CCGL9026 Think Global, Act Local: You, Hong Kong, and the World Written e!

lection Globalization, a term defined as a process that leads to greater interdependence and mutual awareness among economic, political, and social units in the world, and among actors in general which is a definition I personally agree in the most. As to me globalization is more than just statistics showing the comparison between it occurred, it is about the connection we are building with people elsewhere. Something statistic might cannot well shown is the correlation we are building and the consequences when we lose it. In the following writing, a few arguments or contradiction will be brought out to discuss supporting with some personal experience and finally pro iding a remedy or a solution that could impro e the situations we now are facing. In the reading, !"he Globalization #orschach "est$, mentioned that globalization is particularly a benefit to de eloping countries and that the poorer countries could one day reach where rich ones are now at. Globalization benefiting de eloping countries is something not to doubt, but that the poorer countries could one day be rich really depends on many se eral factors interplay which is something not globalization must lead to. "o me globalization could be iewed as either beneficiary or hazardous to de eloping countries. Globalization had led to a greater mar%et from being open to others, and thus large &'(s could choose the best location or strategy to earn the most, one of the most common strategy large firms use are to minimize production costs by starting up factories in de eloping countries with abundant labor source. So the trend became capital from de eloped countries get more choices to choose from to reach the least cost and while the de eloping struggle in a more competiti e mar%et. "his, in other words, ma%es the rich richer and the poor poorer which is one of the greatest concern that globalization had brought us to, this is what possibly led to the inter)country inequality especially for countries has nothing more than labor to offer. *ther than labors that de eloping countries are pro iding, increment in trading among countries is also another part of globalization. "his is what might ha e cause the intra)country segregation. As for those who trade are the ones who benefit the most, while others who are labors also benefit, but the problem is to what extent. &oreo er, globalization has led to large firms play monopoly, where small e ol ing enterprises don+t ha e the structure, s%ills or financially capable to compete with. ,ong -ong is a great example to illustrate this phenomena. "a%ing the shop rents in ,ong -ong as an example, many owners ha e to stop their business due to unaffordable increment in rents which land limitation should not be solely blame. .rom globalization there e ol e a group of especially rich ci ilians or tourists those could afford things normal ci ilians could not. All this had led to many &'(s open their branches here. "hese are all largely related to globalization. So large &'(s are competing among themsel es while those local enterprises could not stand a chance to e ol e large with them dominating the mar%et which does not only apply to rent. "he ad ertisements large &'(s could spend to de elop their own image is also another part that resists consumers from denial. (omparing to the time period before globalization, you were only competing locally within your own mar%et, but now there are many well)structured, well)s%illed, well)managed &'(s to compete with. &oreo er, one of the indicators of globalization is that there is an increase in how capital affect spending of go ernment, taxation and growth that fla ors them. As a remedy to the situation, one of the possible way to eliminate this segregation between the poor and rich within a country is through training and education, where less s%illed labor can be

brought to a lower number, that they could be well equipped themsel es to rise from the less s%illed wor%ers to more s%illed wor%ers. "hough, globalization definitely ha e many positi e impacts on de eloping countries, ta%ing (hina as an example, many factories started by o erseas companies ha e been pro iding many jobs which is of higher pay than them wor%ing bac% in their illages. So this could be iewed in two perspecti e, comparing to the international standard it+s consider a low pay, but for the citizens themsel es, there are earning more than they did. /artnership with local factories are also beneficiary to local, as local factories could be expose to s%ills, de eloped world employ and use it to further de elop. &oreo er, they will be expose to technologies which could help them impro e their efficiency and producti ity. At first I thought, the impact of globalization could be solely by the international trading rates or simply by the change in G0/. 1ut that+s not the case, as there are many other factors affecting them. So the reading introduce me, other methods which are less dependent on others, say for example to what extent capital can affect the go ernment planning. &oreo er, it brought in light the situation of (hina and India as part of the group of de eloping could not be used to generalize to all de eloping countries of the effect of globalization which their success are affected by other major factors. "he reading brought to me that retail actually plays a ery significant role in global de elopment, which I ha e not pay much attention to. 2hen I heard the news mentioning that 2atsons is actually one of the largest earning business in (heung -ong 3imited, it drew my attention to which retail could be that important for a company with business all o er the world. #etail acts as the major contribution to natural economy. "hat could be well supported by large &'(s that tries to expand their influence from just manufacturing to owning their own retail store, say Apple, Samsung, Adidas which all expend to the retailing mar%et.

All in all, the reading ha en+t much change my perception of globalization which I long before thought it is case dependent, depending on the time period, location and resources.

#eferences4 1rune, '. 5 Garrett, G. 67889:. "he Globalization #orschach "est4 International ;conomic Integration, Inequity, and the #ole of Go ernment. Annual #e iew of /olitical Science, <, =>>) ?7=. 2rigley, '. 5 3owe, &. 678@8:. "he Globalization of "rade in #etail Ser ices. *;(0 "rade /olicy 3in%ages and Ser ices 0i ision for the *;(0 ;xperts &eeting on 0istribution Ser ices.