What is Globalisation?
Globalisation is a simple term, yet it is hard to be defined.
With the advancement of Information Communication and Technology, the world has become more and more interconnected. Never before in human history has such intense relationship with each other. The relationship is built up through international trading, communication and culture. In other words, the world is becoming one large market, rather than just a series of separate national markets. It also means that same goods and services can be found not just in one country, but throughout the world. This is what we called, the ‘globalisation’.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word ‘globalisation’ means
With the advancement of Information Communication and Technology, the world has become more and more interconnected. Never before in human history has such intense relationship with each other. The relationship is built up through international trading, communication and culture. In other words, the world is becoming one large market, rather than just a series of separate national markets. It also means that same goods and services can be found not just in one country, but throughout the world. This is what we called, the ‘globalisation’.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word ‘globalisation’ means
“The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.”
Just turn and look around, you will see a lot of things that have been globalised, such as your cell phone.
From the picture above, we can see that globalisation has affected the world enormously, as well as our daily lives. The main thing that globalisation has caused is it increases the competition among businesses. There are several factors that lead to this issue.
- Countries that used not to have advanced manufacturing industries have been developing rapidly especially China and countries which used to import many of the goods they needed. Now they have strengthened their own manufacturing industries and this causes them to export more and import less than ever. As a result, world competition becomes more intensive.
- 20 years ago, there were no handphones, no computers or laptops. Most importantly, no internet was provided to the people. Therefore, there were very least communication between the people, that was why globalisation did not happen frequently in the old days. But now, with the improvement of technology and the access of internet, communication between every parts of the world is no longer a trouble to the people in the modern days. It has made the world easier to compare prices and qualities of goods not just locally, but internationally.
- Free trade agreements and economic unions have reduced protection for industries. Thus, consumers are able to buy products and obtain services from other countries without any import controls.
How Globalisation affects Poverty?
Globalisation can be both threat and benefit to certain businesses in certain countries. It indeed raises the standard of living of many people. However at the same time it drags people deeper into poverty too. Not all people that suffer from poverty get into worse situation of life because of globalisation. As globalisation goes up, competition among businesses become more intense. A business needs to be extended so that they can increase their output of production. To do so, they need more labour and this gives more opportunity of work to the poor families.
Some businesses got worse because of globalisation, especially small businesses and third world countries. Their inability to develop their technology causes lower sales of production compared to others. As a result, they are unable to catch up with the businesses that benefit from globalisation. The workers then lose their jobs and this influence their daily lives.
Some businesses got worse because of globalisation, especially small businesses and third world countries. Their inability to develop their technology causes lower sales of production compared to others. As a result, they are unable to catch up with the businesses that benefit from globalisation. The workers then lose their jobs and this influence their daily lives.