Environmental Awareness

Examine the growth of environmental awareness as a consequence of these global interactions

According to my research, environmental awareness increases as a country prospers and its people gradually increase their interactions with other countries. Constant exposure to different parts of the world with diverse issues develops people's understanding and knowledge about environmental management, For example, the media provides an avenue for information exchange so that countries become aware of the situation of other countries. When BP oil spill occurred, scenes of the accident were shown on BBC and CNN. As a result, many people came to have an idea of how disastrous an oil spill can be. Through media, environmental disasters like the oil spill have heightened people's awareness of the nature of disasters and the various countermeasures to alleviate adverse effects.

In addition, environmental campaigns are spreading through media. People are uploading videos, which can greatly attract people's attention, showing how to reduce pollution on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. For example, Greenpeace is an organization which aims to change altitudes attitudes and behavior, protect and conserve the environment and promote peace by bringing about an energy revolution that defends oceans, protects forests, work for disarmament and peace, creates toxic-free future, and campaigns for sustainable agriculture. This organization uses diverse techniques to communicate with people.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the contracting out of a business process to a third party. MEDCs outsource specific operations. Common operations outsourced by MEDCs are catering, cleaning, IT support, security, maintenance, and call centers. The main goal of outsourcing include reducing the costs, improving quality of service, benefit from outside expertise, avoid training costs, etc. Once a country is outsourced, the outsourced country will improve in terms of media, IT skills and understandings, become exposed to diverse culture, overcome language barriers, and have better communication due to high technology. 

India is the strongest competitor of the Philippines in the BPO industry. India used to be the country that had mostly been outsourced by the American firms. However, in the article I have found, the Philippines has attracted more companies because the Filipinos have a more understandable accent to Americans. Also, since the Philippines had once been under America's imperial control, its people came to have beliefs and perception similar to those of Americans. In specifically, both countries have the same national sports, school system, and legal framework. As a result, there are more Filipino workers (20,000 more than the Indians) working for America's companies. The article even mentions that some companies in India are planning to move to the Philippines. 

Question: In what ways can a country benefit in terms of outsourcing by sharing similar culture?  

Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN)

"All Change at ASEAN"

Summary of the Article:

ASEAN is a new EU-like economic community which should have been established by 2015. In this article, there are three main points. First, it talks about conflicts Asian countries had which had possibly affected their union. It talks about the dispute over China's territorial claims in the South China Sea which created tension among ASEAN members specifically the Philippines and Vietnam. Second, the unfair hosting of Cambodia who sided with China during the dispute which angered many Asian countries. Lastly, Mr Minh, a Vietnamese, who is the secretary general of ASEAN  aims to hold conference with negotiations with China so that they will consider the territorial claims of other nations.

My thoughts:

First of all, this topic struck me the moment I read about the dispute over South China Sea. I didn't know that ASEAN community was in danger of being together because of the dispute caused by the China. Also, it was interesting to find out about the unfair hosting of Cambodia. If I understood correctly, ASEAN community have annual conference in different Asian countries. In 2012 when Cambodia was in charge of the conference, China eagerly wanted the island in South China Sea for the oil, countries like the Philippines and Vietnam were affected negatively. During the conference, Cambodia took side with China since they were economically supported by China. This was again showing how economically strong countries can dominate one country. Even though, Cambodia knew that China was a bit greedy they still helped China during the conference. However, in 2013, Brunei was the host of the conference so I am sure the conference ran quiet fairly since Brunei is financially stable country.

Mr minh's effort to create peace in Asian countries must be appreciated. However, China has an enormous population. As a result, they require more resources so the negotiations I doubt that negotiation will be successful as it is expected to be.

URL: http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21571461-hopes-calmer-times-under-years-new-management-all-change-asean#sthash.9RoiFMxe.dpbs 

Cultural Imperialism

             

             First of all, cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting a more powerful culture over a least known or desirable culture. It happens when an economically developed countries try to spread their cultural and traditional activities to less developed countries. The result is that less developed counties would eventually adopt and adjust to the culture suggested to them. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this, causing numerous benefits and negative impacts.

             The Burger King which was found in United States is now one of the most famous fast food restaurant competing against McDonalds and other large companies. According to my research, Japanese people are very passionate toward Burger King’s burgers. In specific, Japanese kids favors the most among other fast food. With a huge success from all-you-can-eat promotion in 2010, Burger King is holding the same promotion in 2013 starting on November 15 until December. The name of the promotion was called “BiKing” which derived from the word “Viking” to describe buffets in Japan. Since Japanese people had hard time pronouncing “v,” letter “b” was used to signify the B in burger king and at the same time make it similar to the word “Viking.” In this promotion, consumers had to order the large size set of Whopper, Whopper with cheese, or fresh avocado which is around $2 more expensive than the regular sized whopper. When one person finished the meal, the person had the opportunity to order more burgers for free for 30 minutes. This event was a huge success both economically and spreading America’s culture on fast food.

             Another example of cultural imperialism can be Disney. Disney is welcomed by children all over the world. The cartoons are dominated by Disney and Disney has come up with diverse characters that have successfully gained children’s attention. However, Disney contains a lot of cultural symbols that are biased. Children unconsciously watch the cartoons without knowing that they are unethical. For example, Disney portrays Arabs as barbers or villain which might make children to think all the Arabs are evil. On the other hand, Americans are described as the heroes. So, Disney is giving wrong information to the children about other race and tells good things about America.

             As I have mentioned, cultural imperialism can be both positive and negative. One culture can greatly increase their products’ consumption level or spread their culture. On the other hand, through cultural imperialism, people might attain wrong and biased information which can limit people’s potential to think in a broader perspective

Bibliography:

-http://iletisim.ieu.edu.tr/flows/?p=749

-http://www.japantoday.com/category/food/view/all-you-can-eat-whoppers-at-burger-king-japan

-http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Cultural_imperialism.html

Pros and Cons of Globalization

Pros and Cons of Globalization 

Advantages of Globalization:

• There is a worldwide market for the companies and for the customers there is a better access to products from different countries (Samsung, LG, Sony, Mac, etc)
• Globalization helps in increase of demand of products. This increases the rate of production, and gives opportunity for people to get jobs
• Globalization makes the economy of one country dependent on the economy of the other country. So, both countries will have to corporate together and help one another. 
• In Canada, with economic globalization, Canadians are able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables in winter. 
• Most people see speedy travel, mass communications and quick dissemination of information through the internet as benefits of globalization. 

Disadvantages of Globalization:

• Globalization may lead to loss of cultural identity as Western ideas are always imposed upon the Easter thoughts.
• Local markets would have to suffer, because people will go shop at the transnational corporation because there is varieties of goods to choose from. 
• Countries become too interdependent with each other. When one country;s economic system crashes, it will cause a huge impact to world. For example, this will result in problem like Great Depression. (America)
• Anti-globalists also claim that globalization is not working for the majority of the world. During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment, 1960 to 1998, inequality worsened both internationally and within counties. The UN Development Program reports that the richest 20 percent of the world;s population consume 86 percent of the world's resources, while the poorest 80 percent consume just 14 percent. 
• Globalization has led to exploitation of labor. Prisoners and child workers are used to work in inhumane conditions. Safety standards are ignored to produce cheap goods. There is also an increase in human trafficking

Bibliography:

- http://www.mbtmag.com/articles/2010/11/pros-and-cons-globalization

- http://economic-globalization.wikispaces.com/The+Pros+and+Cons

- http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-globalization.html

- http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/pros-and-cons-of-globalization-3507.html