The Process of Globalization of Capitalism
The world has been under many developments, both economically and technologically. Many people have benefitted from the developments. An example is the multinational companies that have been involved in business all over the globe. It is said that the world has become a global village. By saying so, it is implied that the world has become interconnected in many ways. It is now possible for a business model to run from one state to another with little or no modifications. Governments in the current world have placed measures that favor regional businesses and develop a chain of relations between existing companies. Technology has also played a role in the making of proper interaction between the different companies and nations. This paper is an analysis of the process of globalization and capitalism by evaluating several multinational companies.
Globalization is the process in which an organization develops enough market power to operate on a scale of international grounds. It is a process that has become common in the current market since it is more beneficial to both the people who conduct it and the nations involved in the trade. An illustration is the Toyota brand of vehicles. By establishing branches in different states, it makes more sales, which implies more profit is made. The company also reduces import tax duties. The nation where it has set up branch also develops proper supply of their vehicles at a cheaper cost. It also experiences proper growth since the company offers employment and infrastructural improvements.
On the other hand, capitalism is an economic and political system where the economy of the state is controlled by individuals or organizations but not the state. The state only comes in where there is consumer protection. It sets laws of the standard prices to avoid exploitation of the clients or the producer companies. The system is essential since it removes many regulations and allows the market to be freer compared to when there are government restrictions. Governments also allow foreign organizations to invest in their land as long as they obey the policies that have been placed to protect the environment or the clients. The result has been increased growth for all companies and the development of better market conditions. It is because any organization that can develop grows as much as it can. To explain globalization, several multinational companies can be studied to develop a proper understanding and functionality of the two concepts.
Name of the Multinational | Company of Origin | Branches | Global Marketing Channels | Turnover in Dollars | The volume of Exported Products |
Walmart | United States | · United States · Canada · Mexico · Costa Rica · El Salvador · Guatemala · Honduras · Nicaragua · Argentina · Brazil · Chile · Botswana · Ghana · Lesotho · Malawi · Mauritius · Mozambique · Namibia · Nigeria · Swaziland · South Africa · Tanzania · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe · People’s Republic of China · Japan · India · United Kingdom | China | US$514.405 billion | $121.7 billion |
State Grid | China | · Philippines · Brazil · Portugal · Australia · Italy · Greece · Hong Kong · Pakistan
|
· Kenya | US$363.125 billion | |
Apple | Japan | · Australia · Austria · Belgium · Brazil · Canada · China · France · Germany · Hong Kong · Italy · Japan · Macao · Mexico · Netherlands · Singapore · South Korea · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Taiwan · Thailand · Turkey · United Arab Emirates · United Kingdom · India · Argentina · Chile · Peru | · China · United States · Italy · Chile · New Zealand · France · France · South Africa · Poland · Netherlands · Japan · Serbia · Moldova · Spain · Belgium · Turkey | $260.17 billion |
Analysis of the Data
Globalization and Capitalism with Apple
Apple is one of the companies that has been involved in the transitioning of technology. It has grown significantly over the years and has exposed its range from the United States and Japan to branches worldwide. The organization has also promoted significant globalization. It has helped in many organizations’ rise by enabling the different technological advances to function through their phones. In doing so, the company has been one of the most successful operations all over the world. A proper analysis of the company is explained below.
Apple has been one of the best brands f phones in the whole world. It developed an impression as one of the biggest producers of phones and laptops in the United States. It has gained so much popularity due to the quality of phones they produce, which has increased the demand for phones worldwide. Since it was started, it has made so many sales that many developments have been made to it. It modifies its products once in a year or two, making improvements on the previous products and sending a new update to all the registered devices. If a new iOS version is released, all phones that operate under apple are expected to upgrade to the new version. Due to the good developments that have been happening to the company, it has advanced its operation scale. It has taken over the phone market for many nations such as Japan, the United States, and China.
Apple plays a significant role in international trade. It curbs the demand and choice of the phone and laptop market. This is clear in the sale of the products. Apple sells about 61 million iPhones per annum. The organization also makes software that can be incorporated into their gadgets. In the current world, there are smart devices that perform significant roles in the lives of users. Ranging from security software, the iPhone sells the software to users or incorporates them in their phones to make profits. Apple also employs a large number of people in its production plants.
The supply chain of the company is just like any other. It begins with the process of manufacture of technological gadgets. In the firms where iPhones are produced, such as Foxconn, a large labor force is needed to produce the phones. The company takes skilled workers from the schools and learning facilities and gives them jobs. However, the company has been upgrading its systems by using artificial intelligence in the process of manufacture. In 2016 the company laid down 60000 workers from their production units. The remaining workers were upgraded to complex parts of the process where robots would fail. After the goods are produced, they need to be transported to large-scale facilities. Some people are allocated the duty to move goods. Others are also employed in the facilities to sell and manage the stock. The company also employs many retailers who sell phones on a small scale.
Over the past ten years, the organization has gained a lot of universal clientele, which begs to make new production strategies. One of the key strategies that apple has employed is the creation of overseas production facilities. This measure is based on the idea of globalization. With the use of software, it is possible to oversee the production plants from different areas of the globe without moving. It is also possible to evaluate the organization’s success or failure by seeing the trends of production, sales made, and net profit made. The idea of capitalism is also seen in the case above. Governments do not regulate the sale of phones in their market. They allow all the people who can afford to produce viable goods no matter their locality. If the government had restrictions about the sales, it might deny the entry of foreign organizations. In the current situation of capitalism, however, governments only protect consumers. As long as an organization has the proper measures to survive the new environment, it can be part of the economy.
The idea of capitalism is also helpful to the nations that are involved in it. The overseas companies that set camp in the new state pay for their operation costs in taxes, import, and export duty and their resources. Capitalism is therefore promoted even more due to the benefits. Apple as also been termed as the future of capitalism. Apple practices conscious capitalism in several ways. It not only focuses on the profits that it makes, but, on the way, it improves the quality of life. Apple uses its phones and computer devices to improve the life of its users.
An example is the health feature in iOS devices. The feature calculates the distance a person has walked, and the calories one may have burnt. Though the measure is an additional cost, it is an improvement in people’s lives, which makes the company more user beloved.
Globalization and Capitalism in Walmart
Walmart has also been one of the biggest companies in the world. It has gained so much market power that it has been considered a bully to the other company brands in the sector. An excellent example is Rubbermaid. It has branches all over the world and has been one of the biggest producers in the nation. As listed above, it is seen to have the largest number of branches all over the world. It also has the biggest profit margins in the world. The company has grown its margins of development more by changing the means of operation. In the previous operation models, the producers were the core idealists of the control of the demand in the market.
Several aspects make Walmart a very capitalistic business. Just like apple, its core aim is to improve the quality of life of the clients who purchase goods from them. That the products at Walmart are relatively lower than the other suppliers of goods in the business market. The main intention of the above is structural functionalism, where they intend to. The company achieves this by buying cheaper material from producers and makes them available for the clients at a lower price. It also offers many goods at one shop, making it one of the most convenient shops. It also uses a “pull system” whereby the retailers determine what they want the manufacturers to produce (Thirteen, 2004).
Walmart is an American company that has had much impact on the global economy. It has had many impacts on American societies by ensuring that it has improved the convenience and accessibility of goods and services. It has also changed the American business community by changing the method that it uses to get products. The pull system makes the company look like a bully in the market since the manufacturers have to follow the organization’s needs. Due to the market power that the organization has, it can drastically switch the producers’ positions. By losing a buyer such as Walmart, a manufacturer loses significant power and sales, leading to its collapse. It also ensures that the suppliers of their goods are at the lowest price level reducing their profits significantly. It makes Walmart appear as if it is the core decider of what the manufacturers must do.
Outsourcing may lead to the loss of manufacturing jobs since they take goods and services from outside sources. However, it leads to an increase in transport jobs as people and goods are taken from outside countries such as China. Rubbermaid was the most admired company in 1994 (Thirteen, 2004). Its most significant buyer and retailer of their products were Walmart. It bought the goods at a stipulated price that was lower than the other producers. Rubbermaid was, however, straining with the production costs from the beginning of their trade with Walmart. When it got famous for the production of high-quality goods, its demand for products rose significantly, and so did the production costs on their side. It was hard to maintain the initial low price that the organization had earlier. Walmart, however, refused to buy the products within the new price range. Instead, it dropped some of the products that Rubbermaid produced, leading to the organization’s failure.
After the signing of the plea to open up American markets to china, the American companies had a new market that they could exploit, considering the large population of China. Many investors came into the nation to fill the demand for goods. One of them was Walmart. The company has about 6000 global suppliers-80% of which are in China (Thirteen, 2004). The reason for the above is because China has cheaper supplies of goods compared to the other nations. This is favorable for Walmart since they can make more profits in their retail stores worldwide despite selling at lower prices. They manage to fight the competitors while at the same time gaining profits for the goods that they sell.
Based on the analysis above, Walmart has been one of the biggest companies that have gained global recognition due to its work. It has retail shops all over the world, which allows for the idea of globalization. The company is also involved in macro and micromanagement of all its businesses in the world. It has so much power in the businesses it owns, making it one of the biggest chains and interconnected markets globally. It also operates on capitalism, as seen in the interaction it had with Rubbermaid. It operates on the standards that suit it to the best of their expenses. It was a core shareholder to Rubbermaid before an was the leading reason for the organization’s growth. By practicing conscious capitalism just like Apple, it gains a bigger reputation and survives better even when faced by competition.
Globalization and Capitalism in State Grid
State Grid is a Chinese company that monopolistically supplies electricity to China. It has 927839 employees, making it one of the biggest employers in the nation. Since it was started, it has gained a lot of market power. In the beginning, it was only operating in China but has now expanded to many more businesses to an international scale. One of the biggest investments that the company has made is the running of the Philippines power grid. The contract was given to the company on December 12th, 2007. The company has gained lots of profits and may soon be the monopolistic controller of the market. The expansion is a show of globalization since the company has been developing to an international scale. It has also been one of the biggest suppliers of electricity in China. The aspect of capitalism is seen in how the government in the Philippines allowed a foreign company to supply its power. There were rules of engagement that the company signed to get engaged in the trade. In doing so, the political and economic system allowed an individual company to run the nation’s power system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the world has become a global village. It has become interconnected in many ways. It is now possible for a business model to run from one state to another with little or no modifications. Globalization is the process in which an organization develops enough market power to operate on a scale of international grounds. Capitalism, on the other hand, is an economic and political system where the economy of the state is controlled by individuals or organizations but not the state. The state only comes in where there is consumer protection. It sets laws of the standard prices to avoid exploitation of the clients or the producer companies.
As seen above, three companies were selected to be part of the study and explain the concept of globalization and capitalism. The first company was Apple, which is a leading phone and computer manufacturer. The organization has also promoted significant globalization by promoting technology to manage different branches of other companies worldwide. In doing so, the company has been one of the most successful operations all over the world. Due to the good developments that have been happening to the company, it has advanced its scale of operation. It has taken over the phone market for many nations such as Japan, the United States, and China. Over the past ten years, the organization has gained a lot of universal clientele, which begs for the making of new strategies of production. One of the key strategies that apple has employed is the creation of overseas production facilities. This measure is based on the idea of globalization. With the use of software, it is possible to oversee the production plants from different areas of the globe without having to move. It is also possible to evaluate the success or failure of the organization by seeing the trends of production, sales made, and net profit made.
The idea of capitalism is also seen in the case above. Governments do not regulate the sale of phones in their market. They allow all the people who can afford to produce viable goods no matter the locality they are from. Apple practices conscious capitalism in several ways. It not only focuses on the profits that it makes, but, on the way, it improves the quality of life. Apple uses its phones and computer devices to improve the life of its users.
An example is the health feature in iOS devices. The feature calculates the distance a person has walked, and the calories one may have burnt. Though the measure is an additional cost, it is an improvement in the life of the people, which makes the company more user beloved.
Several aspects make Walmart a very capitalistic business. Just like apple, its core aim is to improve the quality of life of the clients who purchase goods from them. That the products at Walmart are relatively lower than the other suppliers of goods in the business market. Based on the analysis above, Walmart has been one of the biggest companies that have gained global recognition due to its work. It has retail shops all over the world, which allows for the idea of globalization.