Dec. 16, 2018

Globalization – the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets. The new world order. Good or bad? Well, that depends on who you ask.

There is no doubt that many U.S. companies have taken advantage of dramatically lower labor costs in places like India, the Philippines, Mexico and other places in South America and the Caribbean, outsourcing things like fulfillment and customer service, and manufacturing. All you have to do is try to call a company in the U.S. after working hours (9-5) to get automatically connected to someone overseas, usually with a heavy accent difficult to understand. Or, buy a car, whose components now come from the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, etc. Or, take a look at the tags on just about every product you find at Walmart (made in China, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, etc.).

If you are an entrepreneur or small business, seeking to get things done at low cost, now you can find website designers, graphic designers and even market researchers on freelance platforms like Upwork, Freelance.com and Fiverr that will build a website for you, create a logo, automate your emails, compile lists of leads, do research, and more. That’s the good part. Usually, these workers, based in India, for example, will work for a lot less than their U.S. counterparts. And, there are a lot more of them, since India has about fours times the population of the U.S. and many of them are poor.

However, globalization also means having to compete with a lot more companies than before. The Internet has played a large role in this trend as well. In our industry, selling information products, the change has been very significant. As people in India, China and other less developed nations move up the education and experience curve, they are forming their own small businesses, building their own websites, and reselling publishers’ market reports produced by companies worldwide. The number of “authors”, “coaches” and “consultants” has grown exponentially. Not so good for U.S.-based publishers or consultants. Also not so good for U.S. manufacturers that produce commodity goods like steel, clothing, or even pharmaceuticals. The quality of non-U.S. made goods is a problem and counterfeit, defective, and sub-par products are increasingly flooding America.

So, is globalization good or bad? You be the judge.

Note: For quality market research reports about a wide variety of service and healthcare sectors, see: marketdataenterprises.com, or contact John LaRosa, Research Director and President, at: 813-971-8080.