The Impact of Globalisation and Transnationals on the Local Economic Development of UK - Coursework Example

The process was interrupted and reversed from 1914 to after World War II’ (World Economic Outlook, 1997)Globalization is a term ‘variously employed, even by experts within a single discipline; moreover, there is a substantial debate, not only about its definition, but also about whether it is actually occurring, its significance, and how it shapes our future’ [8]. At its most accepted form globalization ‘rests upon, or simply is the growth in the international exchange of goods, services, and capital, and the increasing levels of integration that characterize economic activity; in this sense, globalization, is only another word for internationalization’ [8]The location and the description of an accurate description of globalization is not an easy task.

In fact, there are numerous theories that have been stated in this field. From a first view, it has been noticed that ‘globalization means different things to different people’. Furthermore, it has been stated that globalization may have a broad and narrow interpretation. In its broadest sense, the term ‘encompasses all types of economic and cultural transfers between nations – including domination of the media and widespread use of the World Wide Web’ whereas in a narrower sense, ‘it refers to the economic exchange of goods and services internationally and international financial flows’ (Carr et al., 2001, 2).

As for the economic aspect of globalization, this can be described only as a net of activities and events related to both the global and the local economies. In this context, it has been found (Carr et al., 2001, 2) that ‘global trade and investment patterns are having a dramatic impact on employment relations and work arrangements around the world but there is no single meaning of economic globalization for the global workforce’. It seems that ‘the impact can be both negative and positive and differs by context, by industry and trade, and by employment status’.

From another point of view, Guillen (2001, 235) considered globalization as ‘a process fueled by, and resulting in, increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, money, people, information, and culture or as the decoupling of "instantiation" between space and time’.