Surely, this concept had a beginning. This discussion lends itself to the battle between capitalism and communism in the cold-war era. After World War Two, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were established. The purpose of these institutions was to promote trade, as well as to provide temporary economic relief in the form of loans. To the communists, the IMF and World Bank were the epitome of capitalism, and were seen as promotions for the capitalist society. Regional treaties had helped alleviate some of the barriers faced by industrialists, such as tariffs. But, these regional treaties only served sectors of the world economy at any given time, and the global economy was far from coordinated. After the fall of the Soviet Union, however, globalization efforts took precedence, as many blocks that were put in place by the Soviet Union had disappeared. This allowed for more readily available access to portions of the world that were previously untouched. The sectors of the world economy began collaborating, and a more conscious effort to coordinate operations was made.
Returning to the subject of global commerce and its impacts, the post cold-war world had undergone major change. Many times, this change was detrimental, but there are a few beneficial factors as well. The advent of multinational corporations, in my opinion, has ruined the global society through means of intimidation and deception. Capitalism shines brightest through globalization, though all ideas associated (the invisible hand effect, as discussed by John Locke in “The Wealth of Nations,” in particular) are not incorporated. However, the capital idea, that being the generation of revenue, flourishes. The idea of multinational corporations is to both manufacture and generate revenue in more than one country. Mitsubishi, for example, manufactures everything from microchips to motors, and accomplishes this to a great extent outside of Japan. What companies like Mitsubishi do is open factories in smaller countries, such as Malaysia, and manufactures all or part of a particular product there. The plus side of this is that the factories provide jobs and stimulate the local economy. Conversely, these companies also rule with an iron fist. Many times, the company is more powerful than the local government, placing the government at the mercy of the corporation. Many times, the workers are forced to work in horrible conditions with insane quotas for minimal compensation. The intimidation factor enters when the local environment (i.e. labor, taxes, etc.) becomes unfavorable to the corporation and that corporation threatens to move the factory elsewhere, which eventually happens in many cases. This action tends to leave the local economy is worse condition than it was before the company took over. This sort of behavior is commonplace and accepted is the game of commerce. The consumer who eventually purchases a calculator is hidden from the fact that there is a good possibility that a twelve year old girl helped to manufacture the main arithmetic processor inside. You see, many times when a company opens up shop in a third world country, there is no such thing as labor unions and child labor laws.
A benefit of globalization could be the move towards a unified global society. As multinational corporations spread, they bring with them their culture. Introductions of new ideas in underdeveloped areas of the world could prove beneficial in the long run, despite the greedy intentions of the capitalists. Ethnic struggles will and do take place, as it is human nature to resist change to social institutions. However, humans are also evolutionary, and perhaps a hybrid of outer and inner ideas in these areas will be embraced. Globalization could be used as a vessel to improve healthcare or school systems. Hopefully, the full potential of this benefit will be realized and all will balance, leading to the dawn of a more unified global society.
Here at home, the impact is being felt from consumer to producer. Outsourcing has proved to be the hot topic as of late, and the detriments might actually be a red herring. On the consumer side, the outsourcing of customer service call centers by companies like Dell Computers to countries like India has been a disaster. The customer service rating for Dell has taken a dive and may have hurt it sales and the long term public image. On the manufacturing side, many American customer service representatives lost their jobs because the Dell Corporation can save millions by having Indians answer their calls. This problem is deeply rooted in many sectors of the American job market. American programmers are laid off daily because there is a significant savings involved through overseas outsourcing. Communication becomes a detrimental factor that works with commerce in this industry as well. Advancements in remote access and availability have eliminated the need for local service techs and network administrators in the telecommunications field. The servers and other equipment that was administered locally can now be remotely administered from anywhere in the world. These factors serve to distract public attention from the real problem. Many times, outsourcing is seen as a tool to find more qualified candidates; such is the case with programmers or microchip manufacturers. However, the only real benefit here is the financial statements of the American corporations who choose to outsource their labor. The time of professionals may close soon, if nothing is done to stop the multinational corporations from ignoring the core ideas of globalization, which included ideas to benefit the entire global society, not the capitalists.