How has Globalization affected the City of Brighton? Discuss

James Ikonen

Sometimes it's difficult to swallow whole the talk that abounds about globalisation. The internet may be spearheading a global communications revolution; fashion designers may embrace "ethnic" hues and styles; McDonald's may spread its restaurants across the globe. Beyond the front pages, globalisation is a reality that, for better or worse, touches our lives in ways most of us never stop to think about. Many would certainly say it was a good thing. Increased international trade has made us wealthier and allowed us to lead more diverse lifestyles. But the legions of demonstrators that amassed in Prague for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1999 disagree. The coalition of environmentalists, anti-poverty campaigners, trade unionists and anti-capitalist groups see the growth of global companies as raising more problems than it solves. The term "globalisation" was first coined in the 1980s, but the concept stretches back decades, even centuries, if you count the trading empires built by Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Holland. Some would say the world was as globalised 100 years ago as it is today, with international trade and migration.

But the 1930s depression put paid to that. Nation states drew back into their shell on realising that international markets could deliver untold misery in the form of poverty and unemployment. The resolve of Western states to build and strengthen international ties in the aftermath of World War II laid the groundwork for today's globalisation. It has brought diminishing national borders and the fusing of individual national markets. The fall of protectionist barriers has stimulated free movement of capital and paved the way for companies to set up several bases around the world. The rise of the internet and recent advances in telecommunications have boosted the already surging train. For consumers and avowed capitalists, this is largely a good thing. Vigorous trade has made for more choice in the High Street, greater spending, rising living standards and a growth in international travel. And that's just the tip of it. Supporters of globalisation say it has promoted information exchange, led to a greater understanding of other cultures and allowed democracy to triumph over autocracy. But as the street protests against November 2000’s World Trade Organisation conference in Seattle proved, there is a growing opposition to the forces of globalisation.

Critics say the West's gain has been at the expense of developing countries. The already meagre share of the global income of the poorest people in the world has dropped from 2.3% to 1.4% in the last decade. But even in the developed world, not everyone has been a winner. The freedoms granted by globalisation are leading to increased insecurity in the workplace. Manual workers in particular are under threat as companies shift their production lines overseas to low-wage economies. National cultures and identities are also under threat thanks to the spread of satellite TV, international media networks and increased personal travel. In French cinemas, around 70% of filmgoers watch Hollywood movies. At the heart of their concerns is the fact that huge trans-national companies are becoming more powerful and influential than democratically-elected governments, putting shareholder interests above those of communities and even customers. Ecological campaigners say corporations are disregarding the environment in the stampede for mega-profits and marketplace supremacy. Human rights groups say corporate power is restricting individual freedom. Even business folk behind small firms have sympathy for the movement, afraid as they are that global economies of scale will put them out of work. But the mere fact the debate can take place simultaneously across countries and continents may well show that the “global village is already here.”

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Now that we have a brief idea what globalization is I am now going investigate how it has affected my home town of Brighton. As in most British cities, Brighton has been greatly affected by the growth of globalization, economically, politically and environmentally. One of the biggest and most important ways in which globalization has effected Brighton as a city is that due to the huge increase in population Brighton has been lifted from a town status to one of a city. Now there is a debate ere as to whether or not this can be attributed to a rise in globalization or whether it is just through a general rise in the population of the City. However it is my opinion that Globalization has brought about such an event for a number of reasons. Firstly Brighton is only one hours train journey from the British capital London, and consequently Brighton is used as a base for many people working in the City from which to commute. Now this in itself is arguably caused by globalization, as it is London where the majority of big multi national companies have their head offices in the UK, and as a consequence to this in the globalizing world, many people either can’t afford to both work and live in London. As a consequence there is a huge number of people who now live outside of London within about an hours radius, this enables them to commute to and from work everyday, and also means that the cost of living is fractionally less than if people were living in London.

A recent survey of Brighton shows that 10.8% of people living in Brighton commute on a daily basis to the capital and that 23% of Brightoners commute to London at least once a week for purposes of work. Now there is an argument here to suggest that the reason for more people living outside London is not because of globalization but for a number of different reasons. I agree with this argument to some extent in that there a personal reasons such as family, friends or even aesthetic reasons, however in my opinion the reason is due to globalization, as it is this factor inadvertently t5hat has caused London house prices to go through the roof, and it is also due to globalization that more and more people are being attracted to Brighton and surrounding areas, as they have become commercialised similarly to London, but not on such a big scale. Now this is appealing for many people as the conveniences available in London are also available in Brighton, and this is one of the reasons why Brighton has become known as “London by the sea”.

It is suggested by many sources including by Brighton and Hove County council, “History of Brighton” that the city has become one of multi nationalism, and that in the globalizing climate Brighton is “a place where different cultures are embraced, offering opportunities for all.” In this book there is also hints as to when globalization really started to take effect on Brighton as a place, and it can be seen as being possibly as early the 1950’s just after the second world war when there was huge restructuring that took place in the then town after being bombed during the war. It was at this time that large companies began to invest money in Brighton and begin to open offices in the town. One of the best examples of this is the American Express building on Eastern Road, which is the central office for the UK and employs over three and a half thousand people both temporary and permanent, and is a huge contributor to the local economy, as it creates “knock on jobs,” i.e. through its creation other jobs have been made surrounding it such as in cafes, restaurants, sandwich bars and public houses near to the American Express building. This is a good example of how globalization has benefited Brighton as a city. However there is an argument to suggest that it has also been a bit of a hindrance to Brighton’s development, as the firm has a big say in how the city is run. For example in 1993 the council proposed a new bus route that would go past the Am- Ex offices, with a proposed bus passing by every ten minutes in order to relieve congestion in the centre of the city, however the company fought this as they claimed that it would be to noisy for their employees, and that work would suffer. The company went so far as to threaten the council by saying that if work suffered than jobs may have top be cut, which would have a knock on effect on the local economy. This shows how big multi nationals can in effect dictate the running of local policy through the exertion of its power and threats of cut backs. However this was in 1993, more recently American Express has cause greater problems in that a large percentage of their call based workforce is being gradually moved to India. This is similar to a number of large multi nationals, as they can find cheaper workforces in places such as India, and the start up costs are much lower. However this is set to have a huge impact on the local area, it is estimated that huge cut backs will have to be made, and upto one thousand people could lose their jobs. This obviously will cause a huge dilemma for the local council as it will mean a large number of unemployed people living in Brighton. In order to combat this, the Brighton council has begun to develop projects to attract more companies to open in the City.

A new development site is due to open in July this year hoping to attract both new, local business and also to attract high street brand operations to open in order to create jobs, companies such as the mobile giants Ericcsson have been reported to have expressed an interest in the developments after the closure of their operations in Burgess Hill, which again lead to a huge amount of redundancies. Burgess Hill comes under the umbrella of Brighton and Hove council and so by opening a new branch, but on a smaller scale they may be able to salvage some of the jobs lost. My Dad has been an employee of Ericsson for thirty five years and worked in the Burgess Hill branch, but when it closed he was forced to move to Guildford to work in the Ericsson head office. He now has to travel almost two hours to work and two hours from work everyday, adding an extra four hours to his working day. This is a good example of how globalization effects ordinary people, as big corporations can simply get up and relocate, but individual people can suffer at their hands.

Other prime examples of how Brighton has been affected by globalization can be seen in the fast food industry, and especially with the likes of McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. In Brighton alone there are no less than seven McDonalds, three of which are within a two mile radius of one another. Twenty years ago there was only one McDonalds in the whole of Brighton, and ten years ago there was only three. Ten years ago, along West Street there were a larger number of privately owned fast food shops, including burger houses, kebab shops and fish and chip shops. However now these shops have all closed and only a McDonalds and Kentucky Fried chicken remains. Now it could be said that there is no relationship here, it must also be pointed out that within one year of these two chains opening on West Street, all but one of the fast food shops on the street closed down due to lack of business. This really goes to show us how globalization has meant that wealthy multi nationals like McDonalds are now able in effect to open up shop anywhere they like, no matter if there is a large amount of competing outlets. The question must be asked here however as to why McDonalds is to blame for putting other people out of business, and that surely is obviously because McDonalds is an establishment that people would rather frequent, as opposed to the others. To this point I would agree to a certain extent as McDonalds in today’s youth culture is really seen as the “norm,” it’s a treat to have a McDonalds, something tasty but something that you know is no good for you, and I think this is part of the reason why so many of us visit every year. However it must also be pointed out that McDonalds have an unfair advantage over normal take always and fast food restaurants and this is largely due to globalization. The fact that McDonalds has been able to open so many restaurants around the world in hundreds of countries has meant that in doing so it really is giving itself free marketing and advertising all over the world, where every one of their restaurants appears the same as the others, and the food served is the same, and the same age group tends to be serving. In fact on a recent trip of mine to the Gambia, not two hundred meters after leaving the airport there were signs foe McDonalds, as they know that many foreign tourists from Europe and the US will visit because it is something which they know, and something with which they can identify when in a foreign land. Of course McDonalds in having seven branches operating in Brighton is good for the local economy as it does create a large number of jobs, but these must be weighed up against the jobs lost and businesses that close due to the stiff competition.

Whilst on the subject about Gambia another point springs to mind which applies to McDonalds and American Express, and that is that whilst we were in Gambia, on the first we were offered trips run by the holiday tour operators, Thomas Cook. However these did seem a little bit costly to us so we didn’t bother. However the next day we were walking in the town and saw the same trips run privately by local Gambian guides that were offered at one quarter of the price that they had been offered to us the day before, we could not believe the vast difference in price and so we took advantage of the tour. Whilst talking to our guide we explained what had happened and he laughed saying that the tour actually costs one eighth of the price, so the money he was making was only one eighth. He also told us of the resentment by many Gambians of the big tour operators as they charge so much money for trips, and then they take the money and take it back to Europe with them. This in effect applies to companies like McDonalds and American Express both of whom through globalization have expanded all over the world, but work in countries and then take all of the money back over to the US to share amongst their shareholders and directors, this is an excellent example of how Globalization can be a negative for places, especially in a third world country like Gambia.

Obviously when you think of McDonalds you associate it with capitalism, a global plc that really dominates the world fast food industry, and is a negative in globalization as it is so big that it can and does forces meat prices way down, especially in poorer countries, so that the people who really do need the money don’t get it and the people who don’t really need the money i.e. the people who sit in their offices all day raking in the cash do get it. The same can be said for starbucks, again another relatively new shop opened four or five years ago along Brighton’s western Road. Here they offer a large selection of teas and coffees and frankly quite ridiculous prices, but amazingly people do still pay. Why is this, I ask myself but again I think that the reason is similar to the reason as to why so many people go to McDonalds, in that it is a large company known across the globe and so people identify with it and feel safe in a way. However Starbucks similar to McDonalds is disliked across the world for its treatment of workers and exploitation of third world countries in order to maximise the profits of the few. Starbucks due to their sheer size and market share in the take out coffee industry that they are able to push prices as low as they realistically can and then keep them their because the countries from which they are buying the coffee beans from are in general third world countries and so are desperate for any money they can raise, and because they are so dependent on big companies like Starbucks they cannot run the risk of upsetting them. So basically once again through globalization we can see the exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.

One British company, who also has a store in Brighton, is the Co- op chain of supermarkets. Now although this is not a big multi National Corporation like Starbucks or McDonalds it is still one of Britain’s biggest coffee suppliers on the high street. Now I have used Co-op as my example as they have a very interesting policy when it comes the purchasing of their coffee beans and other goods, as they bear in mind the current globalizing climate of the modern world. It has been noticed by the Co-op group that large companies such as Starbucks and Costa coffee do exploit third world countries and they see this as an unfair trading tactic. In order to combat this in some way and also to in some way lead the way in the world attitudes toward exploitation, they have introduced what is known as their Fair trade policy which is where they offer and pay above the market value in the respective countries. So in this program coffee producers are paid a fair price.

Globalization has also taken affect in Brighton in other ways apart from the other multi national companies such as Gap and Nike, again two companies famous for their exploitation of workers in Cambodia and other third world countries. Other effects that globalization has had on the city are in things like in unemployment, which has been reduced to virtually a few hundred due to the large number of new businesses opening in the city. Globalization has also brought about a huge boost to Brighton’s economy as it is an area frequented often by tourists and foreign students, which has raised Brighton’s profile across the globe and especially in Europe, whilst at the same time boosting the local economy. On a similar note globalization has increased Brighton’s profile as a multi cultural city as it has many foreign students that attend one of the two universities, and whom often stay on to work in Brighton.

In conclusion globalization definitely has had a big affect on Brighton as a City in a big way, but it is fair to say that Brighton has developed not only through globalization but also through the process of modernisation which it can be argued go hand in hand with each other. Whilst the globalization process has been occurring the impact has not been as great as in a third world country, because we have the minimum wage and other various measures to avoid exploitation, so it is not quite so evident as it is in other countries but at the same time when you do look around it is very clear that Brighton has been affected.

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