CSS Notes > Pros and Cons of Globalization
Globalization is an acclaimed fact. It is integration of anything with everything. Globalization refers to interdependence of cultures, economies, political aspirations, and thoughts through international exchange of services, products and any sort of technology. Globalization brings forth the pros of advancement in technology, access to world markets, higher living standards and access to new cultures. Besides the said pros, globalization poses a few cons like intense competition, no safety for local businesses, rise of monopoly and deformation of cultures.
Before getting on the pros and cons in detail, we need to understand the whole concept of globalization. It is a basically an enormous set of interdependence and integration. It has political, cultural, economic and technological dimensions among a few others. Globalization can be defined as a way in which the international business, products, technology, political methods and cultures are bypassing the borders among nations. Globalization is the name of a modern technique that keeps the whole world interconnected even when the countries maintain their own physical borders. Globalization is the cross-border exchange of thoughts and ideas as well. This makes another aspect of the topic. Globalization has brought enormous benefits but, it is not free from negative effects. In this essay, an effort will be made to discuss the pros and cons of globalization in the contemporary world.
Among its first benefits, globalization offers greater incentives for economic growth. It offers greater access to the labor and greater access to jobs across the world. Further, globalization ensures economic growth by bringing the whole pool of world resources in front of the experts. It offers the modern techniques of business and economic welfare. With the help of globalization, a nation can specialize in something that it pursues the most. It can make the best of any product in their home country by getting access to perfect raw material or parts of the product.
Enhanced global cooperation is another pro of globalization. With enormous dependence on one another, the world nations tend to cooperate in almost every sector of life. They tend to cooperate politically as well as in economic terms. They work on the policy of give and take. This kind of cooperation not only grooms the economies of the world nations but also minimizes the chances of any deadly conflict or war. Those nations which are engaged in international businesses with the help of globalization, they avoid engaging in any sort of warfare.
Spread of latest technology and techniques make another great benefit of globalization. It is a reality that not all the countries are expert in creating the best technological innovations. But, whatever technology is being innovated across seas, it can be utilized by other nations with the help of globalization. It can be bought and used for the specific purposes in a country. In this way, globalization is giving a huge spread to the technology in its latest form. It is offering latest methods and techniques in almost every field related to industry and innovation.
Further, globalization offers access to the new markets. With borders open for trade, the investors find new markets to invest in. The industrialists sell their latest products in the global markets. This whole thing works to enhance the living standards of people. With the best options in everything, the way of living gets massive improvement. It can be seen in terms of vehicles people drive, the homes they live in and they products they use in daily routine.
Besides the above said pros of globalization, it bring a few cons as well. Among its negative effects, first comes the intense competition among the business firms. This competition is healthy when remains to a limited extent but beyond that, it can prove detrimental. The intense competition becomes a problem for the small enterprises as well. The major institutions and groups eat up the small level business in the wake of this competition.
Globalization gives birth to monopoly. With the intense competition, only the best survives in a field. But, that survival comes at a cost for the consumers. It creates monopoly of the best over that specific field which leads to higher prices for the services or products which it offers. This monopoly prevents establishment of any other major setup of similar purpose. It not only blocks the way of innovation but also force people to depend on limited option along with paying heavy costs.
Globalization brings another negative effect of disproportionate growth across the world. When globalization makes a few nations rich and powerful over other and create their monopoly; meanwhile, outside the rich world, hundreds of millions of people remain mired in poverty,” Reinhardt says in Global Business. “We don’t seem to be able to agree about whether this is because of too much globalization or not enough.”
Globalization exploits cheaper labor markets. It is good in sense that the price of product lowers but it is condemnable in terms of labor rights and wages. The exploitation of cheaper labor markets by giant corporations is against the laws of human rights. The corporations earn a lot but share a little with their laborers. This makes another major con of globalization. In this way, it benefits the wealthy more but brings little incentive for the poor. This results in once again creating monopoly of the wealthy over those who are already in need.
In conclusion, the world is never going to abandon globalization. While it’s true that individual countries and regions put policies and practices in place that limit globalization, such as tariffs, it’s here to stay. The good news is that businesses and professionals willing to confront and prepare for globalization’s challenges and risks have the potential to benefit immensely. World needs to take benefit from the pros of globalization and there are ways in which its cons can be managed. The methods which can protect small enterprises and which can ensure equal economic growth for all; will help to lower the intensity of negative effects of globalization.