The phenomenon of globalization began in a primitive form when humans first settled into different areas of the world; however, it has shown a rather steady and rapid progress in the recent times and has become an international dynamic which, due to technological advancements, has increased in speed and scale, so that countries in all five continents have been affected and engaged.
What Is Globalization?
Globalization is defined as a process which, based on international strategies, aims to expand business operations on a worldwide level and was precipitated by the facilitation of global communications due to technological advancements, and socioeconomic, political and environmental developments. The goal of globalization is to provide organizations a superior competitive position with lower operating costs, to gain greater numbers of products, services and consumers. This approach to competition is gained via diversification of resources, the creation and development of new investment opportunities by opening up additional markets, and accessing new raw materials and resources. Diversification of resources is a business strategy that increases the variety of business products and services within various organizations. Diversification strengthens institutions by lowering organizational risk factors, spreading interests in different areas, taking advantage of market opportunities and acquiring companies both horizontal and vertical in nature.
Industrialized or developed nations are specific countries with a high level of economic development and meet certain socioeconomic criteria based on economic theory such as gross domestic product (GDP), industrialization and human development index (HDI) as defined by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Using these definitions, some industrialized countries in 2010 were: Austria, United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark,