Assignment 1

Student name: CHEN WUYUE

Student number: 220089532

Course code: MM202

The name of the Unit Coordinator: Tony Ramsay

The assignment question:
Compare and contrast the current era of globalization with the first age of globalization (1850s-1920s). What are the advantages and disadvantages of globalization in its current context? Word count: 1450

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Assignment 1

The definition of globalization is “the trend greater economic, culture, political, and technological interdependence among national institutions and economies” which was defined by Wild and Wild (2012, p. 28). That means globalization is not just related to global economy, but culture, technology, environment, social and even our daily life. People could feel globalization everywhere and join in the globalization every time.

Some people think globalization has happened since 1970s,

but in fact, it had happened in an earlier time. The globalization which was from 1850s to 1920s is what people called the first era of globalization. Even though these two eras of globalization are not appeared in the same time, after comparing them, people find they have same characteristics, also different features. Now people are experiencing the current era of globalization, so they can obviously feel the impacts of globalization which include benefits and shortages. In the next part, this essay will shows some of the main similarities and differences between the two eras of globalization, and describe the major advantages and disadvantages of the current era of globalization.
Similarities of two eras of globalization
To begin with, the first and second period of globalization is all started by world trade and investment, also the development of technology speed its pace, especially in information, communication and transportation areas. (Wild & Wild, 2012,
p. 32-33, 37) After comparing and contrasting two eras of globalization, Wolf
(n.d.)claims that “The steam train, the steam ship and the intercontinental telegraph cable are as symbolic of progress in the 19th century as the motor car, telephones, radio, aircraft, television and the internet are of the 20th” (para. 9). In the twice Industrial
Revolution, people invented steamship, telegraph, telephone and etc; these inventions improved the speed of transportation and management development. Moreover, in the second era of globalization, technology has developed faster, but it has similar effects on globalization. For instance, the invention of internet shorten the communication time, companies can use internet to manage distant factories and corporate with more firms.

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Assignment 1

Next, in both periods of globalization, the workers which are from the low-income countries have higher competitive than the workers from the high-income countries. Huge companies of high-income countries build factories in remote lands to gain inexpensive resources and cheap labors to produce more productions, in order that they can reduce total costs and get more profits. It is the reason why competitions of jobs are intensely. (Wild& Wild, 2012, p.37)
Differences of two eras of globalization:
Firstly, world trade is more integrated today than the first era of globalization, and it is built preponderant through manufacturing of advanced companies. (Wolf, 2001, para.15) Multi-nation companies manipulate internet production and transportation technologies to manage the whole companies. Hence, the manufacturers can build their factories in different countries. They are not the only beneficiaries; they also bring new technology and manage methods. (Wolf, 2001, para.31) Secondly, during the first era of globalization, there were not acquirable international financial organizations or institutions, just like World Trade Organization
(WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to balance and strengthen the world economy. (Mostert, 2003, p.16)For instance, in 1994, World Trade Organization (WTO) was built to carry out the world trade