GLOBALISATION

The word is new but the phenomenon isn’t; globalisation has existed since people started to explore the
world and trade with one another, the thing that has changed is the speed and extent of this process.
Globalisation can be defined as the process where the free flow of ideas, people, capital, goods and
services leads to an integration of economies and societies.
We had two periods of modern globalisation:
- from the mid 19th century to the start of WW1: the Industrial Revolution improved transport and
communication, making trade easier; production was quicker and cheaper.
- After WW2: the aim was to ease economic growth and reduce protectionism and trade barriers. In
the 90s we had a dramatic change: the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolised the end of the Cold War,
this led to the creation of new markets and military technology was being used for commercial
purposes.
Global technology & information
The movement of information is now free and fast thanks to the Internet and advanced technology. The
WWW and Internet has removed any barriers between countries, communities and individuals. Thanks to
mobile phones people can text, send emails, access Internet and social media and organise smart mobs
and social protests.
Global culture
Cultural globalisation means creating a single homogeneous culture, many believe that USA is the main
culprit, due to its dominance. We can see cultural globalisation in tv shows, fast foods and shop chains.
But still, we also have access to individual products thanks to things like travelling, music, foreign
restaurants in our own country.
Global Language
Language globalisation is a crucial part of the latter. A single language is necessary in communicating
with people from other countries. English is now the dominant language for the world but it’s spoken
differently in some countries. Australia's English is different from the States’ english. Some claim that a
single language can lead to the loss of dialects.
Global Health
The increase of people and products led to an increase in risks of global health issues that have a political
and economical impact. Some examples can be the black death in the 14th century and the Spanish Flu in
1918; but there are also modern ones such as the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2002, Ebola in between
2014-2016 and Covid-19 in 2020. An increase of products can lead to an increase in emissions or habitat
destruction, like overfishing or deforestation. But, globalisation benefits those who actually have health
problems due to an increased research shared worldwide.
Economic Globalisation
This term is used for the growing integration of economies through the movement of goods, services and
capitals thanks to Tech development, worldwide market-oriented reform and the improvement of
transport and communication. Multinationals organise their activities globally for profit maximisation.
National Governments are responsible for this phenomenon because they can create or remove customs.
The world trade organisation and the international monetary fund help improve the global market.
Glocalisation
Globalisation and local are blended in the term glocalisation, meaning that, in order to succeed, a
company needs to focus on both global and local issues, products need to be customised based on the
country where it is launched. It’s important for people to see and understand the global impact of their
local actions. For businesses it’s important to establish the structure of their organisations, showing
customers that they make an effort to tailor products and services to fit everyone’s demand.
Anti-globalisation movement
The anti-globalisation movement gained society’s attention after the protests against the World Trade
Organisation Ministerial Meeting in Seattle in 1999. On November 30th protesters blocked the entrance of
the conference centre with a human chain. To break up the protests, the police used tear gas and many
multinational shops were destroyed by protesters, of which 600 were arrested. The most violent protest
was at the 68 Summit in Genoa, many protesters and police were injured and a young italian died: Carlo
Giuliani. By the sizes of these movements, we can say that there are many diverse ideological orientations
(anarchists, human rights activists…). This movement actively criticises economic neoliberalism.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the practice of obtaining goods and services from companies or individuals outside your
business, it can be also done by another country, in that case it’s called Offshore outsourcing or
offshoring.
The most famous example is the call centre, which handles customer services and technical support for
many sectors for companies and customers located in other countries. This can be cheaper and make
business more flexible and fast, but it can increase security risks for confidential data and exploitation of
workers.
Backsourcing (reshoring)
Backsourcing is the opposite of outsourcing: bringing back an outsourced function. Backsourcing can
happen when outsourcing fails or when there’s a change in the company’s strategies.
Insourcing
Insourcing is when a company uses its own employees and departments to perform a task in house. This
way the business saves money and invests in its workers. This term is also used when an external
company is brought into a company to work on site.
Global sustainability
Due to globalisation, countries burn fossil fuels to obtain energy, causing climate change. There are two
major models aimed at stopping this and preventing the environmental collapse:
- Sustainable development: including environmentally-protective measures into all governmental
plans can lead to growth without damaging the world’s ecosystem. Critics believe that it’s not
radical enough to reverse ecological decline.
- De-growth: this is based on reducing resources and consumption. This model believes that the
only way to save the planet is by reducing production.

Advantages and disadvantages of globalisation:

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Transport is quicker and easier Widens the poverty gap

Less possible wars National governments are corrupted by multinationals

Investments in developing countries, reducing poverty Poor countries are exploited

Global mass media raises awareness The ecosystem is threatened