Hypothesis
Main Hypothesis: I predict that Internationalization in Basel has had a major impact on the way the working class society is comprehended in the commercial/retail industry on all three different sites.
It is relevant to recognize internationalization through different trade blocs features in the commercial/retail industry such as grocery products in supermarkets, the presence of transnational corporations and cars from different countries.
Sub hypothesis
- Most car brands are from countries in close proximity to Switzerland. Cars survey – license plate
The cars that are present within the three sites suggest the cross border relations between the countries that are bordering Switzerland. Switzerland is not known as a main location for car manufacturing; however there are many large countries nearby that do.
- Random Aisle Selection
The vast majority of food products found in supermarkets in Basel will be of foreign origin. Although Swiss products are qualified of better quality the majority of the products are produced by surrounding countries because of the diversity of resources that is available in other countries.
- There is no significant relationship between the price of 75cl wine and the distance f Capital city of the country of origin.
There is a direct relationship between price and distance for food products of Wine. The retail for Cheese and chocolate are mainly located in Switzerland according to their production. The Price of wine will however change according to the distance of the country of origin because wine is not significantly produced in Switzerland; it is mainly exported by cross bordering countries.
- The ratio of retail shops between Swiss and International according to the Land use Map will be 1:2
Switzerland does not have a large variety of retail stores. Most commercial/retail stores are consisted of transnational corporation from foreign countries lying in Europe. Most retail stores will be from bordering countries because they have a built a giant reputation for their retail in Europe. Most of the shops and services in Basel are chain stores/services and of foreign origin.
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Most establishment and retail stores will advertise in high German
Although Basel has attended a significant part of internationalization, it has been very stern and strict on maintaining its pre-existent culture. Most advertisements will therefore be held in the native language of German (not Swiss German because it is illiterate)
Analysis of Results
- Most car brands are from countries in close proximity to Switzerland. Cars survey – license plate.
Switzerland does not manufacture any specific cars from large companies. The companies in Switzerland that sell the cars are through transnational corporations from bordering countries such as France, Italy and Germany. The pie charts (C1-3) show that most cars came from Germany, France and Japan. Germany and France have good cross-border relationship with Switzerland. Cars such as Citroen, Peugeot and Volkswagen were very common seen across all three sites. The trade market industry is affiliated with the spreading of specific car brands such the ones mentioned. They are widely distributed because of cheap manufacturing that has made it possible for any middle class family to own a car (globalizing the car industry, BBC news 08). These cross border relations show that internationalization is spreading. Moreover, Japan as an economic power has been spreading its transnational corporation in car manufacturing.
In contrast, the license plate distribution frequency (C4) showed that most of the cars were registered in Switzerland depending on the canton and there were only few from bordering countries. Since all three sites were situated at shopping streets most cars were bound to be from the local areas. The car parks were not situated in specific tourist attraction areas and therefore an assumption could be made that only local people needed to visit the shopping streets and therefore no cross bordering relations were needed in these three sites apart from deliverer trucks.
- The vast majority of food products found in supermarkets in Basel will be of foreign origin
According to a random sampling test that was done in a three different supermarkets the origin of the food products could be compared. The task was to choose a random aisle and record the type of products along with the country of origin. The random sampling test had given statistical value that the majority of the products had either come from bordering countries or other international countries. The basic type of food products came from Switzerland whereas most of the ‘breakfast’ goods came from international countries. Graphs A1 – A3 indicate the variety of food products compared with the frequency for the exports from the country of origin. Most of the exports/or the known country of origin is from bordering countries or countries lying within Europe such as Italy, UK, France, Holland etc… The only international exports were originated from the US because the US economy is based upon the spreading of products as a global economic power! This is shows another hint that globalization is present due to the spreading of universalization.
See Raw data in Appendix A3
- There is no significant relationship between the price of 75cl wine and the distance of Capital city of the country of origin.
For the Price vs. distance survey the Spearman’s rank correlation had shown a various set of results. The results had shown according to figure (B4 –B5) that the null hypothesis was accepted once according to the significance value of percentages with 13 degrees of freedom. At site 1 and 2 the significance level had exceeded 5% which means that the null hypothesis could not be accepted. The statistical value therefore depicts that there is no positive correlation between the distance of the country and the price of the food product. However, these set of results are still to be recognized significant because they reached the significance value in almost close proximity. However in site 3 a positive correlation could be evaluated as the significance level reached the 1% curve when matched across with the degrees of freedom. At site 3 it had also shown a various different country of origins from the wine was exported from. As a result, there was a direct relationship between distance vs. and price. As the distance for the country of origin increased the price was also relatively higher.
- The ratio of retail shops between Swiss and International (of cross bordering countries ) according to the Land use Map will be 1:2
According to the Land Use maps that have been sketched and annotated with labels of each shop, the majority retail stores were from international origin. At site 1 the reduced percentage ratio was 5:16. At Site 2 and 3 the ratio was 1:4, 3:7 respectively (see appendix E1-4). The ratio is secluded from the hypothesis but a general trend was that most retail outlets and commercial activities were from cross bordering and International countries rather than Switzerland. Cross bordering relations give evidence that Basel is affected by the growth of internationalization. The growth in international exchange and interdependence is larger than the local and national exchanges for the retail stores. These specific statistics show that the ratio has a clear difference between retail stores on all shopping streets of Basel. Most shops are originated from International countries. The retail stores are originated from countries that have high GNP’s and are part of global economic powers that have a high potential to spread universalization through corporate transnational companies.
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Most establishment and retail stores will advertise in high German
According to the hypothesis (and land Use maps) that Basel, Switzerland had been very stern and strict on maintaining the culture and language of most advertisements had been in formal High German. Most retail stores, including the transnational corporation stores have advertisements that are written in the universalized language of German. The dialect of Swiss German is avoided because it is harder to understand and it is only a spoken dialect amongst Switzerland. Pre-existent cultures have been maintained successfully. The buildings at which most of the shops were situated at are from the 1700’s that have been renovated to be in. Modernized buildings are very rare and are not currently being built across all three sites. This is was a good example of a contrast of Internationalization because the Swiss like to keep their pre-existent cultures and don’t need further development in order to sustain their economic balance.
Methodology I
Methodology II – Fieldwork in Basel
How?
How?
How?
How?
Conclusions and Evaluations
Theoretically the act of internationalization is bound to occur in most countries of the world that work together to increase international economic interdependence nowadays. Internationalization is the exchange between Basel and the bordering countries of Switzerland that is currently increasing more and more. Basel’s interdependence is high in use because most of the supermarket products and transportation sources originate from bordering countries.
Over 70% of the worlds GDP is produced domestically within boundaries between countries (The Development of Global Economy). Much of the change that has occurred is in increased trade shares among MEDC’s such as Switzerland. The internationalization of economic activities is not a new phenomenon. The increasing complexity of international trade flows as this process has developed. A change in the geographical pattern can be noted from this process at a global with many production processes across national boundaries.
There are a variety of reasons and limitations why there could not been a positive correlation or a direct relationship between price and distance for the spearman’s rank coefficient system. The type of retail outlet was significant impact on the choice of products. The supermarkets that were chosen to find out the prices were various and varied between price and quality. In some supermarkets the prices of products such as wine were more expensive than others. To make sure that the prices are about equal a more consistent choice could be made next time. Some supermarkets also have different prices for the same item and therefore only generalization could be determined for a relationship between food and distance which is why the null hypothesis was not accepted at two sites. Other factors are: Shops near the main roads may charge more, seasonal prices can be raised and cumulative sampling may distort the expected price-distance gradient if several shops cluster within a short area along the transect line followed by a considerable gap before the next group of retail outlets.
There is a large variety of evidence of the internationalization of commercial/retail activity in Basel, Switzerland. Most of the data was relevant and significant in answer all hypothesis. The results for recording the license plate and origin of cars had indicated that transnational corporations are affiliated in international economy and global trade. The land Use Maps have clearly shown a ratio for the contrast between local stores and transnational corporation where internationalization is highlighted. The selection of wine in three different sites had shown the variety of diversity of products from cross bordering and international countries. A random sampling test in supermarkets had shows the presence and the spreading of food products amongst bordering nations to show the dependency of Basel with its bordering countries.
The suitability of testing the main hypothesis was relevant from most of the data that had been collected. The least effective set of results came from the license plate registration as the majority cars were registered within Switzerland and Basel itself. Some improvements could be made such as visiting more than 3 sites and or finding more sophisticated data through variety of different samples of the same products to show diversity and more relevant and significant data towards the main hypothesis.
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