Globalization

Globalization is defined as the worldwide interdependence of resource flows, product markets and business competition that characterize our new economy. It is hardly unnoticeable how countries, organizations, people, resources, money, services and information are all interrelated globally. Thanks to the improvements in communication and transportation technologies, such interrelation is more and more achieved. There are many positive effects of globalization such as the rise of some developing nations through increased employment and technological advances. However, one can never underestimate the negative effects, such as the declining national sovereignty and shift of domestic jobs overseas where labor is much cheaper. There is an intense debate about the true effects of globalization. I believe in order to decide whether globalization is good or bad depends mainly on where you stand. I will discuss some examples where both positive and negative effects are evident.

One of the major globalization success stories is that of Samsung. Only twenty years ago, Samsung was only a local Korean low-cost original equipment manufacturer. Now, the brand is more valuable than Pepsi, Nike or American Express, with 227.3 billion in revenue in 2010 and 315,000 employees worldwide[1]. In order for such a drastic transformation to occur, Samsung faced lots of challenges and had to employ radical strategies to become one of the most successful globalizers. In order to compete in Western markets, Samsung had to adopt Western business practices, while maintaining, at the same time, its traditional Japanese system. Although the two systems are quite incompatible, Samsung managed to create hybrid system, where a focus on innovation was introduced into an organization focused on improvement. The organization also employed foreigners who could not speak the language and