Globalisation

How Globalisation can help form a better future?

In today’s modern world, globalisation has a huge impact in our everyday life. It affects every area of our life. Multinational companies setting up branches in our country. There is a higher chance today that we meet someone from a foreign country. Even most of the foods we eat today are not produced locally. These are just some of the effects due globalization. Globalisation increasingly integrates nations together. Countries are no longer separated due to their geographic locations. People are able to travel abroad to make a living or simply to be on a holiday. Having said that, globalisation help to make a better and brighter future for all of us. Some may argue that this is not true as globalization operates in the interest of the rich nations and multinational corporations. The poor are being exploited in the process. In developing countries, some companies exploit the poor by making them work in poor and dangerous working conditions. Such conditions include cramp and poorly ventilated working area. Workers will have to work long hours and are paid very low wages. They call such working environments Sweatshops as it is very hot and stuffy to work there. Sweatshops are a common scene in China. There are cases where people died from over exhaustion working these environments. However, the overall benefits that the society gets due to globalization outweigh the consequences. Firstly, our basic necessities are better meet now due to globalisation. Countries no longer need to grow their own food or produce their own products to meet the needs of their people. Globalisation allows trade to take place easily and much more effectively compared to the older days. Countries now just need to produce what they have comparative advantages in. For products that they do not have the resources to produce, they can just import from other countries. We are now able to enjoy foods and clothing produced from other countries. In Singapore, we do not produce most of our food supplies but import them from neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. We also welcome brands from other countries like Levis and H&M to meet our other needs like clothing. Globalisation built a better future in developing countries as it provides more jobs and decrease unemployment rate there. Due to the low labour costs in developing countries, multinational companies are attracted to set up branches over there to cut cost. More jobs will be available to the people and this increases their standard of living. Both parties benefit due to globalisation. More government are recognising this benefit and opening up their countries for foreign investment. They come up with attractive policies like tax cut and easy bank loans. For example, more companies are investing in China and India due to the ease of setting up companies there. Industrial parks are built to meet the needs of the foreign companies. Schools, shopping centers and residential areas are built closer to these parks for the convenience of the families of foreign workers working there. People are also brought closer together due to globalistion. The Internet provides information for us to understand the culture of other races or religions. It allows us to make friends from another foreign country through social networking websites like Facebook. By enjoying the different food from the various cultures, we can better connect with our peers from a different ethnic group. Physical distance is no longer an issue as it is much more affordable to travel overseas to visit our love ones. Using the Internet to keep in touch is also one possibility. In conclusion, globalisation makes a better future as it better meet our basic needs, bring people closer together and improve the living standard of people.