Globalization & Development

In simple words globalization refers to the speedup of movements and exchanges all over the
world. This movement & exchange includes various factors like human-being, goods,
services etc. This can be identified as the growing interdependence of the world’s economies,
cultures and populations brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services,
technology, and flows of investment, people & information.

Globalization aims to benefit individual economies around the world by making markets
more efficient, increasing competition, limiting military conflicts, and spreading wealth more
equally. Globalization has received a new speed in recent years because of various causes.
This process of globalization is leading toward the economic development & growth that
countries are enjoying. The causes of this speedy globalization are given below:

 Increment in knowledge: with the development of new machineries & the new
production process people have gathered knowledge to efficiently produce necessary
goods & services which were not possible previously because of various restrictions.
Now countries can share their gathered knowledge more easily with other countries
which can be beneficial for both. This cross-country exchange of knowledge is
helping countries to produce various goods more efficiently & ultimately leading to
economic growth & development.
 Development of ICT: we are on the verge of fourth industrial revolution & this
revolution fully depend on the development of technology. In this case advancement
in ICT can help countries to speed up their economic growth which can be easily
observed in Bangladesh. In recent times Bangladesh has advanced tremendously in
ICT sector & our country is earning a significant amount of foreign currency through
ICT sector. This is possible because of globalization. Now we can get connected to
any part of the world & do any type of work right from our home.
 Increase in the number of multinational companies: increment in the number of
multinational companies is also helping to spread the speed of globalization
worldwide. Various types of multinational organizations are connecting countries
together with their operation. This is also creating opportunities for developing
countries like Bangladesh to gather more knowledge regarding business & to
implement those knowledges for their own sake. This is possible only because of
 globalization. Nowadays various MCN are operating in Bangladesh like Unilever,
British-American Tobacco etc.
 Decrease in socialism: privatization in countries is helping them tremendously to
achiever higher economic growth & development. If we look at the countries which
are still following socialism, we can see a downward trend or sluggish growth in their
economy. But in case of capitalism or privatization this economic growth is
enormous. Just after the liberation war in 1971 Bangladesh was called a basket
country, but just after 5o years of independence Bangladesh has achieved tremendous
economic growth & represented herself as a role model. This is because of the rapid
privatization & globalization that helped Bangladesh to generate more revenues from
business & production.
 Free market: in past few decades there has been a general reduction in capital
barriers making it easier for capital to flow between countries. This has increased the
ability for firms to receive finance. It has also increased the global interdependence of
global financial markets bringing the markets in different countries close together &
toward a borderless economy. Bangladesh has also been benefited v=because of free
market. Now we can export various types of goods all around the world & in some
markets we can also get preferential access which is leading to more developed
economy.
 Spread of democracy: revolution for democracy in various countries for example the
Arab spring has sparked the necessity of democracy & the mutual interdependency of
countries on each other. Because of this democratic movement globalization got a
new aspect which helped many impoverished countries to move forward. It was not
possible for a country like Bangladesh to develop its economy within 50 years of
independence without practicing democracy.
 Spread of culture: culture is one of the biggest reasons of globalization. This fact
cannot be denied that people are highly influenced by culture. Because of
globalization people can easily experience the cultural diversity of other countries &
this can help countries to add a new dimension to its development. Accepting good
cultural diversity from other countries cam help a country to move its people forward.
In last few decades, our culture has highly been motivated by other culture. Though
every dimension added is not good or acceptable, but it is undeniable that cultural
diversity is must for a country to achieve high economic growth & development as
well as human growth.
  Environmental crisis: environmental crisis is one of the biggest threats to the
mankind. Because of constant climate change people all around the world are facing
some unprecedented threat. This environmental crisis has influenced global leaders to
sit on the same table. Though environmental crisis is a threat for the world, but this
also helped us to come together & fight the common enemy. Environmental crisis is
similar for both the developed & developing countries & we all need to come together
to solve this problem.

Globalization has both the negative & positive sides of its own. This is highly debatable topic
whether globalization helps us to achieve economic development or it just creates more
problems for underdeveloped countries. There are both supporting causes for & against the
debate. We cannot declare that globalization is the best thing for us neither we can declare
globalization as the worst enemy. There are both dimensions to this problem. But it is
prevalent that because of globalization rich are getting richer & global terrorism has gotten a
new dimension, because of easy connectivity with other countries there is a constant threat
for countries to get attacked by radical groups or extremists. But this cannot overshadow the
importance of globalization is it help the countries to build a better world together through
mutual help & interdependency.

Bangladesh is comparatively a new player in the arena of globalization, yet we have achieved
a tremendous success to move forward with constantly increasing GDP per capita & income
per capita. But there is no way to be overwhelmed with success & sit idle. Bangladesh faces
various challenges in the field of globalization which are described below:

 Different level of growth is different areas: development need to be spreading

rather than concentrated on a certain area only. Unfortunately, in case of Bangladesh
some the areas in our country is underdeveloped compared to some other parts of the
country which creates an inequality & social division among people. Through our
government is trying to create equal opportunities for each & every citizens of the
country it is difficult to achieve for a developing country like Bangladesh. But still
our government is trying to overcome this challenge by connecting different parts of
the country together with roads, bridges & by creating special economic zone which
can help to create more employment.
 Exploitation by developed countries: Bangladesh is still a developing country &
some developed countries always tries to exploit us by getting extra g]help without
paying any return. This exploitation can create social hierarchy in the society leading
to a chaos. These exploitations can take place through various processes like
implanting unwanted policies or providing extra beneficial help to this country
without receiving a return in favor. In recent time this problem is more eminent in
Bangladesh. Though we cannot be independent economically within a short period,
but we need to make a deal in such a way that it can be benefited for both the
countries partaking.
 Decrease in quota: in past Bangladesh used to receive special quota treatment from
the developed market. But in recent time many countries have revoked this special
quota facilities & the cost of doing business in those market has increased sharply for
Bangladesh. So, it is challenging for Bangladesh to continue business without
preferential access. Though the government is providing various type of subsidy
facilities for business but sometime this is not enough.
 Deficit in balance of trade: Bangladesh is mostly dependent on importing various
types of goods from other countries which lead to a deficiency in balance of trade.
Though Bangladesh is trying to close the gap between export & import but still the
difference in export amount & import amount is significant. Without a positive
balance of trade, it is not possible for a country to achieve ultimate success. Because
of globalization our business has expanded but we need to be more aggressive in
global market so that we can achieve a surplus balance of trade.
 Few industrial goods: Bangladesh is still an agricultural country. Our economy is
largely influenced by agricultural & industrialization has taken place in past few
decades only. But the number of industrial products is negligible. We are going
through an industrial revolution. So, without tapping the full potential of
industrialization we cannot achieve the benefit of fourth industrial revolution.