Benefits and Detrimental Effects of Globalization
Introduction
Globalization is the process of collaboration and integration among individuals, corporations, and governments around the world. Ever since the 18th century, globalization has speeded up due to the progress in transport and communication technology worldwide. The rise in international collaboration has caused a growth in international trade and exchange of thoughts and culture. Globalization exists in three types; economic, political, and cultural globalization. Precisely, globalization denotes the entire effort in making the worldwide community one village. It has led to the spread of cultures across the world. For instance, commodities that were only found in western countries can now be found across the world. Due to globalization, the world economy is progressively assimilated, making the entire world a smaller place. Through comprehensive communications, international markets and worldwide production are reinforced and facilitated by a fourth of global action about money. However, it has various detrimental effects. Even though globalization has led to an abandoned culture, increased terrorism, and fluctuation in prices of goods, it has opened up the world since it led to eradicating poverty, creating more job opportunities, and advanced levels of education.
Benefits of Globalization
The worldwide integration significantly impacted countries with advanced economies. Some of the benefits of globalization include low-cost state sourcing, progressed social contact, and rising employment opportunities. However, other numerous benefits countries experience as a result of globalization explained in this section.
Globalization results in cross-cultural management around the world. Typically, every nation has its culture, which governs how inhabitants conduct themselves and their ethics and beliefs. Integrating all the cultures to come up with a universal one is a daunting task. However, Makarova & Korsakova (2019) explain that globalization is the dominion of the elite. Before globalization, it was difficult for women in different countries to acquire education. Today, several nations, due to globalization, have embraced American culture even in their conduct business. Women are seen going to school and even holding top professions in the country. Also, the current western culture and arrays of conduct and language are staples of universal business. Globalization is the source of ethnic attrition in societies from the developing and developed nations around the world. The population from the countries today has a culture of participating in lucrative events either communally, economically, or psychologically. Precisely, the United States has a dominant influence on several nations and societies. The current universe has a popular culture force. For instance, the prevalent consumer culture of the economically prevailing West is unremittingly and inevitably changing other expenses, cultures, nations, and humanities.
Also, globalization has resulted in increased competition in the world of business today. Bretos & Marcuello (2017) argue that competition is a vigorous way of conducting business. It is the key reason why the quality of commodities has improved, along with the price decrease. As the native industries have to battle foreign rivalry, they must elevate their values and consumer fulfilment to persist in the market. The competition also causes companies in some developed states to acquire cheap raw material and human resources to decrease prices. Studies indicate that competition results in an increased exchange of thoughts and invention since individuals attempt to get an economic advantage for their businesses. Furthermore, when a universal brand gets into a country, it comes in riding on some kindness that it has to match. It, therefore, create competition in the market and the survival of the fittest state, which, in return, increases the quality of products and consumers go home satisfied.
Today, approximately 90% of the developed nation population get their living through employment. The onset of globalization created more job opportunities for hundreds of people around the world. Initially, employment opportunities in different countries around the word scared, and everybody that graduated in different learning institution applied for jobs but ended up working as a casual employee with low pay in industries. Thanks to globalization which has brought to a standstill this trend as more employment chances are now existing both locally and globally. For instance, individuals can move from African and get employed in the United States or any other nation around the world (Coulibaly et al. (2018). Also, individuals through the use of technology can access job opportunity and operate remotely or even possess more than one job. Besides being employed, several students have developed to be entrepreneurs and developed their business, which later creates employment for others. Studies show that globalization has undoubtedly led to diversification, which assists students in interacting with foreign person and exchange ideas on possible job opportunities in different countries. The discussions often expand their thinking on how to acquire jobs or ways of earning income. The living standards of people have indeed improved due to the extended labour market.
Globalization has resulted in the creation of the global market. International Corporation, for instance, is as a result of globalization. The businesses, according to Perez (2017), holds critical roles within the process of globalization as seen through global foreign direct investment invasions. Today, most successful upcoming markets are an outcome of privatization of state-owned industries. To increase the consumer demand for their product, the majority of these industries propose extending and expanding their value chain to a global level. Also, the global market as a result of globalization often encourages countries to concentrate and produce copious commodities accessible in their native market. Diverse states manufacture different products, but no country is self-sufficient. For instance, a country might have the required equipment but lack raw materials. Thus, global integration paved the way for cheap raw materials where nations can purchase and make the final product. Under normal circumstances, the greater the market, the extra revenues a country gets. This has made companies partner and merges with others to stretch out to the broad market and make inexpensive products because of materials’ availability. Initially, companies produced few products with the fear of lack of market. Still, due to globalization, there is an increased market, and the companies have also increased their production volume, which increases revenue.
Besides, globalization has improved the level of education among individuals. Undoubtedly, the majority of developed nations such as the United States and most European nations have advanced learning institutions. Since people can move freely from one country to another provided they follow the requirements, the majority of students from under-developed and developing nations advance their studies in the developed nations. Despite taking it as a standard business, learners from the upcoming nation take it to advance their studies and improve on their abilities to use in the profession. Besides, most stockholders from developed states often settle in a foreign country with their children. Since they want quality education for their children, they bestow native institutions, improve the curriculum, and employ competent trainers. It thus, explain the availability of advanced learning institutions in some of the developing nations. Kalenuk & Dyakon (2016) holds that the improved level of education is undoubtedly a constructive effect of globalization in the upcoming nations. Furthermore, these developing countries have made education compulsory due to globalization since, without education, investors and traders will get difficult tome to hire locals.
Consequently, globalization significantly contributes to poverty alleviation among developing countries. Before globalization, most of the developing nations had many resources with no idea how to utilize them. Majority of their population were ignorant, and there was low infrastructural development in the regions. All these are indications of poverty within a country. Thanks to globalization that in contemporary society, people in the developing nations understand that importance of learning and standards of living as foreign persons established in the nations. Besides, most locals, as indicated in the study by Zankovsky et al. (2020), went to school as a result of globalization and got employment in different companies and industries. Investors from developed countries, on the other hand, have improved infrastructure in the developing nations such as the construction of roads, schools, hospitals, and churches, among others to help reduce the cost of operation in their industries such as transportation of raw materials and finished products. All these have helped reduce the level of poverty among the countries. Amazingly, companies established by locals have toady become key contestants of those from the advanced nations. Nevertheless, the battle against poverty in the developing nation is not over, but there is a significant improvement.
Finally, globalization has reduced the gap between the poor and the rich across the universe. For several decades, there has been an eclectic gap between the rich and poor, a rift that appeared to widen yearly. However, globalization enabled some of the poor people to gain access to job opportunities. Also, Kerr (2016) states that initially, individuals who functioned for the government sector and industries often received sufficient incomes. However, today even the most educated people work and earn a little income. It has, therefore, made several employers hire competent workers and pay them less compared to their skills. The economic burden of this working individual makes them live a traumatic life, while the middle people appear to have a comfortable life. Besides, several little-income employees have continued to decrease as individuals acquire education, which put them on an almost similar level to the rich.
Detrimental Effects of Globalization
Despite the many benefits associated with globalization, studies argue that globalization has several detrimental effects to both the developed and developing nation around the world. First, globalization increases the level of terrorism around the world. In his study, Markovic (2019) holds that terrorism is a critical challenge in most of the developing nations around the world. Because of integration, individuals frequently travel from one country to another. Everyone, however, moves with a different motive, with some to study, business, visit families, work, and access to medical facilities.
Nevertheless, not all travellers are authentic. Studies indicate that several terrorists get into foreign states with a work visa, with a hidden agenda. They move to the countries to perform fanatic activities. Unfortunately, the individuals use the influence of their money to recruit youths, of the nation and make them have faith that they are conducting the right thing. The youth later become dangerous people in the societies they live, causing lots of tension.
Price instability is another challenge that results from globalization around the world. Because of the increase in competition, most developed states are forced to lower the prices of their commodities since other nations such as China produces similar goods at a lower price. The countries are, therefore, forced to lower their prices in an attempt to maintain their clients. It is, however, a shortcoming to the countries since it lessens the capability to withstand their social welfare. Also, some individuals like to take advantage of the economy of the developing nations, and as a result, they establish industries within the regions (Perez 2017). Here, they get low-priced resources and labour where they reduce their costs of production and sell the output at a low cost. Regardless of the efforts by the World Trade Organization to control the price of products, their efforts remain fruitless. Industries reach out to clients using the new technology, and they believe efficacious business are those who can gain an economic advantage, through producing better-quality goods at a lower cost.
Despite creating job opportunities around the world, globalization has led to job insecurity among individuals. Initially, skilled individuals got jobs in government and industries with high salaries. Many job opportunities were awaiting for the skilled personnel. One could even resign and get employed elsewhere immediately. However, there are currently many people seeking employment as a result of globalization, and employers take this as an advantage. Today, an employee can even be dismissed from work due to a trivial mistake since the employer can readily get a replacement for the job. Also, developed countries have outsourced the industrial sector and better jobs. It, therefore, implies that fewer jobs for their citizen because the industrial sector is subcontracted to countries with lower costs of production (Zankovsky et al. 2020). Majority of employees such as editors, accountants, and researchers, among others, have lost their occupations to subcontracting to inexpensive places. Globalization has similarly led to the misuse of employees. Security measure is overlooked to manufacture economical products making people resign their jobs with fear of their safety.
As early mentioned, every society or nation has its culture. Culture is essential since it helps mould the acceptable behaviour of individuals in a given society. However, globalization has resulted in the abandonment of culture. Elders within communities often ensure inhabitants behave in an ethically proper way. Globalization, according to Swadźba (2019), however, has mixed diverse cultures. It has made most people consider their authentic rules and tradition based on their culture as primaeval. For instance, the most abandoned culture is the code of dressing, eating, greeting elders, and responsibilities. The elders within the societies can no longer punish individuals for going against culture since they are seen as retrograde and nascent by the universal community. People now embrace a strange culture that is far from their countryside and conducts themselves due to such course of action irrespective of real regulations. It has, however, increased several crimes such as domestic violence, rape, and divorce among families.
Globalization has similarly led to the spread of fast-food chain and increased lifestyle diseases. Today, studies show that the fast-food chain is rising at an alarming rate in developing countries. This dramatically changes how people eat. For instance, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is the current fastest growing food chain in developing countries. Individuals now prefer to buy fast foods since they are cheap and quick compared to homemade food. Most of the fast foods, however, have a high content of fats, sugar, and salt, causing a global widespread of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity among other chronic diseases. Besides, people plant crops with chemicals to reduce the period of growth and upturn incomes (Markovic 2019). Also, animals are always fed on substances to make the yield countless yield and upsurge their mass. The increased ingestion of the chemicals from the foods increase the chances of getting chronic diseases among individuals.
Furthermore, globalization causes currency fluctuation. Typically, international trade conduct transactions using the United States’ dollar. The price of the dollar, according to Shahbaz et al. (2018), however, fluctuates daily in the developing nations, resulting in an imbalanced economy and an abnormal price of products. Also, globalization indeed creates job opportunities but has led to the displacement of workers. Because of globalization, most people who work abroad are forced to live their families for several years. As a result, families have broken, couples have remained and left deprived kids at the compassion of well-wishers and accommodations. A lot of parents have also been seen dying due to lack of support from their children, who are separated from the family because of employment abroad.
Conclusion
Conclusively, globalization indeed labels how diverse world, culture, people, and economies are codependent on one another. It is an outcome of cross-border business. It is an inclusive and imperative focus of discussion since as much as it brought benefits to the world, it has its associated detrimental effects. It is with no doubt that the economies of the different nation are the way they are because of globalization. However, some of the adverse behaviour seen today are also attributed to globalization. As indicated, among the benefits of globalizations nuclides improved level of education, creation of employment opportunities, cross-cultural management, and creation of the global market. Besides, globalization has helped bridge the rift between the rich and poor and reduced the level of poverty in developing nations.
On the other hand, despite creating job opportunities, the paper shows that globalization has led to job insecurity among individuals, abandoned culture, increased terrorism activities, currency and price fluctuation, and increased lifestyle diseases. However, regardless of the adverse effects, individuals need to embrace the aspect globalization since it is clear that it cause more benefit than harm to individuals and nations at large. It should be the responsibility of the individual to understand and follow what is right, but embrace globalization for the benefit of the economy.
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