TECHNOLOGY, TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION
Technology plays a central role in globalization. In part, this is because technological
developments facilitate the integration of economies. Consider the following examples:
• Developments in freight technology like standardized shipping containers
(containation), cargo tracking, and more efficient logistics systems facilitate
greater trade in goods.
• Cheaper and more reliable international communications through high-speed
broadband allows for the provision of commercial services to customers around
the world.
• In finance and investment, technology plays a key role in facilitating globalization
through the powerful computer and communications networks that allow money
to move around the world in a fraction of a second.
• Modern transnational corporations could not function without the communications
technology of international and mobile telecommunications and the internet.
• Advancements in transportation such as aircraft and high-speed rail networks allow
greater labor mobility between economies, as well as increased accessibility to
tourism and travel for consumers.
In these ways, technology is the ultimate driver of globalization because it allows
integration at a depth unthinkable in previous decades and centuries. Economies that
adapt new technologies rapidly also tend to be the economies that are most closely
integrated with other economies in their region or around the world.
Another way technology influences globalization is as a driver of growth in trade and
investment. For the leading technology innovators and exporters, technology represents
a major trade opportunity.
Other countries rely on importing technology from these leading countries with the hope that,
over time as they adopt new technologies they can become innovators and develop their own technology
exports, as countries like India and Israel have done in recent years. Trade, therefore, operates as a means
of spreading new technologies.
The internet is one of the most important communications technologies that links businesses, individuals and nations in the global economy. This not only allows greater communication within and between firms, but reduces business costs that have in the past been a barrier to integration between economies. The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) estimated that the global marketplace for information and communications technology would rise to almost $4 trillion by 2011. The surge in worldwide internet usage to almost two billion users highlights the rapid spread of technologies across countries in recent years and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy.
"Technology and globalization" by Cherie Borger (http://youtu.be/454T2EXbSP0)
developments facilitate the integration of economies. Consider the following examples:
• Developments in freight technology like standardized shipping containers
(containation), cargo tracking, and more efficient logistics systems facilitate
greater trade in goods.
• Cheaper and more reliable international communications through high-speed
broadband allows for the provision of commercial services to customers around
the world.
• In finance and investment, technology plays a key role in facilitating globalization
through the powerful computer and communications networks that allow money
to move around the world in a fraction of a second.
• Modern transnational corporations could not function without the communications
technology of international and mobile telecommunications and the internet.
• Advancements in transportation such as aircraft and high-speed rail networks allow
greater labor mobility between economies, as well as increased accessibility to
tourism and travel for consumers.
In these ways, technology is the ultimate driver of globalization because it allows
integration at a depth unthinkable in previous decades and centuries. Economies that
adapt new technologies rapidly also tend to be the economies that are most closely
integrated with other economies in their region or around the world.
Another way technology influences globalization is as a driver of growth in trade and
investment. For the leading technology innovators and exporters, technology represents
a major trade opportunity.
Other countries rely on importing technology from these leading countries with the hope that,
over time as they adopt new technologies they can become innovators and develop their own technology
exports, as countries like India and Israel have done in recent years. Trade, therefore, operates as a means
of spreading new technologies.
The internet is one of the most important communications technologies that links businesses, individuals and nations in the global economy. This not only allows greater communication within and between firms, but reduces business costs that have in the past been a barrier to integration between economies. The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) estimated that the global marketplace for information and communications technology would rise to almost $4 trillion by 2011. The surge in worldwide internet usage to almost two billion users highlights the rapid spread of technologies across countries in recent years and the increasingly interconnected nature of the global economy.
"Technology and globalization" by Cherie Borger (http://youtu.be/454T2EXbSP0)