Globalization- good or bad???

After attending the lecture, I learnt more about globalization. I had some basic concepts of this topic since I have done the outline of a 1500 words essay that is talking about globalization as well. This lecture allows me to understand “globalization” this term more thoroughly. We learnt how do firms go internationally, the advantages as well as the disadvantages of globalization, the reasons to trade internationally. Moreover, I know more about the issues relating globalization, for instance, the loss of cultural diversity, the wealth gap between the rich and poor…

Why do firms decide to trade internationally?

Some questions pooped up in my mind suddenly when I attended the lecture. Why do firms decide to trade internationally? With the advanced technology and telecommunication, countries are able to communicate and cooperate with each other more easily. Many firms would like to take this opportunity to expand their shares and earn more profits. More firms aimed to expand overseas because the local market is saturated. More firms would like to have more exchange with other countries and as a result, different countries can specialize in particular products with comparative advantages. Firms would be able to have more resources such as natural resources and human resources with exchange as well. This can lower their cost and maximize their profit. More importantly, job opportunities increased in developing countries as those multinational corporations would like to lower their cost to employ labors. 

What are the pros and cons of globalization? 

We were asked to have a debate in class talking about the advantages and disadvantages of globalization. We have divided ourselves into two teams, the affirmative side and the negative side.

For the POSITIVE side, with the advanced technology nowadays, countries are able to cooperate easily. Countries can trade without any boundaries and barriers. With more exchange between countries, specialization takes place and countries are able to specialize in products with comparative advantages. This lower the cost in producing products. This can as a result increase capital and money flow. Moreover, with the rise multinational corporations, such as McDonalds, KFC Burger King, Nike, Adidas, it increase the diversity of products all over the world. People are able to have more choice of restaurants and brand name products.


For the NEGATIVE side, globalization widens the disparity between the rich and poor. Many multinational corporations aim to maximize profit and they tend to lower their cost by employing labors from developing countries with low cost. For example, Foxconn would like to minimise their cost by employing cheap labors and exploit them. Workers are required to work under poor condition. Many workers chose to end their live as they couldn't stand this poor working environment. Worse still, this may also leads to over extraction of resources.
Those rich countries chose to buy valuable raw materials from developing countries with low cost. This as a result leads to the widened wealth gap. Besides, countries' own culture may soon disappear as everything become standardize now. Restaurants and brand name products are the same all over the world. Countries will soon lose their uniqueness.

Here's a video I would like to share! Its really interesting as the man in the video talks about the pros and cons of globalization in a really fun way. Its both entertaining and meaningful! WORTH WATCHING VIDEO!