Globalization, Term Paper Example

“Social change is now proceeding so rapidly that if a social scientist had proposed as recent as 15 years ago to write a book about globalization they would have had to overcome a wall of stony and bemused comprehension.”(Globalization, 2001) Although the word ‘global’ is over 400 years old,the common usage of such words as ‘globalization’, ‘globalize’ and ‘globalizing’  didn`t begin until the early 1960^th. The definition of globalization has changed with the years including more and more specific features, starting from the general dictionaries and ending up with the WWW, where more than two or three hundred definitions from more than 101 thousand websites can be found. “Globalization is a process of interacting and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.”(Globalization, 2008)

The discussion of economic aspectalong with multidimensional set of social processes is one of the significant parts of any integral account of globalization. In fact, the transformative powers of globalization affect deeply the economic, political, cultural, technological, and ecological dimensions of contemporary social life.

The economic sense of globalization can be studied on the example of multinational companies and brands which influence all aspects of our lives. It is a common knowledge that the process itself refers to all of the competitors, who are involved, and today the global trade seems to widen greatly as the pragmatic calculations broaden the national economies.

As far as I`m concerned, Wal-Mart is one the most competitive and intense partakersall over the world. Launched on July 2, 1962 as the Discount city store, Wal-Mart sky rocked up to over two million employees, more than 6200 stores and the record $408.21 revenue. Figures are phenomenal, so is the influence Wal-Mart has on the whole economy of the United States. The “Save Money Live Better” slogan is of extreme benefit to the customer, but when it comes to the vendors, they always face extreme challenge when operating with the giant. Over the years Wal-Mart has become so powerful that there is hardly any supplier, who didn`t think of mutually beneficial cooperation. There are lots of examples when it had become a desperate need and the only redemption for the companies to sign up a contract even if it was far from what they were expecting. Companies just have to obey the rules set up by Wal-Mart, if not the shelves of the supermarket will be used in another way. In my opinion the passage is a bright example of how the ‘globalization’ influences the development modern business. Wal-Mart has reached a point when it makes own rules, outsources the manufacturers, implements environmental measures, makes companies change their policies and for sure the vast boost of the ‘global’ business development.

Having the economic backbone ‘globalization’ meets no borders and eventually moves to the most economically profitable places. I was taken aback by the article about the Galesbourg Maytag plant closure and the fact that from the economic point of view it was an unavoidable measure. Companies like Maytag outsource the production out of country and from the first view the case of the Galesbourg Maytag plant is local in its size,however over 2.7 manufacturing jobs are lost for last decade. Shifts out of the country benefit Mexico and China and as a result the record $600 billion trade deficit and as a consequence the fallen value of dollar is definitely to be considered as a drawback. Despite the fact that the union made an effort to increase productivity and the Maytag was still profitable, the position has dropped. The laid-off workers have to make both ends meet by working as a welder or compete with their kids for Wal-Mart jobs for example. Overall, the article depicts us the severe truth of today`s business realities.

Medical tourism is nothing new and it is likely for the most sophisticated folks to visit specific professionals from another country or their choice depends on the unique specialties the place offers. But when talking about the medical tourism to Bangkok or New Dehli, personally I find it absolutely amusing. The medical system of the United States is doubtless cutting edge and for sure if it was the question of service most of the Americans wouldn`t even try to find alternatives, but when it comes to the actual price, the situation changes a lot. It turns out that some people would rather fly thousands of miles away to spend less money for the surgeries that couldn`t afford here in the United States. For most of the Americans the benefits of the medical tourism cannot be denied as they have an opportunity to save money, get acquainted with new culture and for most of them it is a chance of a lifetime. Becoming more and more popular, the hospitals pay attention to their reputation as they apply for the accreditation, contribute a lot in the overall impression of the visitors and there is no wonder why the trend accelerates a lot. What is more, medical outsourcing is becoming one of the popular forms of business as the executives report the increasing figures as the time frame reduced significantly and there is no longer a probability to wait for a year or more. It seems to me if pointing out the definite advantages of globalization, medical tourism is one of the blessings the modern world offers us. Personally I think that health is the most important god given gifts and the fact that we have an opportunity to choose makes me feel proud.

All in all the prime goal of my term paper is to decide whether globalization is a force for good or bad and that’s a tricky question, for sure “the globalization has transformed the nature of economic activity.” (Globalization: a critical introduction,2000) Working on the paper I realized that it is rather hard to figure out all pros and cons of globalization just by learning the theory, as the real life examples show us how rich the meaning of globalization is. From my point of view, if taking into consideration the challenge that is forcing the global development and increases our life standards, I`d say that pluses overweigh minuses. Unfortunately, it is next to impossible to avoid drawbacks as some of the cases seem not to be that positive and show us the reverse side of the medal. Still we have to admit the fact that globalization is taking over and having own opinion about this process is an indispensible part of building a successful future.

References

Donald J. Boudreaux (2008). Globalization (1^st Ed.). Westport, CT.

Jan Aart Scholte (2000). Globalization(1^st Ed.). London

Malcolm Waters (2001). Globalization (2^nd Ed.). New York, NY