This week in International Business we had a visit from two brothers named Andrés and Francisco Santos who talked to us about globalization and how it has affected them.
Andrés and Francisco Santos presented on globalization and how it is not a new concept, but that it can be seen in many places throughout history. First Francisco Santos talked about how at the beginning there were empires that held all the wealth. After there was nationalism, which took a step away from globalization, then there was regionalism. Regionalism promoted alliances between countries in the same region. Finally, today there is a move towards a world without borders, which is being promoted through globalization. Francisco’s main point was that globalization means evolution. I can agree that nationalism was a step away from globalization because at the time of the nation states, countries’ main concerns were of nationality and state sovereignty; building within the borders was more important than creating relations with other states. I also agree that globalization equates to evolution but trade between different societies has been happening for thousands of years, today it just happens at a faster rate because of the new developments in technology and the way it is transferred. After Francisco introduced globalization his brother, Andrés Santos talked about their father’s company, Industrias Romansa.
Fransisco and Andrés Santos present to the CGE students Industrias Romansa was a company that started in the 1970’s and by the 90’s, through the agreements in NAFTA, the company was able to work with companies in the United States, manufacturing jeans at a low cost. Unfortunately the companies Industrias Romansa were working with found areas in different parts of the world that provided the same services for less money and they stopped working with Industrias Romansa. There was no warning that the companies were going to default on their contracts, which lead to the bankruptcy of the company and the unemployment of its workers. After the tale of the company Andrés stressed the importance of the role of ethics in globalization because what the companies did to Industrias Romansa was not ethical.
The most important part of this presentation was the question of ethics. The students, including me, are part of the future of international business and international relations and it is important for us to remember that unethical decisions in the business arena will affect the company and the community it operates in.
Hey bloggers! I posted a story (written by Stephanie Jackson) about you on Inside Augsburg. Check it out and share it if you wish. http://augnet.augsburg.edu/news-archives/2009/10_12_09/mexico_business.html
ReplyDeleteInteresting commentary and example of the race to the bottom--U.S. companies ongoing lust to find the cheapest labor. It's so unfortunate and quite apparent that most multinational corporations and companies moral and ethical compasses do not point north. Globalization has been great for the U.S., in particular big businesses but U.S. consumers have also been major benefactors of globalization. Mexico on the other hand has not had such a great time with globalization. Due to economic and infrastructural inferiorities at the time of NAFTA, Mexico was predestined to be slighted by NAFTA. The vast majority of benefits from globalization are seen by the upper classes, while the working and lower classes, in particular farmers, pretty much exclusively see the negative side of globalization.
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