Globalization and the World's poor - Term Paper Example

Though globalization caused major positive changes in the economy, society and business, it has also been argued that globalization increased the numbers of poor worldwide. This piece of research paper presents a brief analysis on various theories of globalization and explains its impacts on world’s poor. Conceptual Framework and forces of Globalization Globalization is the process of social, political, cultural, economic and technological integration between countries. From the economic point of view, globalization refers to the increasing interdependence between national economies, business enterprises and markets.

The term globalization refers to the intensification of world-wide social and economic relations that link distant countries or regions in a way that local happenings are shaped by event elsewhere. Salvatore (2005, p. 17) argued that globalization is inevitable because of that consumers around the world are increasingly demanding products and services to converge their requirements. Firms are to outsource parts and components from wherever in the world and they must invest their capital and technology wherever they are highly productive so that they can remain internationally competitive.

The major four driving forces of globalization are detailed below: 1- Global Market Forces As and when enterprises globalize, they too become global customers and this increases the potential for global markets. Hill (2004, p. 6) noted that globalization of markets refers to the merging of historically distinct and isolated national markets in to one huge global market place. Due to globalization, people across the world have gained access to quality goods and services from aboard and companies were forced to seek materials, technology and labor from other countries.

A company that goes global requires purchasing of required materials and therefore it becomes a customer of another company. The concept of globalization of market state that markets are globalized since enterprises that went global required to meet specific as well as common requirements of its customers and hence they too became customers of foreign markets. The underlying concept was that the tastes and preferences of people in different nations were to converge on some global norm and thereby helping to create a global market place.

2- Global Cost Forces Dornier, Ernst and Fender (1998, p. 77) emphasized that globalization has also been driven by the comparative cost advantage of some countries in various inputs to the manufacturing process. Raw-materials, labor and technology are major inputs and they are often cheaper in some countries as compared to that of some other countries. Reducing unit costs and achieve economies of scale is a management goal. Globalizing products and services is one means of achieving such economies of scale so that production costs can be reduced.

3- Technological Forces Technology changes almost everyday and this has tremendously been impacting the pace and effectiveness of the business. A business that can use latest technology for manufacturing and marketing a particular product will be more able to meet customers’ requirements as their tastes and preferences are largely influenced by the technology advances. Using latest technology thus has become an integral part of global strategic approach for achieving sustainable