Globalization - Annotated Bibliography Example

Penbe Bolat Gail S. Gabriel Globalization: (Management 102) 03 April (word count = 611 of text only) Introduction Globalization is a fairly recent phenomenon in human history. Globalization means the international integration of various national economies into the world economy. It includes all aspects of trade in products, services, transfer of funds, and movement of people. Culturally, globalization refers to the free interchange of ideas, practices, and world view of many ethnic groups. Globalization is a major challenge for big businesses and multinational corporations due to the different national markets which they serve.

Globalization started in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries due to European imperialism and colonialism but it continues in todays global environment due to new information and communication technologies. A firm aspiring today to be successful must be adaptable and flexible in a globalized environment. Discussion Most businesses today place globalization as one of their top concerns. This is because globalization is the future of any successful business; it is a rapidly-growing challenge as the world economy gets more integrated due to the accelerating trend of globalization.

Any firm that aspires to be successful must tackle the issue of globalization, in particular the cultural or local characteristics of a foreign national market. This means management must consider the local context when making vital decisions such as on strategy, hiring or marketing. Although global markets can be considered as borderless, there are local issues that need to be solved or considered when entering or penetrating a new market (OMeara, Mehlinger, & Krain 101). It may be incorrect to adapt a one-size fits-all global strategy when it comes to national markets because countries can differ significantly on cultural practices and beliefs.

There is truth to an old adage when it concerns globalization and is a good warning: Think global but act local. Perhaps the most challenging part of globalization is the management of people who belong to various ethnic groups. Cultural diversity presents special challenges to management with the main task of bringing out the best in people coming from various backgrounds. It is a difficult task of unifying people towards a common corporate objective. Modern globalization is evolving and the new paradigm today is “Think local, act global” (Park & Hirowatari 238).

Understanding foreign cultures is essential to everything. It is the key to successfully entering a new market or introducing a new product or service to existing markets. It is easy to adapt a general global strategy but success ultimately depends on a localized strategy that will take into account local conditions or the local context. An example is workers attitudes to certain management issues which differ from country to country (Levesque & Murray 40). Globalization has likewise made international markets much more competitive.

It is an accepted fact the world is getting “flatter” with the development and adoption of new or faster information and communications technologies (ICT). Newly-emergent or highly-disruptive competitors can appear practically overnight elsewhere in the globe with better products and cheaper prices. An example is re-emergent China after joining the WTO (McNally 741). It has an entirely different concept of capitalism that involves a strong government role. Conclusion The future of any successful business enterprises lies with a globalization strategy.

It is admitted that globalization has made the task of management much more complicated but this is not a deterrence for any good manager. The challenge is to meet globalization head-on by the adoption of appropriate strategies through a better understanding of international markets and foreign cultures. In addition, a successful global manager must create new markets so that competition is left behind rather than compete in existing markets (Kim & Mauborgne 105). A good global manager needs to be paranoid and be alert for new threats (Grove 15).

Annotated Bibliography Grove, Andy. Only the paranoid survive: How to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company and career. New York, NY, USA: Currency/Doubleday, 1996. Print. This book discussed how the greatest enemy of management is complacency in the face of new competition. It is a good companion book for additional research on globalization especially in view of heightened competition nowadays. It should be included in any research work on management and globalization to detect emerging threats. Kim, W. Chan, and Renee Mauborgne.

“Blue Ocean Strategy: From Theory to Practice.” California Management Review 47.3 (2005): 105-121. Print. This article is an excellent resource for any further research work into globalization. This is an article written by two eminent management experts and should be highly considered as an additional resource for a manager aspiring to be successful in a globalized world. This is a well-researched book and very accurate too. Levesque, Christian, and Gregor Murray. “Local versus Global: Activating Local Union Power in the Global Economy.

” Labor Studies Journal 27.3 (2002): 39-65. Print. This journal article examines the power relationship between management and labor unions in a global context. It offers a good discussion for top management people because it offers insights into how to properly manage employees in different cultural contexts. This article is very helpful when dealing with most labor issues today. McNally, Christopher A. “Sino-Capitalism: Chinas Reemergence and the International Political Economy.” World Politics 64.4 (2012): 741-776. Print. This journal article offers excellent insights and a good example of how government action or intervention can affect a nations economy and how it in turn affects the globalization in trade.

China is a unique case because of its dual systems of capitalist approaches to globalization but communist political control with a rigid hierarchy. It is a good article and can be included in a future research work because it gives a valuable insight into how Chinese capitalism differs from Western types of capitalism. OMeara, Patrick, Howard D. Mehlinger, and Matthew Krain. Globalization and the Challenges of a New Century: A Reader. Bloomington, IN, USA: Indiana University Press, 2000. Print.

This book is a good introduction to the general topic of globalization. It contains the different viewpoints offered by various major thinkers on the issue of globalization. The authors wrote a good book which can serve as a good foundation in international economics. The book contents are very persuasive on the benefits of globalization. Park, Sung-Jo, and Seigo Hirowatari. Strategies towards Globalization: European and Japanese Perspectives. Berlin, Germany: Books on Demand, 2002. Print. This book discusses many aspects globalization such as legal systems, environment, global finance, and trade distribution systems.

It is not advisable to use this book due to its varied topics which has limited value only to the specific issues being discussed.