Globalisation simply refers to social and economic expansion of the global scale leading to consolidation of world society. It is the tendency of expansion that is unhampered by the time zones or the boundaries. This is common ecumenical definition because globalisation has several definition .however, one of the most outstanding definition that represent the current influential trend is, ( Friedman 1999) according to him, globalisation is the inexorable integration of market , state governance and technologies to a degree that shows change that has never been witnessed before, hence enabling individuals, corporations and nations governance reach around the world in a faster manner, deeper and cheaper than the past periods.
Different school of the thought have placed different arguments about the establishment of the global market place. Some proponents argue that globalisation has the opportunity to offer social and economic growth throughout the world. Stiglitz (2003) voiced that it is an important process, of human innovation and technology advancement that triggers international movement of (people) labour and knowledge (technology) across international borders for better living standards. While the opponents argue that globalisation just offers developed countries chance to take advantage of the poor countries and eradicate regional diversity and lead to uniformed world cultural behaviour.
Since 1980, effects of globalisation have been felt across the world. To date technology has advanced to all corners of the world and better products for human consumption have been supplied. Perhaps this could not have happened without sharing of knowledge, information and ideas. A core element of globalisation is the expansion of world trade across several countries through the elimination of the trading tariffs and other barriers. One of the most important things about globalisation is the access to a variety of goods and services by the consumers in either country. There are also employment opportunities especially in less developed countries as most of the foreign investors target these countries because of the adequate labour supply. Labour is a key factor input in production, big firms always thrives in areas where there is cheap labour. Therefore, developing countries are always the preferred grounds for the establishment of firms. This effect is advantageous to developing countries since it provides platform for development towards the level of other developed nations. Basically, developing countries are so much endowed with resources for the industrial purposes. These resources are better allocated as a result of globalisation hence leading to efficiency in production thus increasing total domestic output. Increased levels of production shows growth of the economy, which is in turn, reflects increased per capital income and improved living standards.
Moreover, beyond transactions, globalisation has positive effects on the spread of freedom, reinforcement of rule of law and fosters cultural diversification. Most of the countries recognise the effects of globalisation as a result of major changes in value of export and imports. While other indicators are; increase in foreign direct investments, number of minutes spent on cross-border and calls made while there, the number of foreign workers and the amount of stock of the international claims. Economist explains that people who embrace globalisation benefits more easily than those who don’t, globalisation cannot be avoided just as the unanticipated financial crisis kicks without a knock (Mark 2000).
Economic dimensions of globalisations has actually attracted several attention, much to the businesses because of an increasing need to trade a cross the world. According to Ernst and young globalisation index, goods and services and technology are the major component for the growing globalisation needs. Most companies have expanded their production due to the increasing demand of their products worldwide. In an effort to remain relevant and competitive in the market, some companies have opted to open branches in major countries to ensure smooth supply. However, despite the decentralisation of the company production, the quality and brand of the product should remain top and within the standards regardless of the geographical production spheres all over the world. For this reason, companies embraced the encoding of the products.
Today, most of the goods around the world are encoded except new fresh products from the farm. This is done in order to facilitate easy data recording or counting, preventing the shoplifters and also tracking the counterfeits that could be posed as the original good. The most common encoding is use of the Barcode technology. It was first introduced successfully in the retail shops as automated checkout systems in 1974. Thereafter, it went some evolution and in 1981 it gained some industrial evolution when United State encoded military equipment they had bought. During it global launch people were sceptical about it; Christians termed the hidden code as the 666 sign of the devil, while others viewed it as the corporate scheme against the consumers. However, with increased globalisation, it was embraced all over the world and with increased population and number of higher income earners most companies have this system in order to be efficient in services delivery.
The barcode are also used in shipment of the luggages, keep track of rental cars, sent emails and parcels. They are also used in tickets that allow people to attend seminars, cinemas and fairgrounds. In fact the use of barcode grow day by day as it is still the cheapest and convenient, with diversifying technology, barcodes are identifiable with use of scanners fixed in the computers. This makes it simple for the supermarkets attendants and other users because the identification and counting is done through scan. In the point of supply management, barcode database quickly identifies the fast selling and slow selling merchandise in order for the supplier to either reorder or prevent piling up, and also to recognise the most profitable items so that to focus on them. Barcode also provides historical data on the movement of sales according to the fluctuations of the seasons hence helping to plan and manage future shocks from the economic uncertainties.
Most importantly about the barcode is the ability to keep a data of all the items upon production. This enables the central management of a company to monitor and manage the productions in all other satellite companies in different countries. With use of barcodes the overall management is able to identify the total sales and easy coordinate the entire department across the world. It is also easy to prepare financial statements and audits.
During its inception, barcode was first used in grocery shop. Once packaging was done seals were made and barcode put. Each sale was scanned and it was found that supply and sales were efficient and most of the profits were recorded. In recent years, many groceries across the world packages and encodes their food stuffs. This helped to indentify the most demanded groceries and at the same time indentify the most perishable.
The use of barcode does not come along without challenges. In the event that there is power shortage the selling and recording of the products is affected. It is also not suitable to the illiterate customers as ignorance may scare them from purchasing the products as in the case of Christians during inception. The attendants also need to be technologically literate and swift in use in order to ensure effective use. Another challenge of the barcode is that it comes in many forms. Several forms hinder the consumer to know the genuine and the counterfeit products. If the barcode is scratched or damaged, it is rendered irrelevant and the product cannot be scanned.
Apart from use of barcodes, there is also use of Radio Frequency identification (RFID). This is the use of radio waves to indentify the individual items. Although there are several methods of identifying objects using radio frequency identification the most common is to put a serial number that identifies the information on the product and the product itself. RFID is used to tracks goods, persons, airport luggage and sports to verify authencity. It also enables collection of contactless payment and reads travel documents along with verifying tickets.
Though RFID is some similar uses with barcode, it is actually better in several ways. For example, the scanning antennae can read the RFID tags from far and record, in fact, it doesn’t need to be positioned in line with the scanner. Many RFID tags can also be scanned and read at the same time unlike the barcode. RFID tags are also reusable as the sensitive part is protected by the plastic. It also contains all the product information and data since its production, shipment and expiry date. The RFID is also safer in terms of security since it has with engulfed with password. The use of barcode and RFID can be advanced by use of mobile phone to scan the product and even make payments through it.
Indeed, globalisation has enabled fair share of the world resources and products. This has promoted the living standards of people across the world. Barcode use is one of the fastest shared forms of technology and most embraced by the companies all over the globe. It is believed that in the next century the world will be one big home with equal access to resources and same diversification. There is also the likelihood that at this time, all the trading blocs will have been eliminated and there will be no boundaries preventing transactions or social activities of people. It will also be amazing because people will be purchasing goods and make payments over the phone without making any movements to the mall. The future of globalisation will bring the world to the same level of riches. This is very much demonstrated, the developed nations will rich optimal or stagnant growth while the developing will be shooting up its economy until they are the same level.
References
Mark, J. (2000) Bank for International Settlements .London. Folton print.
Joseph, Stiglitz (2003), Globalization and Its Discontents (New York: W.W. Norton & Company).
Martin, Wolf (2005), Why Globalization Works (New Haven and London: Yale University Press).
Friedman, M. (1999) The spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country in the world .Lexus the Olive Tree Print.
Vancaver, Nicholas,(2004) Scanning the Globe. Maryland. American way press.
