Globalization is the increasing interconnectedness between countries through international trade and cultural exchange. It has increased rapidly in the last 50 years as improvements in technology and transportation have lowered barriers to trade. Major companies have expanded internationally and become multinational corporations, and goods and services are increasingly produced on a global scale for international markets. Hollywood films in particular have found success globally, and now represent over half of box office receipts in many major international markets, showing the convergence of popular tastes internationally, though against a backdrop of some local cultural differences remaining.

1. By Lucy Brownnutt

2.  The process by which businesses or other
organizations develop international influence or
start operating on an international scale
 Globalisation is the process by which the world is
becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of
massively increased trade and cultural exchange.
Globalisation has increased the production of
goods and services. The biggest companies are no
longer national firms but multinational
corporations with subsidiaries in many countries.
 Globalisation has been taking place for hundreds
of years, but has speeded up enormously over the
last half-century.

3.  increased international trade
 a company operating in more than one
country
 greater dependence on the global
economy
 freer movement of capital, goods, and
services
 recognition of companies such as
McDonalds and Starbucks in LEDCs

4.  Hollywood films represent more than half, and sometimes
more than two-thirds of total box-office receipts in major
markets. Films that succeed in the US market also tend to
succeed in foreign markets. This suggests that a
convergence of popular taste may be coming about,
though in many countries this phenomenon also occurs
against a backdrop of cultural contestation.
 Hollywood has been a success partly because of the
unmatched competitive advantages concentrated in its
home base, partly because of its extensive distribution
network and US government efforts to push open foreign
doors. Despite its status as the preeminent world center of
the film industry, globalization is also confronting
Hollywood with many new challenges

5.  From the early years of the twentieth century, right down to
the present, the United States has been the world's major
commercial producer of motion pictures. According to the US
Economic Census, motion picture and video production in the
United States as a whole generated revenues of $20.15 billion
in 1997, with Hollywood alone being responsible for close to
60% of this total.
 The long-standing success of Hollywood can be accounted
for in terms of the competitive advantages generated by its
unrivalled technical and organizational capacities (in the form
of a dense regional cluster of specialized but complementary
producers) and its unique pool of talent drawn from many
different countries (Scott, 2000).
 Like numerous other dynamic industries today, Hollywood is
caught up in an insistent - and problematical - process of
globalization. Indeed, the commercial weight and cultural
impact of Hollywood films is now felt in virtually every corner
of the world.

6.  In the year 2000, the gross domestic box office receipts
for motion pictures in the United States was $7.66
billion, an increase (in constant dollar terms) of 28.3%
from $5.97 billion in 1986. Rental fees generated by
exports of film and tape amounted to $8.85 billion in
2000 (see Table 1) as compared to $1.68 billion in 1986
- an increase of 426%.
 Not only have exports grown much more rapidly than
domestic markets over the last fifteen years or so, but
they now also exceed domestic box-office receipts by a
considerable margin. By far the main importers of
Hollywood products are European countries. The United
Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands alone account
for 35% of all rental exports from the United States.
Japan and Canada, too, are major importers, as are
Australia, Brazil and the Republic of Korea.