Work in groups. Discuss the following.

1. Globalisation is not responsible for the growing wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers. This gap results from advances in technology.

2. Although global trade makes the world a wealthier place overall, not everybody experiences the same benefits, and many industries and individuals experience a decline in well-being.

3. Today and in the future, the most successful nations in the global economy will be those with the best-developed human resources.

C. Case Study

Globalisation: South Korea

http://www.kewpid.net/notes/globalisation_sk.pdf

Since World War II, a number of East-Asian nations have experienced significant economic growth, and the rapid nature of this growth rate has allowed them to be classified as Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs). South Korea is a prime example, and major NIC, as since the 1960s, Korea has experienced per annum GDP growth of well over 9%. This exceptional performance is attributable mainly the high-quality labour supply and careful government planning, has resulted from the emergence of globalisation.

Gross world production, the total output by every nation, totals each individual nation’s GDP figures, and currently, South Korea is the 14th largest economy in the world, at almost US$600 billion, accounting for 1.6% of total world output, which highlights the phenomenal turn around for South Korea, from an underdeveloped third-world nation, to becoming a high-tech and rich manufacturing economy.

A key factor that has propelled South Korea’s growth has been its strong export emphasis since the 1960’s, where growth of exports climbed 21% annually. Emphasis has been placed upon the more skill-intensive, high-quality industries such as the motor vehicle industry and electronics manufactures. This has translated into South Korea presently having the sixth largest motor vehicle industry in the world, and is now also the fourth largest manufacturer of electronics goods.

Korea’s emphasis towards stronger education has directly contributed to its strong growth period by resulting in an extremely highly educated workforce. Currently, Korea devotes 14% of GDP towards educating the young. Another key factor in Korea’s growth has been the rise of transnational business conglomerates or “Chaebol” in Korea. During 1998, the four largest Chaebol – LG, Daewoo, Samsung, and Hyundai – constituted a massive 60% of total GDP, proving their significance towards an expanding Korean economy. As a result of the globalisation of these firms, names such as LG and Hyundai are commonly known throughout the world. These firms attempt to reduce costs of production by, ironically, using cheap foreign labour from its Southeast Asian neighbours, and using the foreign raw materials of the host country.

The pervasive influence of the government is one of the trademarks of the Korean economy. Since Korea is poor in natural resources, the government direction was inevitable for growth to occur. Prior to 1960, Korea was an impoverished nation, yet today, it is one of the most urbanised nations in the world, with rates of over 75%, compared with 35% urbanisation prior to 1960.

As South Korea has risen as an NIC, it has become actively involved in most of the world’s important trade blocs and agreements. Korea has been a member of APEC, and it has with the other “Asian Tiger” economies, remained one of the fastest growing economies in the world despite the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98.

However, at the height of the Asian financial crisis, Korea was hit hard, where, after long periods of sustained economic growth, the economy came to an abrupt halt. In November of 1997, Korea’s economic situation deteriorated to the point where the Korean government requested a US$ 50 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out its ailing economy out of recession, while forcing continual deregulation and relaxing its tight laws on foreign takeovers. Nevertheless, the Asian recovery of 1999 saw the South Korean economy come roaring back, due to a surge in private consumption expenditure and net foreign exports. Statistics show that Korea has recovered faster than any of the crisis-hit nations, and the sure sign of economic revival was that major firms resumed investment within Korea, with figures indicating a 13% increase in the first quarter of 1999, compared with a 27% plunge the previous quarter.

In relation to South Korea, economic growth has led to a general degradation of its natural environment, especially with the pollution of its major rivers of Han and Nakdong. As little priority is currently being given to the Korean environment, the inevitable outcome is that global pollution levels would increase and quality of life would decrease as a result. In order to maintain ecologically sustainable development for the future, governments must accept some trade off of growth to accommodate environmental protection.

The globalisation of nations has become the forefront of economic discussion and planning. The move towards market-based systems characterised by open market trade, financial transfers and technological advancements has become increasingly significant as organisations such as the WTO become more influential.

South Korea is a perfect example of a globalised nation through it shifting emphasis towards rapid industrialisation, technological innovation and aggressive exporting through comparative advantage, along with a more relaxed government influence are the keys toward South Korea’s maximisation of sustainable economic growth.

Task: this text gives a vivid example of the country which is strongly involved in globalisation. Using the material from www.wikipedia.org, www.google.com.by, demonstrate all pros and cons of globalisation for Belarus.

VII. Writing