language, ideas, and culture. The driving engine behind all of this is vast. Transportation, complex communication systems, migration, economics, and militaries all play a role in Globalization. A main contributor is economic activity. In the twenty-first century, specifically in the United States, research dollars are spent, markets are tested and a product is designed. Will the parts and assembly for the product take place in the United States? The answer is no. International agreements are made and the cost for a ready use product is drastically reduced by allowing businesses to form commercial groupings. As you could imagine, businesses are very fond of this agreement as it offers huge profits to businesses. Complications however can arise due to different standards and product quality expecations.

Technology over the past 100 years has had a large affect on the way we communicate. Inventions such as the fax machine, computers, wireless cell phones, and even GPS changed everything. Time and distance has become almost an irrelevant problem due to the advancement of communication. In central Europe you can board a maglev and be in another country in less than two hours. If you have market statistics ready for a product but need urgent interpretation, files are uploaded, the email is sent and the receiving party will have priceless information in less than a few seconds. The Internet has changed the way that business and trade is done. Barriers were dropped and allowed transactions between individuals and businesses to blossom worldwide. This allowed faster communication between production facilities and coporations, which in turn allowed a more detailed response and updates for customers. Information is everything in this new era and the speed that it can travel is increasing rapidly, making past genius innovations obsolete solely because of speed. Ten years ago 56K Dial up speed was amazing to new users, now top engineers employed at the Volkswagen North American Headquarters can instantaneously view 3D modeling with engineers in Germany and render corrections or improvements within seconds.

Another key part of globalization is culture. Many people agree that globalization has made a decline in local culture and has even caused assimilation. Cultures over time have been lost. Whole languages, traditions, and identities have been erased by the integration of other cultures. Old members of original cultures become indistinguashable from members of the newly formed culture. Popular cultures become gradually adopted due to political standpoints or superiority. American culture is one of the most dominant cultures currently. During the World Wars, U.S. products expanded into the markets quickly and now American culture is making an impact internationally. Mass communication advancement, including TV, motion pictures, internet, and the placement of U.S. corporations abroad is causing huge growth. Many oversees fear that Americanized culture is a threat to all cultures and could disrupt or destroy countries economies, religions and traditions. The 1999 PIPA poll showed 60% of Americans have a positive view of American culture while 39% did not. In recent years those statitistics have changed dramatically to 55% favorable and 44% unfavorable. A total change of 10% both ways. Americans however do not feel that the U.S. Culture is a threat to the world. In 2001, Greenberg Quinlan and Rosner ( a successful research company) presented a list of potential causes of terrorism, just 10% of participants cited the expansion of the United States' Culture as one of their choices while other threatening countries such as Afghanistan were cited by over 21%. In terms of other cultures influencing the United States, Americans are accepting and express interest and an overall postive attitude. Many view the integration of foreign cultural ideas as a positive, making the United States more diverse. A 1999 Pew poll showed that 71% of U.S. citizens agreed that diversity was at the core of the nation's success in the twenty-first century.

To say whether something is either good or bad in my personal opinion would be too judgmental. I believe that just like anything else in life, there are both pros and cons to globalization. Economically, globalization is a catch 22. Corporations and production facilities are taken oversees or contracted out to lower the cost of production. This for consumers is good. This installs competition and selection into the market allowing for consumers to get a product that is both fitting and economically feasable for there standard of living. However, this also is bad for consumers. Corporations such as IBM, Facebook, Cisco, Dell, and Ebay are all based oversees in Ireland due to current U.S Tax laws. Companies move operations oversees to save tax money, such as the 21% difference in corporate taxation between the United States