Globalization (or globalisationGlobalisation is a British variant spelling. Globalization is the main variant, preferred by both Webster's and the Oxford English Dictionary.), is an umbrella term for a complex series of economic, social, technological, and political changes seen as increasing interdependence and interaction between people and companies in disparate locations. The phenomenon has been noted since the 1980s in the context of sociological study on a worldwide scale.

The term "globalization" is used to refer to these collective changes as a process, or else as the cause of (typically) negative and turbulent change. The distinct uses include:

• Economically and socially positive: As an engine of commerce; one which brings an increased standard of living — prosperity to developing countries and further wealth to First World and Third World countries. This view claims that economic prosperity brings about social prosperity.
• Economically and socially negative: As an engine of "corporate imperialism"; one which tramples over the human rights of developing societies, claims to bring prosperity, yet often simply amounts to plundering and profiteering. Negative effects include cultural assimilation via cultural imperialism, the export of artificial wants, and the destruction of local society and culture.

Economic globalization

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Economic globalization, (i.e. the aggregate change we observe in our factories, storefronts, indeed generally across our economies and lifestyles) is caused by four fundamental forms of capital movement throughout the global economy. The four important capital flows are:

More on [ Globalization ]

The Economist: Globalisation

Lotte ambition
Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:24:00 -0000
A South Korean retailer plans a bold move into ChinaWOMEN in South Korea have a reputation for being some of the world's most demanding shoppers. Keen bargain hunters, they have an eye for quality and if something falls short of their expectations they are not shy of venting their anger. They photograph shops or goods that fail to make the grade, and post pictures online with detailed and withering criticism; the offender may then be shunned by other buyers. So exacting are the demands of Korean customers that Western firms often solicit their opinions of new products before launching them. If you can please a Korean customer, the feeling goes, you can please anyone.Accordingly, South Korean department stores provide some of the best service in the world. With a smile and a bow, sales assistants scurry after customers, attending to their whims while calming their tearful children. Lotte, South Korea's biggest department-store chain, thinks its experience at home makes it ideally suited to serving the new rich in other fast-developing economies. In July it plans to open a huge department store in China, in the Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing. It has set an annual sales target for the store of $150m. The wealthiest customers will be granted special parking spots and will be guided around the store by personal attendants. (Appealing to the very rich works well for Lotte at home: its richest 1% of customers accounted for 17% of its $5.8 billion in sales last year.) ...
On the prowl again
Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:24:00 -0000
Spared big subprime losses, Japanese banks are looking abroadALMOST two decades ago seven of the world's top-ten banks were Japanese and their cheap loans supported Japanese investment, from the Rockefeller Centre in Manhattan to California's Pebble Beach golf course. After Japan's property and stockmarket bubbles burst, the banks, buckling under bad debts, retreated home. More recently, the caution born of that fall from grace spared them the huge subprime-loan losses that have hobbled their American and European peers. Now their relative financial health has pushed Japanese banks tentatively abroad again. On June 25th Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) said it would invest about GBP500m ($975m) in Barclays, as part of a broader GBP4.5 billion fundraising by the British bank (the remainder came from national funds of Qatar, Singapore and China, and the bank's shareholders). It follows a $1.2 billion investment by Mizuho Financial Group in Merrill Lynch in January. In recent months SMFG has acquired a stake in a bank in Vietnam, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (known as MUFJ), the country's largest bank by assets and market value, has bought stakes in banks in Hong Kong and Singapore. ...
Beyond brain drain
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:09:09 -0000
Human capital increasingly votes with its feetTHERE has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth lately, especially in America, about the harm globalisation causes to workers, who are increasingly worried that their hard-learned skills will become obsolete as their jobs are shipped overseas.But globalisation is also proving an exciting opportunity for a growing number of workers who are seizing the chance to work abroad. This is not confined to the stereotypical blue-collar migrant worker, such as the Mexican builder in America or Polish plumber in Britain; it includes a rapidly increasing number of highly-educated "knowledge workers" too. ...

IPS Inter Press Service - Globalisation - Is It Working for People?

GLOBALISATION: West’s Loss of Gulf Funds East’s Gain
Analysis by Meena Janardhan DUBAI, Jul 3 (IPS) - As politically motivated restrictions on investments by oil-rich countries intensify in the West, the sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) of the Gulf countries could opt to invest in Asia and other emerging markets despite attractive valuations in the slowing U.S and European markets.
MEDIA: IPS Has New Chairman
Sabina Zaccaro ROME, Jun 25 (IPS) - The IPS International Association has chosen Federico Mayor as new chair of its Board of Directors. He replaces Mario Soares, former President of Portugal (1986-1996), who has been guiding the IPS Board since 2002.
DEVELOPMENT: About Farmers, Without Farmers
Sabina Zaccaro ROME, Jun 3 (IPS) - Record high food prices and their impact on poor countries will dominate the three-day UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) summit of world leaders that opened Tuesday in Rome. But the solutions to the food crisis cannot be left to governments only, according to several small farmers groups running a parallel civil society food forum.

The Heritage Foundation Headlines Test

Davis-Bacon Flaws Hurt Workers

State Secrets? Who Needs 'Em?

Rise of the Unelected Bureaucrats


Globalization News

INDIA: Decades Later, Toxic Sludge Torments Bhopal
Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0000
Residents of Bhopal, India continue to suffer from Union Carbide's toxic legacy, this time in the form of toxic waste that still languishes inside a shoddy warehouse on the old factory grounds. Ailments such as cleft palates and mental retardation are appearing in numbers of Bhopali children, raising questions about contaminated soil and groundwater, clean-up, and liability.
The Internet and Globalization: A View from Buenos Aires
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0000

SWITZERLAND: Tax scandal leaves Swiss giant reeling
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0000
Sending shockwaves through the Swiss financial industry, banking giant UBS is facing accusations from a former senior banker in US courts of massive fraud and corruption. UBS is alleged to have engaged in routine activities aimed at helping its high net worth clients evade hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, among other matters.

 

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