THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE ON GLOBALIZATION: FOCUS ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
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Introduction
Advancement in technology has been one of the main driving force of globalization. The different technological breakthroughs have positively contributed to a majority of business regardless of their capital and organizational structure to become global, which have ultimately increased the economies of scale and market sizes of these businesses (Lee et al., 2007). To put it into perspective, technological advancements have led to the reduction of costs in terms of transportation of raw materials and products. It has improved communication in different geographic regions whereby, people engaging in business deals can video call each other and talk for hours using applications such as Zoom or Google Meeting for free. In addition to that, the use of the patented technology has contributed positively towards globalization as the firms, which own patents for different products can sell their merchandise in different foreign markets with no competitors, or alternative products, which will ultimately increase their revenue. In this study, the researcher will focus on determining how information technology has contributed towards globalization. The argument that will be presented is that, information technology can be considered to be one of the major driving force in relation to globalization.
Process of Globalization
Globalization is considered to be a highly expansive concept that it is difficult to come up with one definition that can capture this concept effectively. According to Inda and Rosaldo (2002), they defined globalization as, “The intensification of global inter-connectedness, suggesting a world full of movement and mixture, contact and linkages, and persistent cultural interaction and exchange.” However, this definition fails to describe accurately the aspect of globalization. Although it is considered difficult to come up with a specific definition that can assist people to have a better understanding of globalization, describing the following processes that are related with globalization helps people to have a better perspective of this concept.
Globalization has contributed to the speeding up the flow of capital, people, goods, images and ideas to different parts of the world. This has been achieved by the improvement of technology in the transportation and communication sectors, which has increased the flow of information, products and services easily (Lee et al., 2007). Globalization has contributed to the intensification of links, the modes of interaction, and flows that have contributed positively to the increased inter-connectedness. People have access to more information at one time today, than was the case in the previous eras. There has been an increased integration of cultural, social, political and economic practices from different geographic regions. This has been facilitated by the increased migration of people, impacting local cultures and the way of life for a majority of people. In addition to that, there has been an increased interdependence in the local and global events. This can be illustrated by the impact of things such as exporting local produced products such as Tea from Kenya, or India to areas such as the United Kingdom provides the local farmers with an income generating activity. It is an indication that globalization has created more revenue generating activities.
Impact of Information Technology on Globalization
The concept of globalization began during the latter part of the 20th century. Information technology is considered as the driving force that contributed to the creation of the worldwide integration of different global markets, which facilitated the globalization process as we know it today. It is imperative to assess some of the most important innovations in the information industry, which contributed towards globalization.
The development of the personal computer was impactful. The development of Windows-based PC, contributed to the popularization of personal computing, which eliminated one of the barriers that was limiting the progress of globalization. In addition to that, it contributed positively to the amount of information that people could have access to (Lee et al., 2007). Most importantly, owning personal computers by a majority of people contributed to individuals authoring their own digital content, and sharing them with different people who were in various geographic locations globally.
The increase in ownership of the personal computers contributed to the invention of the dial-up modem. It facilitated the communication process in different geographic regions as people who had these devices were able to connect to the internet using their phone lines and send e-mails through their service providers. In addition to that, people combined the personal computers, fax machines and their dial-up modems to create and distribute information. This strategy was common in the 1990s, and led to the global information revolution (Lee et al., 2007). The reason for this is that, the advancement in technology contributed to the ease of people to send, and receive information from people from different parts of the world.
The invention of the World Wide Web is considered to be one of, if not the greatest influence in terms of the rapid progress of globalization. The World Wide Web led to the increased sharing of content and ideas as people could now create, and post their content online, and it could be accessed by individuals who had internet (Lee & Joshi, 2016). The World Wide Web was also considered to be important in information distribution as it created a link between personal computers and the internet. According to Yip (2000), within the first five years of the invention of the World Wide Web, the number of internet users globally increased from 600,000 to 40 million people. The internet is considered to have accelerated the globalization process as it allowed people to share knowledge, and information at an instantaneous rate globally.
Developing the World Wide Web led to the development of the need of a web, in which people could view the information that was being uploaded and shared on this platform. The development of the browser made the internet to be accessible to people in almost all parts of the world who had access to the internet. The reason for this this is that, it provided people with a common way to access and share information and other forms of digital content (Inda & Rosaldo, 2002). It provided the assurance that people in different parts of the world were accessing the same information using specific keywords. In addition to that, it added the ways in which people from different parts of the world could communicate, i.e. in a manner that had never been experienced before.
Another innovation that has transformed the way people communicate and interact is the development of fibre optics. An important point to note is that, fibre optics were first developed in 1977 to carry information in digitized packets. The fibre optics have increased the way people access information by increasing the speed of the internet available even in the developing countries (Lee et al., 2007). Fast internet is today not only a feature that is limited to the developed countries, but also to regions that were once considered to be remote. Access to fast internet has improved communication, and even businesses between people and companies in different geographic regions.
The availability of the fast internet contributed to the development of the work flow software. The software was facilitated to improve the way businesses operated and interacted with each other. To put it into perspective, the work flow software is a software package which is used to automate the business procedures, and pass along work flows such as documents, information and tasks from one employee to another. For instance, the utilization of the personal computers to send e-mails is a good example of the development of the work flow software (Lee et al., 2011). It is important to point out that, prior to the development of the e mails, information was passed manually in different businesses. This means that a messenger mainly had to manually transport documents from one business establishment to another one, and this was not only physically taxing, but it slowed down business operations. In some cases, businesses had to halt their processes until they got specific documents (Lee et al., 2007). However, with the introduction of the emails, employees could attach documents and send them to other business establishments that were in different countries, and it increased business operations because of the ease of flow of information.
Most of the available websites that can be accessed via the browser were created using the open sourcing method. This is a community-driven software movement in which both the individuals and companies make their source codes to be available online (Lee et al., 2011). The reason for this is that, it has a positive contribution as other people can use this work to build their own websites by adding their own code to what is already on the internet. An important point to note is that, anyone with access to the internet can download the software for free, and contribute to the source code, upload it and therefore re-distribute it for further use by individuals who have the need for it (Inda & Rosaldo, 2002). What has made, or contributed to the open sourcing to be a powerful innovation is that, in the event that a company comes out with a new software product, and they make it open source, then the company is providing itself with the opportunity to gain new knowledge and expertise from specialists that are located in different parts of the world for free. This unique innovation has had a profound impact on globalization. The reason for this is that anybody from any part of the world such as India, China, or even Africa could be effective in terms of either using, or making a viable contribution to a software package as is the case with the person, or individual who created it (Lee & Joshi, 2016). It has contributed to the provision of a sense of empowerment to people who are located in different parts of the world who have the necessary expertise to enhance software that is available for free online. In addition to that, it has provided a platform where experts and specialists can pass their knowledge and ideas, and in a way interact by improving software that is available online. It has had a positive impact on globalization.
Access of the personal computers and internet contributed to the development of supply chaining, which has revolutionized the global retail industry. This is a method of integrating horizontally suppliers, retailers, and customers with the main intention of increasing the value of a business, or company. One of the best examples of a retail business that has used supply chaining successfully is Wal-Mart. In this case, once a customer picks an item on a shelf and the cashier scans it, there is a signal that is sent to the supplier of the product, regardless of their location in any part of the world (Lee et al., 2007). The signal, which is received by the supplier , lets the company know the amount of products that they have to send to Walmart. It ensures that there are no deficits in the inventory of the company.
Supply chaining process has improved the movement of goods in relation to the usage level of the customers. This means that companies do not need to have large ware houses that store a high volume of products, which are waiting to be supplied to the company stores once their supply is low (Inda & Rosaldo, 2002). An important point to note is that, the supply chaining has enhanced the globalization by ensuring that the supply chain grows (Lee et al., 2011). It has also contributed to the supply chains in different parts of the world to operate at global standards levels, and avoid delays, which prior to the development of this platform led to delays in the supply of products. It has contributed to the creation of a global collaboration from which companies can share.
Globalization has assisted companies in terms of building their supply chains as the companies are able to find the best producers who are selling their products at the lowest rates. In this sense, the aspect of supply chain has helped in the progression of globalization as companies from different parts of the world have a sustainable market. Producers of quality products are able to find and sell their products in different parts of the world. In addition to that, it has increased the access of quality products at an affordable price for the consumers (Lee & Joshi, 2016). The reason for this is that, the availability of a variety of products in the market has contributed to increased competition between the producers as they have to ensure that their products are of a high quality for them to have a market share that they want in a specific region.
The advancement in information technology has contributed to the advancement of digital, mobile, personal and virtual platforms. The development of devices such as mobile PDAs, smart phones and personal laptops has contributed positively towards globalization. The popularity and access of these devices means that people and businesses are able to communicate with each other using these platforms and this has had a positive contribution towards globalization (Lee & Joshi, 2016). Access to this platform has had a positive impact on multi-national enterprises as they are able to easily communicate with their employees, or clients who are in different parts of the world. They are able to send, and receive the latest news in real-time. In addition to that, the use of the Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has made it possible for people to make phone, or video calls over the internet. In addition to that, the use of platforms such as Zoom has made it possible for business people to hold conference meetings via the internet. Not only has these platforms reduced the overhead costs of businesses when making international calls, it has facilitated, or enhanced their businesses by ensuring that they can have access to their clients, or employees in real time informing them of any developments, which contributes to the development of positive business relationships.
The advances that have been mentioned have a profound effect on the businesses and globalization. However, it is important to point out that a majority of the businesses have combined these advances to create an effective global market place, which was not possible before the development of the majority of the advancements that have been discussed in this paper (Lv et al., 2019). The globalization trend has been contributed mainly by the integration of both the mature, or developed and the emerging markets. The use of the information technology applications has facilitated the development of economic policies, which correlate with the information technology’s ability to be able to create the standardization of the global computing platforms. An important point to note is that, the new platform has contributed to the increased collaboration, and innovation that had not been witnessed in the past. The use of platforms that have been brought about by information technology has contributed to businesses to operate with little, or no regard to factors such as distance, time, and geographic location (Lv et al., 2019). The result of this is that businesses that have competitive advantages of things such as information and innovation ability are able to dominate global markets, seek and achieve new opportunities, which have led to the creation of their values to previously unimaginable outcomes.
An important point that needs to be taken into consideration is that, just because businesses are utilizing the devices and platforms that have been created through the advancement of information technology, it does not automatically contribute to them dominating the global landscape. For businesses to achieve an effective competitive advantage, and boost their productivity, they need to combine the new technologies with innovative ways of doing business (Lv et al., 2019). Business enterprises need to develop new ways to take advantage of these new platforms that are presently available, and the ones that will be developed in the near future. The relationship between the new business processes and information technology should be considered to be a cyclical one. The reason for this is that, the new business processes will facilitate in terms of making information technology to be highly valuable, new and improved technologies will make the new and more valuable business process to be highly possible.
Conclusion
Globalization contributed to the opening up of the world, as people from different cultures and geographic locations have been able to interact and engage in business. The advancement of information technology from the development of personal computers to the creation of VoIP platforms has created highly reliable and unique ways for businesses to interact. These technologies have contributed to the passing of information in real time, and has enhanced business processes and led to the creation of innovative ideas, improving the business processes. This has been clearly illustrated by companies such as Walmart that are able to outsource products from different parts of the world, integrate their supply systems to real time and ensure that the supply of the products in their retail stores is conducted in real time. In addition to that, customers get high quality products at an affordable cost.
It demonstrates that information technology has had a huge impact on the globalization process globally. It has facilitated the communication, and a majority of processes that business establishments rely on. Businesses today can be conducted in real-time without the need to take into consideration things such as geographic and time differences. This has led businesses to open up new branches in other countries, or regions, employ people from different parts of the world and take advantage of new business opportunities. In addition to that, things such as open sourcing has facilitated the innovation process, and the production of new products as experts from different parts of the world are able to work on an open code, improve it, which has facilitated the innovation process. Given the contribution of the information technology to the globalization process as has been demonstrated in this paper, it can be argued that it is one of the primary driving forces of globalization from its inception to the present period in the 21st century.
References
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