GLOB A L I Z AT I ON

Y : WE NE F RE D O PINO JR.
REPORTED B
 Globalization has renovated the globe from a collection of separate
communities interacting infrequently into virtually one multi-faceted community.
Politically, economically, and culturally; therefore, communities across the world now
function in what is fundamentally a shared space, although divided into artificial
political condominiums called nation-states.
In a globalized era, peoples and communities across the world have become
culturally connected, the distinction between the global and the local has become
progressively blurred, and actions and events in one locality carry with them the
potential to breed transnational and transgenerational impacts. It is precisely for
these reasons that moral reflection about our responsibilities and obligations in a
globalized age has become imperative.
Definition
• May be defined as the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social
movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas.
• Globalization emphasizes the increasing trans-border or transnational relations that are
occurring in the contemporary world. Globalization, in effect, restructures our social space or
geography from one that is mainly territorial to one that is increasingly transnational. In other
words, whereas individuals usually have most of their interactions and affiliations in the past
with others who share the same territorial space (e.g., the village, town, or nation), there is a
massive mushrooming of interactions and affiliations across these territories today because of
globalization. Evidently, globalization has brought about the escalation of global relations.
 Globalization is said to have begun after World War II but has accelerated since the
mid-1980s, driven by two factors:

1. Technological advances - reduced the cost of transportation, communication, and

computation to the degree that it has become economically viable for a firm to place
different phases of production in various countries.

2. Business escalating liberalization of trade and capital markets - More and more
governments are declining to protect their economies from foreign competition or
influence through import tariffs and nontariff obstacles like import quotas, legal
prohibition, and export restraints.
 International institutions founded after World War II that played a crucial
role in endorsing free trade in place of protectionism:

1. World Bank
2. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
3. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (succeeded in 1995 by the
World Trade Organization)
 12 Reasons Why Globalization Is A Huge Problem
(Tverberg, 2013)
1. Globalization uses up finite resources more quickly.
2. Globalization increases world carbon dioxide emissions.
3. Globalization makes it virtually impossible for regulators in one country to foresee the worldwide implications
of their actions.
4. Globalization acts to increase world oil prices.
5. Globalization transfers the consumption of limited oil supply from developed countries to developing
countries.
6. Globalization transfers jobs from developed countries to less developed countries.
 12 Reasons Why Globalization Is A Huge Problem
(Tverberg, 2013)
7. Globalization transfers investment spending from developed countries to less developed countries.
8. With the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, globalization leads to a huge U.S. balance of trade deficits and
other imbalances.
9. Globalization sets up a currency “race to the bottom,” with each country trying to get an export advantage by
dropping the value of its currency.
10. Globalization encourages dependence on other countries for essential goods and services.

11. Globalization ties countries together so that if one country collapses, the collapse is likely to ripple through the
system, pulling many other countries with it.
 Ethical Challenges of Globalization
1. It focuses wealth in the hands of a few, leaving the majority in poverty.
2. While advocates of globalization paint a pretty picture of a globalized world marked by the spread of liberal
democracy, prosperity, and peace, globalization has caused radical inequality, a deepening of exclusions brought
about by inequalities that present the world as a fragmented space where some benefit at the expense of others.
3. From the consequentialist viewpoint, the moral argument against globalization is that it fails to maximize
happiness for the greatest number of people.
4. From a deontological perspective, particularly in Kantian ethics, globalization is condemnable because exploited
populations are treated as a means to an end and not as an end in themselves.
5. States are in effect increasingly losing their sovereignty.
 Ethical Challenges of Globalization

6. Another moral challenge arising out of globalization is the problem of handling the global environment to prevent
a global ecological collapse, a scene that threatens humanity with the threat of annihilation. The world is
threatened by many environmental problems that carry potential planetary costs today, which involve the
anthropogenic greenhouse effect supposedly generating global climate change, commonly known as global
warming; ozone layer depletion, which progressively extinguishes the protective blanket that shields the world’s
population from unsafe ultraviolet rays being discharged from the sun; and the global biosphere encountering a
speedy reduction in the diversity of ecosystems, in the number of species of life, and in the variety of genes that
circulate within individual species.
One of the ethical and sound ideologies concerning environmental protection is the so-called “Human-
Environment Systems.“ This approach categorically affirms the significant relationship between humans and their
natural environment and other broad implications of this connection.
 Globalization and Business Ethics

• Business ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines moral principles concerning the
business environment involving issues about corporate practices, policies, business behaviors,
and the conducts and relationships of individuals in the organizations.
• Globalization has made the world a global village. Although businesses have grown and the
globalized environment has provided more markets and numerous opportunities, it has also
come with various ethical issues, such as duplication of products, child labor, money laundering,
environmental issues, and many other business malpractices. Additionally, sundry business
crimes have existed, such as cybercrimes, sexual harassment in workplaces, and intellectual
property and patent thefts.
 Globalization and Business Ethics

• Globalization is a new challenge to ethics, thus requiring incorporating ethics (such as business
ethics and environmental ethics) as part of companies’ strategic business programs and alliances.
Moreover, it mandates top management to establish clear policies encouraging ethical behavior . For
instance, all employees who observe or become aware of criminal practices or corrupt conduct must
be enabled to report the incident to their supervisors. Furthermore, management training seminars
and orientation meetings discussing actual situations can alert employees to potential ethical conflicts.
• With the involvement of business ethics as a part of business strategic decision-making, companies
are expected to gain a competitive advantage, goodwill, and recognition in the global business world .
All these are anticipated to ultimately lead to good profits and healthy competition in the international
globalized business world.
 Globalization and Business Ethics

In a globalized era,
a) people and communities across the world have become culturally connected;
b) the distinction between the global and the local has become progressively unclear; and
c) actions and events in one locality carry with them the potential to breed transnational and
transgenerational impacts.

For these reasons, moral reflection about our responsibilities and obligations in a
globalized age has become imperative.