Globalization is the description of the expansion of an organization, country or business, hence starting gaining international influence and that particular entity operating on an international scale. The process of globalization is usually aided by international investment and trade as well as information technology (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). There are several global organizations in the world which includes Google, the United Nations Organizations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) among many more. There are six significant globalization aspects which may have impacts on global organizations. The aspects include a change in technology; cultural flows; communication flows; international trade and worldwide market; investment flows and globally organized production; and lastly migration. This paper will discuss these aspects as they relate to the United Nations as a global organization.
First and foremost, international trade and global market have played a significant role in the globalization of the United Nations as an international organization. This is due to the fact that trade plays a significant role in the development of the economy of the majority of countries globally (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). Moreover, with international trade, business is being moved to higher levels, thus fuelling industrial revolution around the world. Historically, it is evident that the United Nations led to the implementation of preferred trade agreements among many countries in Africa, Europe, the Pacific and also the Caribbean (Wild, Wild, and Han, 2003). These agreements were implemented in order to boost the economies of the developing countries through trade. Consequently, they were aimed at lowering tariffs on exports keeping in mind the intensified competition and the need to increase the demand for imports in Europe.
However, the aspect at hand at times created disputes between nations. For instance, if only five countries were recognized for the production of a given product, disagreements would occur if the contracts are broken and another competitor is allowed to join the market. According to Gemmell, Kneller and Sanz, the international market is good for global business since it has led to increased profits, reduced dependence on common markets, and also aided business expansion (2008). Therefore, the creation of international markets has resulted in globalization over the past years since both consumers and the producers have been exposed to a wide range of services and goods. For example, the international market aspect has impacted the United Nations significantly due to the fact that it has developed a global marketplace for its members, whose aim is to provide a shared pool for the benefit of all countries in the world (Dreher, 2006). The market only needs registration and brings together all the United Nation acquisition staff and dealer communities.
Secondly, investment flows and universally organized production is another aspect that leads to globalization (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). For instance, the majority of businesses possess the advantages of organizing their production past the national borderline so that they can take the benefit of reduced costs and authority advantages of different geographical settings. This involves the distributing of production facilities internationally or even dividing the production stages and other business activities to achieve the lowest cost possible and to get close to foreign markets.
Moreover, the UN had facilitated extensive talks of new global distribution of labor. This development will enable loosening up of financial market restrictions and allow businesses in the advanced nations to line up production in new markets with cheap resources such as developing countries and help them grow (Giddens, 2018). More so, a lot of attention is focused on the growth of multinational corporations bearing in mind that the growth of such entities works across national borders. Along with the flows in foreign direct investment, the current eruption in financing is due to the rise of stocks as well as shares coming through and going out across national borders (Gemmell, Kneller, and Sanz, 2008). In addition, the international financial structure has gone through extraordinary growth in the last couple of years. Investment flows have greatly impacted the United Nations Organizations since it is tasked with the fair distribution of capitals among the nations involved.
Migration is the third aspect of globalization according to Wetherly and Otter (2014). An essential element of the development of investment and trade around the world has always been the movement of people across internationally as well as internally within the national boundaries. Migration usually brings about great effects in both the countries the people are from and the ones they move into (Aide and Grau, 2004). In today's world, considerable attention is laid on the effects of migration without appreciating and having in mind the forces and the contribution that immigration brings to the business and economy in public and private sectors. For instance, as towns develop, individuals will migrate from rural to urban areas hence boosting industrialization. Likewise, people tend to move from less developed countries to developed ones with the help of globalization (Goldberg and Pavcnik, 2007). Hence, these individuals will be beneficial to the countries they are migrating to as they will bring along and share their unique skills and qualities.
Moreover, migrants come with a significant contribution to development internationally since they tend to send remittance back to their motherland (Prasad et al., 2005). A lot of nations in the contemporary world, through the United Nation Organization, have come up with legal agreements where they tend to cooperate in order to make the most out of migration (Orozco, 2002). For example, states have partnered to identify critical skill gaps in a particular country which the migrants from other counties may have skills to fill. In respect to this progress, international migration has impacted UN significantly in that members nowadays come up with an agreement to implement a policy for the management of migration (McKeown, 2008). They also signed in to the sharing the responsibilities of taking care of the world’s refugees, guiding and protecting the migrant’s human rights and making sure no migrant is subjected to harsh treatments. Also, the United Nations has always worked vehemently to ensure that measures are put in place which would ensure that migration is conducted in a safe, organized and orderly manner (Aide and Grau, 2004). As a result of this, the United Nation Organization has been impacted by international migration since the organization has come up with ways of promoting international peace and security as well as cooperation between nations.
Communication flows is another aspect of globalization that relates to the United Nations. Communication is hugely influential in the business world and is growing on a daily basis regarding telecommunication and transport (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). Through the internet, the world has been transformed into a small village where various services and goods can be easily obtained online such as education, music, movies among others. Moreover, the global air transport is under the globalization flow of communication since it interconnects a lot of airports across the world (Shome and Hegde, 2002). The United Nations has embraced communication and the need to reach everyone across the globe through its online website which can be accessed from any part of the world.
Moreover, the flow of information greatly relies on technology in that, many companies and organization use technology to acquire information about a given aspect. Also, through the free flow of information businesses borrow ideas from each other thus expanding on their current ideas (Shome and Hegde, 2002). Due to that, the information flow has dramatically impacted the United Nation Organization since the world and especially the UN members tend to look up at the organization for a substantial amount of information which they know it will be of great help in their businesses. Furthermore, the information provided by the United Nations to its members is of great help in solving problems such as food shortage. Thus, essential information as well as effective communication plays a significant role in globalization and boosting the economies of nations.
Cultural flow is another globalization aspect that plays a crucial role in global organizations. This is the interaction of people which leads to rapid growth in communication networks hence bringing into light the way of living of a particular community or nation (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). The United Nations is a global organization which represents people of different cultures. The staff of the UN is drawn from different parts of the world such as Africa, Europe, India, America, and China. They interact in their day to day activities and share their diverse cultures. A people's culture can be seen through the dressing code, meals, cultural events, and ceremonies. During the United Nations' meetings and conventions, people are allowed to showcase their cultures through attires, food, and dances. Globalization has led to the interaction of people from different cultures all over the world. Through these interactions, people can borrow important ideas from one culture to another hence implementing in businesses and also organizations (Shome and Hegde, 2002).
Moreso, cultural globalization brings about the formation of shared beliefs and knowledge with which individuals from these cultures associate themselves with. Besides, cultural flows create a world that is more homogenous as well as generating interdependent companies amidst the available multitude (Crane, Kawashima, and Kawasaki, 2016). Example of cultural globalization is the integration of intellectuals from various fields which include anthropology, communication, geography among others. Moreover, cultural globalization has impacts on organizations both internally and across borders. The effects on the global organization are that cultural flows across borders have not only enabled growth in economies but also it has affected people socially. Fairclough affirms that interactions of people from different cultures have helped them to learn the language of others which helps address inequality issues such as race, class systems, and ethnicity (2007). For instance, the 193 countries who are the members of the United Nations, usually interact hence sharing ideas and beliefs during conferences thus building their economies.
Lastly, rapid change in technology is another globalization aspect that impacts a lot of global organization including the United Nations. Without any doubt, growth in technology has dramatically influenced the rapid growth of global economic activities mostly in transport as well as the communication sectors (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). In that sense, transport costs have declined, and travel across the world have rocketed sky high. Production and offering of goods and services have increased multiple times thanks to the ever-expanding technology. Also, the rapid rise of the internet and the revolution in telecommunication globally, has generally given rise to brand new environments which ideally suits global businesses and education (Brown and Jones, 2007). The United Nations has greatly benefitted from technological advancements such as teleconferencing. Furthermore, the ability of the business to pass information to customers as well as to associates improves drastically due to the introduction of new communication tools on the internet. The United Nations also makes good use of features of communication such as emails, facebook, and twitter among many others which have had significant impacts on the businesses between nations.
Moreover, advertising features have enabled a lot of business to advertise their products across borders gaining markets all over the world in the process. For instance, the United Nations organization developed a website by the name Website of the Procurement Division whose aim was mainly to meet the rapid increase in the requests from vendors in need of registration and opportunities in the UN (Monahan, 2013). Besides, there is an internet website called Business.un.org whose work is to provide organizations and companies the opportunity and the options on how to enter into a partnership with the United Nation organizations, how to put commitments and support the UN goals among many other issues. Through technological change, the United Nation managed to successfully develop its official website by the name Development Business, whose aim was for contracting, consulting as well as export opportunities across boundaries (Monahan, 2013). Generally, the rapid growth in technology came with a high impact on the United Nations and the affiliated organizations.
In conclusion, the six globalization aspects as summarized by Otter have an essential impact on global organizations and nations such as the UN. The aspects which are technological change; cultural flows; communication flows; global investment; international trade and worldwide market creation; and migration, have all played an important role in impacting businesses within and across borders. The United Nations, as a global organization, has been affected by these aspects and equally benefitted from them. They tend to give rise to opportunities internationally and even form a base for development of businesses and organizations. Consequently, globalization is becoming an essential tool of spearheading development agendas worldwide as held in the United Nation's goals and objectives.
References
Aide, T.M. and Grau, H.R., 2004. Globalization, migration, and Latin American ecosystems.
Brown, S. and Jones, E., 2007. ‘Globalization and sustainability: global perspectives and education for sustainable development in higher education’, in D. Otter (ed.), Internationalising Higher Education
(pp. 60-72). London: Routledge.
Crane, D., Kawashima, N. and Kawasaki, K.I. eds., 2016. Global culture: media, arts, policy, and globalization. London: Routledge.
Dreher, A., 2006. Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization. Applied Economics, 38(10), pp.1091-1110.
Fairclough, N., 2007. Language and globalization. London: Routledge.
Gemmell, N., Kneller, R. and Sanz, I., 2008. Foreign investment, international trade and the size and structure of public expenditures. European Journal of Political Economy, 24(1), pp.151-171.
Giddens, A., 2018. Globalization. In Sociology of Globalization (pp. 19-26). London: Routledge.
Goldberg, P.K. and Pavcnik, N., 2007. Distributional effects of globalization in developing countries. Journal of Economic Literature, 45(1), pp.39-82.
McKeown, A.M., 2008. Melancholy Order: Asian migration and the globalization of borders. New York: Columbia University Press.
Monahan, T., 2013. Globalization, technological change, and public education. London: Routledge.
Orozco, M., 2002. Globalization and migration: The impact of family remittances in Latin America. Latin American politics and society, 44(2), pp.41-66.
Wetherly, P. and Otter, D., 2014. The business environment: themes and issues in a globalizing world, 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prasad, E., Rogoff, K., Wei, S.J. and Kose, M.A., 2005. Effects of financial globalization on developing countries: some empirical evidence. In India’s and China’s recent experience with reform and growth (pp. 201-228). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Shome, R. and Hegde, R., 2002. Culture, communication, and the challenge of globalization. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 19(2), pp.172-189.
Wild, J.J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C., 2003. International business. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
