Question

What is the central theme for "The Globalization of Markets" by Theodore Levitt? Provide critical analysis of the article. What are the weaknesses and strenghts of this summary?

Answer 1

In general, globalization refers to the free movement of goods, capital, services, people, technology and information, and it is the action or procedure of international integration of countries arising from the convergence of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture. 3 Despite its impacts on all aspects of human life and interaction, there is no commonly shared definition of globalization. However: In the majority of the proposed definitions of “globalization” the factors that play a major role are the expansion, concentration, and acceleration of worldwide relations. Definitions often also contain various diagnoses of our present era. Inherent in them is often the question of whether globalization means the demise of the nation-state, whether it will usher in cultural homogeneity throughout the world, or whether it will bestow new meaning on the concepts of time and space.4 This modern understanding of globalization was coined in the 1980s, largely influenced by Theodore Levitt. He proposed that technology and globalization are the world’s driving forces and contributed to the notion’s popularity, well before the internet.5 With regard to economic globalization, the International Monetary Fund defined trade, capital movements, movement of people, and the spread of knowledge and technology as the four major traits of globalization,6 quite similar to the five key determinants identified by UNESCO7 : ? To encourage economic growth and investment, governments have privatized many previously government-owned services and industries and deregulated economic activity to allow market forces greater scope. The lending and development policies of international agencies and banks, to open their economies to international goods, services, practices and ideas. ? Large multinational corporations have replaced governments as the vehicle for economic domination and many have grown to be larger and more powerful than most countries. ? Rapid advances in technology, especially in manufacturing, communication and transport in recent decades, have seen the Industrial Revolution replaced by the Information and Services Revolution. ? Advances in communication technologies and the media have intensified daily experiences of global connectedness and contributed to a “global consciousness” that normalizes and, thus, encourages more global connectedness. ? The rise in per capita income generated by these processes has fuelled a massive rise in consumerism and created a perpetual cycle – or a treadmill – of production and consumption.