Globalisation –

It’s a Small
World After All
In the past, it would take us three years to circle around
the world. Now, we can just take two flights and circle around
the world in eighteen hours. The world has become smaller
metaphorically. In one country, we can find many different
ethnic groups living together harmoniously. One example is
Singapore. The Chinese, Indian and Malay people of Singapore
are living together harmoniously. But why did the Chinese,
Malay and Indian people choose to settle in Singapore, an
island with few natural resources?
Advancements in communications have allowed people to
interact and exchange information with various parties on the
other side of the globe. In addition, advancement in transport
have also increased the accessibility of places. As a result of
such technological advancements, information, ideas, cultures
and values can also spread from one place to another easily
and this is known as globalisation.
The first factor that affects globalisation is
communications. TV, telephony and Internet have allowed us to
communicate with each other instantly. If an epidemic takes
place in Mexico, we will be able to know it instantly in
Indonesia. The second factor is transport. Transport has
become cheap and quick. People from other countries can
travel to developed countries to find better-paid jobs.
Businesses can more easily ship products and raw materials all
over the world making products and services from one place
available to many countries. The last factor that affects
globalisation is trade liberisation. This is when governments
offer grants and incentives to foreign companies when those
companies set up a branch in their country. This persuades
globalisation to take place because when foreign companies set
up a branch in another country, the company will spread its
information, ideas, culture and values to the country in which it
sets up its branch.
Globalisation has many positive effects. The first
advantage is when TNCs or transnational companies set up a
branch in a country; it helps the country’s native people by
providing them with new jobs and skills. TNCs also bring wealth
to the country whenthey buy local resources, products and
services.
The second advantage is people from different parts of the
world mix with each other and therefore this enable the sharing
of ideas between the two groups of people. For example, when
Marco Polo went to China, he noticed that the people were
eating noodles. When he went to Italy, he brought that idea and
transformed it into spaghetti.
Globalisation can help make people aware of events in far-
away parts of the world. For example, as soon the tsunami that
took place on December 26th 2004 in Aceh occurred, people
from the U.K. instantly were alerted and organisationssuch as
F.E.M.A. and Red Cross could arrive in Aceh as soon as possible
to give them food and other necessary items.
However, some trade unionists, anti-poverty campaigners
and environmentalists think that globalisation is doing more
bad and good. The first disadvantage of globalisation is the rich
countries are getting richer while there is little development for
the poor countries. The poor countries are being use d by the
richer countries and so the poorer countries are getting poorer
and the richer countries are getting richer. The gap between
the poor and the rich is widening.
The second disadvantage of globalisation is the abuse of
the local people and their country by the foreign company. Lack
of strictly enforced international laws means that TNCs may
take full advantage of that country and its people. For example,
TNCs may pollute the environment and pay its workers low
wages. A famous example is GAP, a famous company for its
production of clothes has an outsourced company in Indonesia
that uses child labour to manufacture its products.
The third disadvantage of globalisation is cultures,
traditions and a way of life may disappear. An example is that a
Hollywood film is far more likely to be successful worldwide
than one made in India or China, which also have thriving film
industries.
Despite the few disadvantages of globalisation, I strongly
believe that globalisation should continue. If globalisation does
not happen, poorer countries will remain poor. They will not be
able to be up-to-date in today’s modern world. Globalisation
also alerts people of different countries of events that are
happening in one country. For example, the swine flu alert from
Mexico has alerted many Asian countries to act fast and quick
so that swine flu does not become a pandemic.
I also believe that the disadvantages of globalisation can
be handled easily. For example, if poor countries started
becoming strict and stop corruption, I believe that the richer
companies that invest in the poorer countries will not be able to
abuse the local people of the country. In addition to that, even
though people share ideas and information in globalisation,
people can still maintain their own cultures. I believe that
globalisation is the way to unite the different ethnic groups on
earth and make them realise that in the end they are all human
beings.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/m/magellan.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/industry/globalisation_rev3.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singaporean

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2004/may/13/7