The earth feels smaller whenever a new telecommunication device is introduced to the market, or anytime footage of a unique event or an action in the world is shared in cyberspace for everyone to see; these are small affects of globalization in life. Globalization integrates economy and cultures of different regions of the world through trading, telecommunication, technology, human migration, and capital flows. Incentive of the integration may be economic, political, cultural, technological or humanitarian.
George Ritzer’s invented term, McDonaldization, is a subset of the globalization phenomenon. Ritzer compares globalization with characteristic of a fast-food restaurant. The characteristic includes measuring efficiency by pace of serving customers, which means the fastest worker is the efficient one; getting a large amount of food in a very low price; receiving constant and predictable service from distinctively similar workers. Ritzer believes the fast-food characteristic is dominating different sectors of American society and the entire world. In fact, this is the irresistible effect of globalization. The phenomenon, which Ritzer calls McDonaldization, is neither new nor destructive; it is just how firms coexist in free comparative market. Accepting globalization instead of resisting it, would help to promote global prosperity. Educating different aspects and strength points of globalization and its impacts on economy, culture and politic would ease the acceptance.
Globalization impacts the world economy with diverse effects. Roger A. Arnold, in his book Economics states that many economists define the phenomenon of globalization in two ways; first, globalization is the reason why businesses and individuals are more affected by worldwide events, and second, globalization is a reason for worldwide national economies to integrate to an extent that may result a “single worldwide economy”. Arnold states that globalization leads the world towards “free movement for people and goods” (769). Thomas Friedman, in his book “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” mentions that globalization is “spread of free-market capital in the world” (9). Arnold explains this statement of Friedman by stating that it is like moving from hundreds of smaller national economics to one large worldwide economy. Arnold also mentions in his book that some economists believe that globalization is changing the world to a “Union of States”(772). They compare the United State and its fifty states with the world and its countries. For instance, as goods and services move from one state to another freely, a person in, North Carolina can produce and transport goods to California. Similarly someone from California can move to Alaska to work, save, purchase and sell goods; globalization has the same impact with only a few exceptions on countries of the world, as if it is moving them toward becoming “the United States of the World”(772).
Significant signs of globalization can be observed as more countries in the world open up their markets to each other, people invest money in other countries, companies hire more people in other countries, and more foreign exchanges trade. These changes are easily recognizable in the world. Increase in number of franchises such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, or business agents such as Sony, Apple, Honda and so on, in the world are evidence of countries opening up their markets to each other. In the book Economics, Arnold indicates that in 1980 only two percent of the stock portfolio that Americans held were foreign stocks; in 2011 this amount increased to fourteen percent. Also in 1977 foreign exchange trade was 60 times less than it was in 1995 and this amount doubled in 2007. More people are trading in the world to make benefit. As in China income per person increased 400 percent from 1940 to 2000. (777) The effect of globalization on cultures of people is unavoidable. Although it is not a new phenomena, it is more apparent now because of the advances in telecommunication technology. Queen Noor of Jordan in an speech about globalization and culture, which was published by Yale Center of Study of Globalization, mentioned that since the invention of cuneiform tablet and wheels people have always been “shaking heads” how technology changes lives and they wonder how it would be to live in a “totally universalized world”. She also reminded that many global transformations have changed people’s live and moved their ideas beyond the edge of their maps. The centralized bureaucracy of the Roman empire, the rebirth of art and learning of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment that emphasized man's ability to reason, are examples of these transformations. Increased role of individuals, local businesses, organizations and communities are what make the new phase of globalization different from the old transformations. The current globalization wave is not an idea to accept or reject, as the Yale Study Center says, it is a fact and a force that needs to be managed. Those who oppose globalization are afraid of loss of culture. However, there are some cultural movements around the world that try to manage the globalization force in a way that supports local cultures. Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment is one of those who contribute to the movement. In an article in The Wall Street Journal, he mentioned that, “Instead of creating a single, boring global village, the forces of globalization are actually encouraging the proliferation of cultural diversity”. Through a poll he discovered that there is a “strong appetite” for American characters such as Spiderman all around the world, but citizens of other countries like their own stories, heroes, actors and directors, and are proud of them. For this reasons, many studios in Hollywood expanded local-language film production businesses. Lynton says that in their studios they work with directors to make movies to release in their own country. For instance, they made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Kung Fu Hustle" in Chinese and in India they contributed making a movie called "Saawariya" with Bollywood. This contribution has mutual benefits both for the studio and the audiences, and this is a profitable management of globalization.
Benefits of globalization management can be observed in other industries. For instance according to Claudia Vignali, principal lecturer in Manchester Metropolitan University, McDonald restaurants studied tastes of people in different regions and changed their menu to meet the desires of local customers. For instance the menu in Korea consists of a Korean Traditional beef called Bulgogi burger and grilled chicken burger because Korean people want low calorie food options. In tropical markets, guava juice, in Germany beer, in Turkey chilled yogurt drink, in Emirates halal meat and Arabian spice, in Italy Spresso and cold pasta, Teriaki burger in Japan, Vegeterian burger in Netherlands, McSpagetti in Philippins, McLaks which is grilled salmon sandwich in Norway, McHuevo which is poached egg hamburger in Uruguay, Samurai pork burger in sweet sauce are examples of managing globalization. Globalization helps ease political tensions by promoting merged markets. Thomas Friedman in his book, “Lexus and Olive Tree” writes, “No two countries that both had McDonald’s had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s.” In his speech in UCLA university in January 17, 2001, he said that globalization is merging markets, finance and technology. Traditionally national governments conduct their political systems to maintain security, economic welfare and human rights of their citizens within their borders, but globalization urges them to go beyond the border. Friedman compares globalization and the Cold War. He says that in cold war “division” was the main characteristic of the system, and the threats or opportunities that an individual or an organization faced with depended on who they were divided from. While in globalization “integration” is overarching and the main question in this system is whom the organizations and individuals are connected to. During the Cold War the first question that the divided parts, the United States and the Soviet Union, would ask was how big is your missile. In globalization the first question is how fast is your modem. An example of how in globalization communication does what troops could do is the story of Jody Williams, the 1997 Nobel Prize winner. In spite the opposition of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Williams managed to organize an international campaign in favor of landmine ban without any government involvement. In the answer of the question that how she could do that, she briefly answered by email. She stimulated thousands of NGOs around the world by her emails and made a huge global movement to ban antipersonnel landmines.
Other notion about globalized politics call it “supermarkets” based, in contrast with state-based Cold War. As Friedman compares, during cold war drop of bombs were destructive, whereas during globalization drop of stocks and bonds values in the markets are destructive. In an article named “Globalization or McDonaldization” about an opinion on McDonaldization written by Jeremy Skarsky in the book Envision in Debt, He mentions that advances in information technology, termination of Cold War, and post-industrialized economy are making a system in which interests of governments and individuals all around the world overlap; the more the interests combine, the more globalization grow (567). Therefore, in globalization politics is in a direct relation with economy. Resolution 1929 of 9 June 2010 of United Nation Security Council sanctions against Iran are under the same category. Countries such as Israel and United States that have no commercial relationship with Iran believe that a military attack to Iran would finish the Middle East political turmoil and the Iranian nuclear ambitions, while close commercial relationship of Russia and China with Iran make them block the military attack option. Instead, United Nation Security Council imposes economic sanctions against Iran with aim to breakdown their sensitive nuclear and missile programs.
Critics of globalization call it Americanization. This unidirectional approach to globalization disregards cooperation of other nations and their mutual aim, which is in making profit. As Jeremy Skalrsky mentions in his article, “globalization is not trying to unite the planet in blanket sameness”. He explains that McDonald’s restaurants that are being used as the symbol of Americanization by critics are merely economic firms that are importing into foreign countries to earn financial profit. His evidence is the varieties in McDonald menus around the world. (567) Globalization is increasing pace of life and most of people do not have time to sit in restaurants or go back home for lunch during the day. Any food that can be prepared and served fast would satisfies them. The critics even condemn united dress code and trademark of chain restaurants around the world. For instance George Ritzier disapproves that McDonald’s employees wear the same cloths and the restaurants use the same color around the world (46). In an interview, printed in the book Envision in Dept, he even criticizes portraying image of clean restaurant, happy kids and the clowns as an Americanization tool (570). According to business law, trademark is a distinctive image, picture, word, mark, color, font, shape or arrangement which is used with a product to help consumers to identify the product and the producer (283). Franchise is business arrangement between owner of the trademark, the franchisor and a person who sells goods and services under the trademark or trade name, the franchisees. Franchisee is obliged to just use the images, colors or any item related to the trademark unless the franchise agreement terminates(782). It is misleading to dismiss or demonize globalization as Americanization. The misleading result can be devastating, because as Friedman says, some “super-powered angry” people may decide to confront globalization. Osma Bin Ladan, and Ramsi Yusef, the Pakistani man who committed a terrorist attack against the World Trade Center, are examples of misled super-powered angry people.
Globalization brings together different ethnicities, through trading, technology and advanced telecommunication systems. It makes the world feel smaller and the old dream of human, which is living in a universalized world and utilizing endless resources and opportunities to obtain global prosperity come true. Educating different aspects and strength points of globalization, instead of defining it misleadingly, would help to accept and utilize this phenomenon better.