Blog 3 – Megatrend – Maela Verschuren
People have the possibility to travel around the world and meet new cultures. Globalization has many different sides. It can make transport easier, but are all the people getting better of it?
History
The world is getting smaller through technological developments: all different kinds of communication are making the world to one global village. Through the communication it is easier to produce your products in another country and keep the in- and export going on. Globalization is about opening borders between countries so they can easier sell their products and move their services. (J. Bletz, September 2015)
When the globalization exactly started is a still going on debate. Chris Bayly is a high teacher in history and in the last ten years he focusses on world history. He is disturbed by the fact that everybody in his classes thinks that globalization started after World War ll. Globalization is an ever chancing process. (Van Lieshout, 2013) In former times it already started when people travelled across the world to sell and transport their goods.
The Dutch East India Company
The watery position of the Netherlands has driven our international orientation and mercantilism. Centuries ago the Dutch sailed all around the world to discover new raw materials and products, to bring them back to Europe. Rotterdam has the biggest harbor from Europe and that makes the Netherlands the eight biggest exporter from Europe. In 2014 was more than €430 billions of goods exported. (ING Economisch Bureau, 2015)
Globalization in the Netherlands
The export from the Netherlands shows a big connection with the world trade. Since 2012 the world trading is not stronger than the world economy. Moving the production to low costs countries is still going on. This is an important factor for the Netherlands as a country that imports so much.
Fair trade
The mesotrend who belongs to this megatrend, is awareness of the world trade and the microtrend could be a Fair Trade product. When you are in the groceries store you can make a difference to choose for, as an example, a cheap chocolate bar or a bit more expansive Tony Chocolonely bar. You are faced with the awareness of fair trade. The fair trade mark stands for, like it already says, fair trade. (Tony Chocolonely, 2013) It means that the producers in poor countries are getting a fair price for their products and are measured up to environmental requirements.
Another fair trade organization is ‘Max Havelaar’, supports the coffee beans farmers. The whole idea, just like Tony Chocolonely, is that they will give them a fair price for their products. Ruerd Ruben, professor of developments economy, studied the effects of twenty year fair trade coffee and banana farmers in Peru, Costa Rica and Ecuador. (De Groot, 2014) He discovered that the income of the farmers barely differs with the income of the farmers who doesn’t work for fair trade initiatives. But there is a positive side, and Ruerd thinks that is even more important: a stable income. Fair trade farmers are more sure about their incomes than farmers who doesn’t work for a fair trade company.
Life cycle
Globalization is on a society level because it’s existing for more than 30 years. It is also not fashion because it is not something that’s coming back from the past, it’s a still going on trend without breaks. It’s not a trend that is short and intense or something wanted to belong, so it is not a hype or mania. In the lifecycle the megatrend is at stage 4: Late Majority. Everybody knows that globalization happens, it’s a way of life.
Closing thoughts
Globalization is not a benefit for everyone. It will not reduce the gap between poor and rich and it locks out people. Too many people have no access to money, loans and education. I think it is a good thing that people can travel around the world and can communicate easier with other countries. But in this article I focus more on trade. And that still has a dark side: (child) slavery and no dependence. Even if a farmer cooperates with a fair trade organization, the farmer is still dependent upon the fair trade company. Do you agree with me that in all cases, the rich organizations are getting better of it? I think that’s explaining why there is still a difference between poor and rich countries.
Reference list:
Bletz, J. (2015, September 22). DEZE 10 MEGATRENDS GAAN OOK JOUW SALES HARD RAKEN. Retrieved from http://www.mt.nl/641/88413/het-nieuwe-zakendoen-de-nieuwe-wereld/deze-10-megatrends-gaan-ook-jouw-sales-hard-raken.html
De Groot, A. (2014, October 24). Is de Max Havelaar-boer echt beter af? Retrieved from http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/is-de-max-havelaar-boer-echt-beter-af~a924423/
ING Economisch Bureau. (2015, August). Van een gouden verleden naar een gouden toekomst? [PDF research report]. Retrieved from https://www.ing.nl/media/ING%20-%20Van%20een%20gouden%20verleden%20naar%20een%20gouden%20toekomst%20-%20Uitdagingen%20voor%20Nederland%20handelsland%20-%20augustus%202015%20(3)_tcm162-88623.pdf
Van Lieshout, M. (2013, May 29). De geboorte van de globalisering. Retrieved from http://www.isgeschiedenis.nl/archiefstukken/de-geboorte-van-de-globalisering/
Tony Chocolonely. (2013, November 27). Chocoladeletters: écht eerlijk of een leugen? Retrieved from http://www.tonyschocolonely.com/2013/11/27/chocoladeletters-écht-eerlijk-of-een-leugen/
Trends and Brands block A 16-17 
Globalization is a difficult trend to discuss. This is because of the big impact that this trend had and has on society. It is good that you focused on one aspect of globalization, namely trade.
As you discuss in your article, organizations benefit of globalization. This is because many companies have moved their production to countries where the production costs are lower. Especially in the clothing industry this is a big issue (www.schonekleren.nl).
In your question, you ask if I agree that organizations are getting better of it in all cases. First I want to define ‘getting better of it’. You can interpret ‘getting better’ as getting more successful. In the history people where not as aware of the bad working conditions. Nowadays there is a lot of awareness for these conditions. So organizations that produce in low-wage countries are not getting more successful of it. Although the costs are lower, the popularity of the brand decreases. This results in a reduce of the profit of the company or organization.
In a way, this problem makes the between rich and poor countries even bigger. I don’t think that organizations that move their production to low-wage countries are the cause of the gap, but I also don’t think that it has a positive influence on the gap.
Globalization has caused a lot in the world, both positive and negative things. But I most certainly think that globalization made it easier to help other countries that are in need. So with every trend there are negative and positive things that come along.
-Lilian Casson 20-09-’16-
Resources :
• Author unknown. Kledingindustrie. http://schonekleren.nl/informatie/de-kledingindustrie/kledingindustrie consulted on 20-09-’16
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Do you agree with me that in all cases, the rich organizations are getting better of it?
Globalization brings a lot of good but also bad stuff to our world. I partly agree on your question about the rich organizations and think they are getting better of it. But I can also see that there are a lot of organizations that see this as a change to make to world better, To give the poor people a change. But overall most of those organizations don’t care.
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