Aspects of globalization
Globalization basically means the arising cultural and economic process between different parts of the world. The big question about globalization is how big of an impact it has on the third world countries. If you look at the western companies and the workers conditions, you get to see the hidden face of globalization. Has globalization had a good or bad impact on the third world countries, and is globalization even a good thing?
Western companies and workers in the Third World
The world is becoming increasingly globalized. As Western companies and consumers push for lower prices, working conditions in manufacturing countries are affected. Some of the largest companies in the world, such as Walmart, have some of their products come from third world countries, such as India. Some of the products that Walmart provides are made by human beings, under the worst conditions you can possibly imagine. As an example, young people and women are making some of those products every single day. The workers have to walk to work, which takes at least an hour, because they can’t afford to get there by another other means. They work in buildings where it’s over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it almost unbearable to work. At the same time they are rushed by their superiors, who by the way are mostly men, to work even faster. If the women fail during work, they are beaten or punished in other ways, and as a site note, they get fired around the age of 35, since the companies can get younger and faster workers to do their job. Still companies like Walmart claim that their workers have good conditions.
These are some of the sides that the companies don’t want us to know about. As the Western companies and consumers push for lower prices, the working conditions in manufacturing countries are affected. If the large companies want to sell their articles at the cheapest prices, which they of course want to, they have to find a way to produce them cheaper. These companies should be aware of the conditions of these workers in Bangladesh, and I think they are, but they simply prefer to keep the consumers of America in darkness.
Some of the larger Western companies aren’t fulfilling their CSR, meaning that they don’t take responsibility in the country that we live in. If the companies use child labor or have bad conditions for their workers, it will affect or damage their brand. CSR has the ability to do that almost instantly, and does so that companies need to focus on CSR on a very high level. The most important interested party is the consumers. The companies need to have a good sense of social consciousness, not only to get customers but also get people to work for them.
The impact of globalization on consumers
The biggest impact on consumers as a result of globalization is the internet. The consumers are affected by the globalization in different ways. They have more purchasing choices, they can browse through the internet from home, school or work, and thanks to the globalization the consumers can get products from around the world. Some consumers express concern about the way these products are made in the developing countries, but again, many of the consumers are left in darkness without the knowledge of how bad the conditions actually are. As there are a lot of positive sides for the consumers, there are also some negative ones. The products might have gotten cheaper, but you need to remember, that if the goods are getting cheaper, it means that the companies can produce them even cheaper. Usually that means that the products are made in developing countries and are made with worse materials. If you think about it, the globalization might have had a negative side for America as well. If the articles of the companies are produced in foreign developing countries, that would mean fewer jobs in, let’s say America. Without the globalization, the companies might have had to produce their articles in America, which would mean more jobs, leading to less unemployment, leading to more growth in America’s wealth.
Globalization mainly is a good thing, but there has to be something that can be done, to stop these horrible working conditions in the developing countries. The impact of globalization has been good on a big part of the world, but bad for another part. I think that globalization is needed and always will be, mainly because of the way that it helps consumers around the world. I think that some of the Western Companies need to work even harder to try to prevent child labor and the bad conditions of the workers in, as an example Bangladesh. Without globalization, the prices of products would increase and the selection would decrease.