Globalization : The World Is Flat Review Essay

When it comes to globalization, everyone may have a different vision of it’s outcome. For Marcelo Gleiser, the author of “Globalization: Two visions of the Future of Humanity”, a completely globalized world may result in a dystopia. In contrast, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the author of “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization” and Tanveer Ali, the creator of “The Subway Falafel Sandwich and the Americanization of Ethnic Food” may think of globalization as other cultures sharing each other’s components to interact on a new level and spurring a more “open-minded” (Ali 27) individual.

“Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology” (“What Is Globalization?”). Globalization’s efforts to produce a higher international trade and reduce expensive fees on imports has multiple advantages and disadvantages that all play a role into this major topic such as a decrease of child labor, decrease of expenses on imports, an increase of communication between countries, a loss of American jobs, and an intense international drug trade.

Buzzwords such as globalization and terrorism have dominated political rhetoric for the past quarter-century. Assessing the benefits that come with globalization — namely, the disbursement of free trade, democratic values, cultural and informational intermingling, etc. — one would expect an increased quality of life across the board. Yet it appears that inequality and bloodshed has only aggrandized as a result of this worldwide integration of goods and ideas. Rather than fostering a universal understanding of humanity amongst nations and their imagined communities, globalization seems to have exacerbated primitive fears about the unknown — “the others”. Minorities have become further systematically marginalized by those in power (the elite), and political and cultural violence, both literal and symbolic, is at its prime.

1). Choose a current issue as it relates to any one topic we have covered over the course of the semester to explore cross-cultural variations in culture change as it relates to globalization. What is your issue? How does this issue relate to any one topic we have covered over the course of the semester?

Globalization is the process of integrating culture and economy among people, businesses, and governments of different nations. It is facilitated by media, international financing institutions, trade agreements, and national immigration policy. In terms of flows of products, companies can expand globally through the international free market in order to exploit cheap labor in the production of goods. The national market may be dominated by companies that expands their business overseas, such as Walmart who imports products from more than 200,000 suppliers internationally. This can produce inequalities on different levels. For one, there is a wealth disparity for corporations in the Western world who are benefitting more than the people producing the goods, and typically the cheap labor is found in countries that have unstable economies and therefore can be exploited. In addition, local businesses face inequalities as they are outcompeted by companies in the global

Globalization is when a company extends their business to other countries outside of their current location (businessdictionary). Companies are looking to aggressively grow and a way from them to achieve the growth goal is through globalization. In addition, for companies to stay competitive they need to make a global presence (diplomacy.edu). In 2011, American companies saw an average of 15% of their revenues from overseas. Likewise, major companies saw substantial revenues from overseas include Walmart at 26%, General Electric at 54%, Boeing at 41%, and Amazon at 41% (Newman, 2011). In addition, the major companies employee an average of 750,00 people across the global, Walmart alone employees 2.3

The world is flat again, but it has nothing to do with the whether or not the Earth is spherically shaped. This analysis has to do with the globalized 21st century world we live in and how we navigate the business world which now includes access to information, culture, politics and economy from all the nations of the world. It’s a notion that is both exciting and scary if you think about it, as author Thomas L. Friedman writes in his book The World Is Flat. Friedman is an expert on the nuances of globalization and is noted for his writings for The New York Times, winning the Pulitzer Prize three times as their foreign affairs columnist. In 2005 The World Is Flat was given the first Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. In his book he writes about how we got to this point of globalization, and further explains the importance of a number of important factors that facilitate business globalization. He calls these factors “Flatteners,” which include work flow software, outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining and the effects of globalization for developing countries and those already showing up in great force on the global economic playing field.

Globalization is the process in which a world-wide circulation of goods, ideas, and people takes place. Historically, there were two periods of profound expansion, the 15th and 16th century and 20th and 21st century. In both cases, these eras of globalization were preceded by periods of enriched thinking, sharing, and scientific revolutions. The renaissance is a prime example of an era when ideas and knowledge flourished and spread throughout Europe. This newfound age of discovery resulted in global territorial and population alterations. The renaissance spurred the discoveries of land and resources and their subsequent importance in achieving objective of western supremacy. Consequently, a wave of innovation assembled new navigational techniques and stimulated the mass manufacture of ships. The first glimpse of globalization, was the driving forces of “serving God, the King and also to get rich” and the centers were Spain and Portugal followed by the Netherlands and England (Strayer pg.621). During the 15th century, empires expanded, commerce thrived and ideas were nourished. The Industrial Revolution took old and western nations began a new round of empire building in Asia and Africa, that global network tightened further, and its role as generator of social and cultural change only increased. (Of the 19th century spurred the technological advances of communication and transportation which disbanded the barriers of distance and time.) Moving into the 20th century,

“The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman, all came about because he wanted to warn the environment for governments, businesses and individuals that they must stay informed and learn to become ahead of the trends to compete in the ever-evolving world. Friedman's point is obvious that we need to be well-prepared and be educated about this matter, because this trend is undeniable and unstoppable. He finds that it not just exciting, but that is also terrifying because it is not just companies competing, it individuals as well. His notion of world becoming flat emerges from the convergence of two ideas; the global is becoming an entirely new playing field; and the complexness of 21st century globalization. In explaining what is causing the world

Globalization is the process regarding an increasing interaction of people, states, or countries through the growth of the international flow of money, ideas, and culture. It can also be tied to business ventures where businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. The idea of globalization has become very controversial in the United States labor market. There are many pros and cons on how it affects the labor markets. Along with the labor market controversy people also debate over whether globalization is a threat or opportunity to the United States economy. Although Globalization has brought a significantly positive impact on most countries in terms of economy, culture, and politics, it also has left some drawbacks behind on the same aspects.

The term globalisation describes the process of becoming worldwide in scope or application, and the increasing interdependency of nation-sates. At least - that gives us one loose definition for globalisation, but as Scholte (2000) realises, globalisation is a thoroughly contested subject, with arguments extend across the issue of definition as well as measurement, chronology, explanation and normative judgement. In fact, Scholte identifies five contrasting definitions for the word 'globalisation ' as used by a number of the subject 's commentators and critics - internationalisation, liberalisation, universalisation, western/modernisation and deterrioralisation are (2000: 13).

Friedman goes on to his second part of the book, “America and the Flat World,” he states that America isn’t and shouldn’t be afraid of this flattening. Free trade is still in their best interest, as long as there are demands, people are required to produce them. He points out that China and India are only racing Americans to the top, thus only promoting higher standards for everyone.

The advent of the internet has allowed for rapid access to world markets. Knowing how to use the internet for globalization activities can be very beneficial for a company. In this dotcom economy, everything can be produced anywhere and sold anywhere. The internet has given many companies a new view on how to handle global business needs.

As individuals global forces drive our lives but to what extent do these forces influence and shape the world? Globalisation is described by the financial times to be the ‘process by which national and regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through the global network of trade, communication, immigration and transportation.’ Integration across the planet brings every individual together with a shared sense of purpose where as interdependency goes beyond this. It implies that we rely on and need each other. Across the world there is an interdependency through all countries that needs to be there for the world to function effectively. The pace and intensity of globalisation has transformed over recent years. My generation may not see the change as it has been part of our lives since birth but older generations may have saw the rise of globalisation throughout their time. Even though this transformation has happened it is still important to remember that some segments of the world are more globally connected than others.

The technological development that characterizes the past several decades has triggered a communications enhancement around the globe. Interconnectedness between people is greater every day; goods, services, money, and information are exchanged between the furthermost parts of the world. International travel and communication now represent ordinary aspects of life. This phenomenon is called globalization.