Scarica Globalization: Economic Integration and Technological Advancements e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! GLOBALIZATION pag 12-13+audio)Today we live in an interconnected world in fact we are more involved - culturally, materially and psychologically in the lives of others. Globalization refers to the growing economic integration of the world. is a term that describes this growing web of connections between people, companies and countries. there are two periods following globalization. The first since the beginning of the First World War and the second since 1960. the industrialization of production meant that goods could be produced more quickly and economically. the second wave has facilitated economic growth and reduced forms of protectionism and created trade barriers that have been broken down by new technologies.Globalization is a controversial issue. Supporters argue that it allows poorer countries to develop economically and think it will lead to greater economic, social and cultural equality. Opponents believe globalization is widening the gap between the richest and poorest countries in the world. Economic integration was facilitated by three main factors: -First, the development of technology, which made communication quick and easy.(collabora) Thanks to the Internet and advances in information technology, the circulation of information fast and free, anywhere in the world, is now possible. music, images and news are exchanged between many people. The Internet and the World Wide Web have removed the barriers that lead to the isolation of countries and individuals. Until a few years ago, the benefits of information tecnology were limited to those with hardware, but now information tecnology has made changes to cell phones, literally putting the power in people's hands. Today, using a phone, a person can send messages, send e-mails and log into social networks to organize anything from flash mobs to smart mobs and social protests. Also the World Wide Web has revolutionized the world. pag 14-15) The World Wide Web (WWW) was invented in the 1990s by Londoner Tim Berners-Lee. For the first time, the internet has become accessible to a non-technical audience. In 1994 there were only 500 websites in the world. Today there are over a billion and the number continues to grow. a surfer can listen to music, watch a movie, read newspapers, enter a virtual chat room, write a blog or create a website. But these have created the digital divide, that describes the gap between those who have access and the ability to use the Internet and digital technologies. The gap may be due to: differences between developed and developing countries, in terms of internet availability , socio-economic differences between people of different races, income, differences between rural and urban Internet access. The charts illustrate the digital divide between different areas of the world. In Africa, for example, over half of Saharan African countries have Internet penetration of less than 10%. these areas will become even less important in the world economic system and more isolated in terms of access to digital information. As the internet has bcome very important in our life, (pag 16-17)The Oxford Internet Institute has created a new world map based on the total number of internet users in a country and the percentage of the population that has access to the internet. It looks nothing like the world we are used to seeing! Each hexagonal shape represents one third of a million Internet users. Countries with fewer users have been removed from the map and several areas of Africa have disappeared. The colors on the map represent the Internet penetration rate. Darker colors indicate higher levels of internet use in the population. 42% of the world's internet users live in Asia and less than 20% of Indians have access to the web. There is still potential across Asia. growth, while in other areas, many countries have already reached 80% penetration. In a few years, when the map is redrawn, Asia will dominate the world. -Secondly, the intervention of organizations such as the World Trade Organization which has encouraged trade between countries, - and thirdly, the availability of cheap labor and lower costs in developing countries. there are two periods following globalization; in fact we talk about offshoring.(pag 24) Offshoring means getting the job done in a different country. Multinationals often transfer aspects of their production to other countries, so they can benefit from lower costs or be closer to their markets. There are two types of offshoring: production offshoring and service offshoring. Production offshoring involves the transfer of production processes to a low-cost destination. Offshoring of services involves the transfer of support processes, such as accounting. Information technology and customer service processes, such as call centers. Recently, however, there have been signs that UK company workers are starting to relocate their services to Eastern Europe. Also as regards food there is a globalization. Food is now trading and marketing on a global basis. The availability is
