Globalization with Social Issues and Public Policy - Assignment Example

Globalization, social issues and public policy Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: What do you understand by the term 'globalization'? What are the benefits and the costs of globalization? What are the key challenges posed by globalization for national governments? How has globalization impacted on the organization in which you work or are most familiar? Introduction It is an evident fact that the concept of globalization has received elevated attention in the recent decades. It has thus evolved into becoming a robust real aspect in the new world system and has been perceived by different scholars as representing one of the most prominent forces which will be core in determining the future course of the globe. It has also emerged that globalization manifests itself in diverse dimensions ranging from political, health, economic, security, socio-economic and cultural among others. It is imperative to note at this juncture that this concept was coined in the 1980s despite the term being an old one which has elicited diverse interpretations from different people. These interpretations have generated different reactions from scholars, policymakers as well as activists. The first school of thought led by scholars like Friedman (2000), Micklethwait, and Wooldridge (2000) among others perceives globalization as a potent force which is key in improving the economy of the world. There is also a second school of thought propelled by scholars like Stiglitz (2002), Hertz, (2001) and Bhagwati (2002) who view globalization as a severe danger to the economic system of the world. Despite this divergence of perceptions, it is apparent that globalization as a concept impacts on diverse realms in the contemporary world. Against this backdrop, this paper is focused on forwarding an understanding of the concept of globalization. It will also explore the benefits and costs of globalization as well as analyzing the challenges which are posed by globalization for national governments. Lastly, it will outline how globalization has impacted on the organization in which I work in or are I am most familiar with. The concept of globalization The definition of the concept of globalization has received enormous hitches in the past, with different individuals and collectives attempting to forward an all-encompassing definition of this term. The impediments in the development of a generic definition of this concept is anchored on the fact that globalization is not a single concept which can be generically encompassed and defined within a set timeframe. Additionally, it is not a process which can be subjected to a definition which is endowed with clarity from the beginning to the end (Al-Rodhan, 2006). However, despite these facts, it is plausible to note that globalization entails widespread economic integration, the transmission of knowledge, the relations, reproduction and discourses of power, the transfer of policies across the confines of national borders as well as cultural stability among other tenets. It has thus been perceived as a global process, a revolution, a concept and an establishment of a worldwide market which is divorced from socio-political controls. Globalization includes all these things which culminates in its generic definition being problematic (Al-Rodhan, 2006). Nonetheless, the definitions by Greengard (1995) and Al-Rodhan (2006) will be adopted in this paper for the purposes of subsequent analysis. According to this author, globalization can be defined as the system of interaction among different countries around the globe aimed at enhancing the development of the global economy. It thus encompasses technological, political, economic and cultural exchanges which are facilitated by the advances in transportation, telecommunication as well as advancement of other infrastructure. On the other hand, the definition of globalization by Al-Rodhan (2006) tends to encompass the above tenets by citing that globalization is a process which encompasses the causes, course as well as the impacts of transnational and transcultural integration of both the human and non-human activities. It has been evidenced by different scholars that globalization causes different costs as well as benefits in the contemporary world. Some of these will be explored in the subsequent section. Benefits and costs of globalization Some scholars like Taylor (2002) have determined that the success in the transition towards a more globalized world poses significant promises in terms of increased freedom of individuals and collectives as well as economic which will culminate in greater opportunities for all in the end. Nonetheless, despite this optimistic stance, it is fundamental to be cognizant of the fact that globalization which is a prominent trend in the contemporary world poses different benefits as well as costs. These are analyzed in the following section. Benefits Increased trade; globalization has the overall impact of elevating the degree of trade between countries. This is mostly related to the concept of market liberalization whereby the markets in various regions have been opened up to facilitate increased movement of goods and services. With the aid of enhanced infrastructure, this is bound to elevate the level of international trade which is beneficial to the different individuals, organizations and trading blocs. The above fact is supported by Intriligator (2003) who determined that as a result of increased trade at the international spectrum, this is bound to mutually benefit all the parties engaged in this exchange which include individuals, trading blocs, firms among other institutions, nations, continents as well as other entities. Elevated national competition; Despite the probable demerits of international competition in production, competition emanating from globalization is beneficial in terms of increasing efficiency and production. Intriligator (2003) revealed that competition and the eventual widening of the markets is central in eliciting specialization and division of labor among players in the global economy as envisioned by Adam Smith and other neoclassical economists expounding on the impacts of market systems. Thus, division of labor and specialization has the overall impact of increasing the level of production not only in the national but also in the global level. In addition, based on the fact that this phenomenon will culminate in different producers competing to manufacturer goods of the highest quality, this has the impact of enhancing the quality of goods in the market. Furthermore, increased competition is bound to positively benefit the consumers in terms of minimization of prices of these products as producers seek to expand their market share. These aspects are increasingly conducive to continued growth of the global economy both in the short and long-terms (Intriligator, 2003). Increased direct foreign investment (FDI); This is another benefit of globalization which is bound to elevate the level of finances invested in foreign countries. This benefit is mostly applicable to the developing economies whereby heightened globalization is bound to increase the amount of finances being injected into the local economies. Baker and Rawson (2002) cited that the money which flows into different countries, mostly developing economies in form of FDI is integral in financing new projects as well as increasing the volume of the savings pool from where the citizens of a given country can borrow and use these finances in investments. In addition, increased FDI in a given country is bound to impact in the reduction of poverty and unemployment levels. This is founded on the fact that the developed industries through these FDIs are an integral source of employment to local population which impacts on their living standards. Thus, FDI as a product of globalization is key in enhancing the economic growth, mostly in the developing economies. Technology transfer; globalization has been termed as a key facilitator of technology transfer from one region to the other. This is whereby technological knowhow is bound to diffuse from one region to the other as a result of enhancements in telecommunication and transport which positively impacts on production capacities. This is best epitomized by the transfer of technology from highly industrialized countries to emerging industrialized economies and facilitate the improvement of production in these latter countries. This fact is supported by Reddy (2000) who determined that new technologies which have been diffused in the wake of globalization have significantly changed the organization of industrial undertakings as well as the skills requirements in different fields of production. Thus, technology transfer has greatly benefited the production process in various countries. Cultural integration; This is the last benefit which will be analyzed in this section. Some scholars have cited that globalization is key in the movement of people from different cultural background who meet and get together in various functions. This has been perceived as being integral in forging culture relativity among different populations. Costs of globalization Some of the critics about the spread of globalization have identified several costs or potential problems which are emanate from globalization and perceived as massive perils. Increased economic inequality; globalization has been linked with increased exploitation of the underdeveloped countries as they get in the international trading system. This is whereby globalization has seen increased exploitation of resources in the developing countries as multinational companies expand their interests in these regions, for instance, mining companies. As a result, the economic benefits which are gained from these ventures are transferred back to the mother countries, with little economic advantage to the developing countries. This has thus heightened the level of inequality among nations in the world. This is supported by one of the UN report (2000) which revealed that increasing globalization in the world economy poses enormous dangers to the poorer countries, mostly in Africa. This makes them to be vulnerable to falling behind more development competitors in the increasingly globalized economy (Lawal, 2006). Global financial crisis; This basically emanates from the interdependence among different nations in the international spectrum. As a result, the fluctuations in the local economy of one country is bound to have regional or even global impacts. This is best epitomized by the exchange rate and financial crisis in Asia, which instigated in Thailand in 1997, spreading to Southeast Asian economies and even to South Korea and significantly contributed to the economic collapse of the Russian economy in August 1998 (Intriligator, 2003). Another example is the global financial slump in 2008 which instigated in the US, spread to other countries and continents and detrimentally affected the global economy. Culture erosion; one of the most robust criticism hulled against the spread of globalization has been that this process is central in the erosion of national culture and individual identities (Thoenig et. al., 2004). This is fueled by increased movement of people and spread of harmful information through various mediums, like the internet, for instance, pornographic materials which affect the cultural set-up of different populations. This has increasingly eroded the cultures and identities of various communities as their spheres are invaded by foreign cultures. All the above are some of the benefits as well as costs of globalization in the contemporary world. But what are the specific challenges which are posed by globalization for national governments? This question is addressed in the subsequent section. Challenges posed by globalization for national governments With the advent of globalization, diverse impediments are posed to the national governments around the world as expounded below. Alienation of the state sovereignty; Worthington (2001) determined that globalization is a great threat to the sovereignty of national governments. This is mostly contributed by two factors. Firstly, the changing character of international law as well as instruments like treaties has seen the elevated importance of multi-state corporations and non-governmental organizations in scrutinizing the domestic policies which are being formulated and implemented by the national governments. This undertaking has often impeded the implementations of policies which are perceived to be beneficial at the domestic level but viewed as negative by international agencies. As a result, national governments are obliged to comply with the set rules and regulations at the international platform even if they are not beneficial to their citizens for fear of being isolated by the international community. Secondly, there is the emergence of international crime, for instance global terrorism which make some national governments to greatly depend on international bodies like the UN security council. Both of these aspects have the overall impact of alienating the sovereignty and autonomy of the national governments. However, some proponents of globalization like Bertucci and Alberti (2001) have cited that despite of these extensive concerns over the loss of sovereignty by the national governments, states still remain to be relevant and key actors in both the national and international arena. However, the loss of autonomy of the national governments in independently making imperative decisions about their domestic affairs without external pressure cannot be ignored. Brain drain; Docquier and Rapoport (2011) determined that the number of international immigrants heightened from approximated 75 million in 1960 to around 190 million in 2005. Majority of these migrants are often skilled individuals destined to the developed countries where they perceive there are better opportunities. This erodes the human resource capital from the countries which are ‘exporting’ their manpower. This phenomena has been a major challenge confronting national government and has formed the basis of the formulation of different policies which are aimed at addressing this challenge. This is best epitomized by the ‘Bhagwati Tax’ policy which was proposed geared towards compensating the economic losses which are incurred as a result of skill outflow from the developing countries (Marchiori et. al., 2009). Thus, globalization which has been characterized by improvement of transport, technological and telecommunication networks has been central to propelling brain drain mostly from the developing countries to the developed countries which poses massive challenges to the national governments of latter countries. On the other hand, the inflation of the number of immigrants propelled by increased globalization has also been a major challenge to the national governments. This is mostly with the presumption of the fact that these immigrants who end up unemployed serves the purpose of further draining the national resources. This serves as a major challenge to the national governments in these countries as they try to institute policies to curtail the number of immigrates coming into their countries. Security threats; it is an evident fact that the advent of globalization has seen increased instances of newly emerging threats to national security. Technological transfer and advances in telecommunication have all contributed to increased security threats best epitomized by cybercrimes as well as the physical terrorist activities. In actual sense, Moses (2009) revealed that in the contemporary era of Homeland Security in the US, there have been a common perception that the 9/11 attack in the US was precipitated by foreign terrorists taking advantage of the porous borders of America. As a result, the national government embarked in beefing up the mechanisms of monitoring its national borders and literally sealing off the rest of the world. Thus, such phenomena brought about by increased globalization like elevated security threat continues to pose diverse challenges, not only in the US but also in other countries round the world. These countries have thus been obliged to increasingly invest in their domestic security as a result of the security issues which are brought forth by globalization in the contemporary world. How globalization has impacted on the organization in which I am most familiar with; Apple Inc. From a generic perspective, Apple Inc is a multinational company based in the US and specializes in the design, development and the eventual manufacturing of electronic equipment ranging from computers, smartphones and software. Globalization has affected this impacted on this organization both in positive and negative ways. In the positive side, globalization has seen this country expand outside the American borders to diverse regions around the world. This is propelled by the need to expand its consumer base in different regions of the world as well as taking advantage of resources in different regions of the world. In addition, globalization has facilitated the some of the most strategic moves by this company as a response to market dynamics. This is best epitomized by the move by Apple Inc. to shift its production of LCD displays from Quanta Computer to Hon Hai Precision Industry in 2002 (Chaffin, 2002). In addition, globalization has seen the diversification of the promotional portfolio of this company. This is propelled in technological advances brought about by increased globalization in the modern world. As a result, modern platforms like social media have become central to the promotional efforts of this company. On the other hand, globalization has been key in the outsourcing efforts of this company. As a result, Apple inc. has been able to integrate design and manufacturing facilities in countries like Singapore among others. This global network has helped this company in the development and launching of its products in its diverse markets in Asia, Europe and America. Nonetheless, some commentators like Rodriguez-Clair (2011) have cited that this trend of outsourcing by Apple Inc. has elevated the downsizing and unemployment rates in the mother country. On the negative side, globalization has increased the level of competition for this company with other international firm invading the local market of Apple Inc. These include Fujitsu Technology Solutions, MediaNet Digital and International Business Machines Corporation among others. Conclusion From the preceding discourse, it is apparent that the concept of globalization has taken a central stage in the recent decades. The efforts to define this concept have been problematic based on the diverse facets that it encompasses. Globalization has been perceived to have benefits ranging from increased trade, cultural integration, elevated national competition, increased FDI and technology transfer among others. However, this paper has also revealed that globalization has various costs ranging from increased economic inequality, global financial crisis as well as culture erosion among others. Towards the end of this paper, the challenges posed by globalization for national governments have also been reviewed. These range from brain drain, security threats and alienation of the state sovereignty. Lastly, this paper has reviewed how globalization has impacted on Apple Inc. This is in terms of market expansion, diversification of the promotional portfolio, expansion of outsourcing capacities as well as increased competition in the international spectrum. References Al-Rodhan, N.R. (2006). 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Retrieved March 21st , 2013 from http://ejas.revues.org/7715 Reddy, P. (2000). Globalization of Technology: Issues in Technology Transfer and Technological capability building. Retrieved March 21st , 2013 from http://www.eolss.net/Sample-Chapters/C15/E1-31.pdf Rodriguez-Clair, A. (2011). On the Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Globalization on the United States. Retrieved March 21st , 2013 from http://ceg.berkeley.edu/research_126_469898021.pdf Stiglitz, J. E., (2002). Globalization and Its Discontents, New York: W.W. Norton. Taylor A.M. (2002).Globalization, trade, and development: Some lessons from history. Working Paper 9326, Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research. Thoenig, M. et. al., (2004). Globalization and The Dynamics of Cultural Identity. Retrieved March 21st , 2013 from http://www.econ.puc-rio.br/pdf/thierry%20verdier.pdf Worthington, G. (2001). Globalization: Perceptions and Threats to National Government in Australia. Retrieved March 21st , 2013 from http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/parllib_globalisation.pdf Read More