What kinds of things cross international borders?

Trade goods and services.

You can buy a TV from China, car from Japan, clothes from Indonesia or Italy.

You can hire someone from India to write software or answer your telephone

Capital money, investment

You can put your savings into a bank in Zurich.

You can buy stock in SONY, a Japanese company

People immigrants, refugees, tourists

Immigrants come to Calgary from Asia, Africa, S. America, Europe

You can easily travel to Europe, Asia, S. America

Communication

You can easily call or email people around the world

Culture (art, music, cuisine)

You can hear music from Brazil, South Africa, India

Nearby restaurants: Chinese, Thai, Ethiopian, Indian

Ideas

Factors influencing globalisation include:

Communications:

Cable TV, personal computers, telephony and

the Internet have created a global village, tying
the world closer together.

Businesses in the western world can have a call

centre in India answering calls from western
customers.
Transport

has become cheap and quick.

People, especially in the western civilization,

travel all over the world

People from other countries can travel to the

west to seek better-paid jobs.

Businesses can more easily ship products and

raw materials all over the world - making
products and services from all over the globe
available to customers.
Trade liberalisation:

Governments around the world have relaxed

laws restricting trade and foreign investment

Countries in the developing world have opened

up their countries to western businesses and
investment

incentives to persuade foreign companies to

invest in their country.

The idea is that there should be no restrictions

on trade between countries is known as free
trade or free market capitalism.

Free trade involves a minimum of government

intervention to regulate trade such as taxes on
Factors Attracting
MNCs goods
to a Country
imported
and services, quotas on
imported goods and services, and subsidies

Protectionist trade policies involve

government intervention in the market by
regulating prices on goods and services and
supply restrictions. Such government
interventions generally increase the cost of
goods and services to both consumers and
producers. Interventions include subsidies, taxes
on goods and services, and other laws
regulating the economic market and
investments by for example by domestic and
foreign companies

Cheap raw
materials
Cheap
labour
supply
Good
transport
Access to
market,

Improved standard of living:

where
the

Investment by MNCs helps countries by providing new jobs and

skills for local people.
goods are

More wealth to local economies:

MNCs bring wealth / foreign currency to local economies when

sold
they buy local resources, products and services - providing resources
for education, health and infrastructure.

Friendly

Cultural exchange and contact:

There is far more mixing of people and cultures from all over the
governme
world, enabling more sharing of ideas, experiences, and lifestyles.

People can experience foods and other products not previously

available in their countries.
nt policies
In this way globalization may diminish cultural barriers between
people, and make people more open-minded to other cultures and
knowledgeable.
Countries:

Greater awareness:
can help make people aware of events in far-away parts
Globalisation
India,
of the world.

For example, people in Norway were quickly aware of the impact of

South
the
2004 Tsunami tidal wave on countries in South East Asia, and
were therefore able to send help rapidly.
Ameri

Global cooperation/aid:
Negative Impacts
of Globalisation
It
may help make people more aware of global issues
ca
such as

Global warming
Asia

Poverty
trafficking
in Human
Terrorism, etc.
.

Positive
Impacts of
Globalisation

and alert them to the need for sustainable

al

However not all people think that globalisation is such a

great idea. Critics include many different groups
such as
environmentalists, anti-poverty campaigners and
trade-unionists.
Some of the negative impacts they point to are:

Exploitation of developing countries:

Globalisation operates mostly in the interests of
the richest countries which continue to
dominate world trade, and at the expense of
developing countries - whose role in the world
market is mostly to provide the North and West
with cheap labour and raw materials.

Unemployment and ousting of local

businesses: There are no guarantees that the
wealth from inward investment will benefit the
localiscommunity.
profits are sent back to
Globalization
bad for theOften,
environment:
the MEDC where the MNC is based.
Multinational companies, with their massive
economies of scale, may drive local
companies out of business. If it becomes
Rich countries
export
their polluting
industry
to poor
countries which have
cheaper
to operate
in another
country
the MNC
close down
the factory and make local
less strictmight
environmental
standards.
people redundant.
Processes of industrialisation are leading to global warming and a

Violation of international laws: Lack of

deterioration
of the
atmospheric
quality.
Developing
countries have been
strictly
enforced
international
laws
means that
excluded MNCs
from the
Protocol,
providing
a loophole
mayKyoto
operate
in a way
that would
not befor transnational
allowed
in
an
MEDC
for
example
polluting
the
companies.
environment, running risks with safety or
imposing poor working conditions and low
Resourcewages
industries
suchworkers.
as forestry, mining and fisheries exploit the
on local
resources of poor countries with little regard to either the long term cost to
country
A threat
toofcultural
Globalisation
the
in terms
the loss diversity:
of a national
resource, or to the environment.
is viewed by many as a threat to the world's
cultural diversity - drowning out local
economies, traditions and languages and recasting the whole world in the mould of the
WTO trade
policiesNorth
are unfair
and hurt
capitalist
and West.
An example is that a
Hollywood film is far more likely to be
successful
worldwide than one made in India or
developing
countries:
China, which also have thriving film industries.
Anti-globalisation campaigners sometimes try to draw
people's attention to these points by
demonstrating against the
World Trade Organisation, an inter-governmental
organisation which promotes the free-flow of trade
around the
world.

Trade agreements have left in place barriers in the north against the exports
of the DCs, typically labour intensive goods like textile and agricultural
produce, even as the DCs have opened up their markets to the goods of the
industrialised countries.
The intellectual property regime (TRIPS) makes drugs unaffordable to DCs,
and this has negative implications for the combat of the AIDS pandemic .