Managing globalization: if it’s here to stay, what do we know?

Daniel Altman

Two decades have passed since the word “globalization” started showing up with any frequency in discussions of business and economics. At first, the focus was on Western companies trying to compete with cheaper, sometimes better imports from Japan, South Korea, China and other countries. It was a straight fight: the battle lines were drawn along each country’s borders.

Later on, things become more complex. Asian __________________ started designing and assembling products in the West. Western companies opened up new fronts by sending jobs abroad - not just in manufacturing but in service industries as well. 

At the turn of the millennium, there was a lot of talk about whether globalization was a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. One side argued that it allowed big, multinational corporations to exploit workers in poor countries to pad their profit margins. The other side retorted that the expansion of these corporations into the developing world offered the best hope for raising living standards. One side complained that globalization was creating and destroying industries too quickly for the labor force to adjust. The other side answered that these shifts were rapidly improving the world’s ability to use its resources efficiently. Now, it’s pretty clear that globalization, be it good or bad, is an Unavoidable Thing (...)

Adapted from Sharma, Pete. Reading the News, Thomson ELT, 2007.

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