Globalization is a complex process that involves the integration of economies, societies and cultures through communication and transportation networks. It can refer specifically to economic integration through trade and financial flows, but also involves the spread of ideas, technologies and cultural practices. While globalization has been occurring for millennia through trade and exploration, it accelerated in the late 20th century due to reductions in trade barriers and advances in transportation and communication technologies. There are ongoing debates around both the positive and negative impacts of globalization.

1. ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE PAÇOS DE FERREIRA
Ano Lectivo: 2009/10
What’s Globalization?
Some definitions…
Globalization (or globalization) describes an ongoing process by which regional economies,
societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication
and execution. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic globalization: the
integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct
investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology. However, globalization is usually
recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio cultural, political, and
biological factors. The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or
popular culture through acculturation.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization: 27.01.2010
Globalization is more than a technical process. While there is a strong technical component, successful
globalization involves changing the way an organization does business. As long as international
markets are treated as a secondary concern and a place to save on costs, globalization efforts will not
be truly successful. In particular, globalization is not a process that starts after a product has been
designed. If global concerns and plans for after-market support are not made even before product
development begins, costs will go up and quality problems will emerge.
Globalization can best be thought of as a cycle rather than a single process, as shown below:
In this view, the two primary technical processes that comprise globalization—internationalization and
localization—are seen as part of a global whole:
Internationalization encompasses the planning and preparation stages for a product in which it
is built by design to support global markets. This process means that all cultural assumptions
are removed and any country- or language-specific concent is stored externally to the product
so that it can be easily adapted. Learn more about internationalization…
Localization refers to the actual adaptation of the product for a specific market. It includes
translation, adaptation of graphics, adoption of local currencies, use of proper forms for dates,
addresses, and phone numbers, and many other details, including physical structures of
products in some cases. If these details were not anticipated in the internationalization phase,
they must be fixed during localization, adding time and expense to the project. In extreme
cases, products that were not internationalized may not even be localizable
Source: http://www.lisa.org/What-Is-Globalizatio.48.0.html: 27.01.2010
Globalization is a process that allows economies, cultures and nations from diverse places to become
integrated through communication, trade and exchange. The term is used mostly to describe economic
globalization; however it can be used to describe the exchanges in popular culture as well. The
integration of cultures and nations can happen through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows,
migration and, importantly, technology.
The term “globalization” was coined by an American entrepreneur, Charles Taze Russell, who also
came up with the term “corporate giants” in 1897. The term did not come into fashion with economists
and social scientists until the 1960’s.

2. The idea of globalization is not necessarily new. It has been happening for thousands of years. People
would travel great distances to trade their goods with other countries. There is the famed Silk Road that
was the connection between China and Europe during the middle Ages, as just one example. However,
the true origins of the history of globalization are still the subject of ongoing debate.
One of the most potent drivers of globalization has been technology. As technology has advanced so
has the increase in globalization. The easier it is for cultures, businesses and economies to
communicate with each other the easier it is to exchanges ideas, goods and services.
There is a fair amount of controversy surrounding globalization. Some advocates say that allows
developing nations grow their economies while others say that is hampers local enterprise and local
growth.
Source: http://dowindex.net/2009/12/11/what-is-globalization/: 27.01.2010
The United Nations ESCWA has written that globalization "is a widely-used term that can be defined in
a number of different ways. When used in an economic context, it refers to the reduction and removal of
barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, and services and
labour... although considerable barriers remain to the flow of labour... Globalization is not a new
phenomenon. It began in the late nineteenth century, but it slowed down during the period from the start
of the First World War until the third quarter of the twentieth century. This slowdown can be attributed to
the inward looking policies pursued by a number of countries in order to protect their respective
industries... however, the pace of globalization picked up rapidly during the fourth quarter of the
twentieth century..."
Saskia Sassen writes that "a good part of globalization consists of an enormous variety of micro-
processes that begin to denationalize what had been constructed as national — whether policies,
capital, political subjectivities, urban spaces, temporal frames, or any other of a variety of dynamics and
domains."
Tom G. Palmer of the Cato Institute defines globalization as "the diminution or elimination of state-
enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global
system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result."
Noam Chomsky argues that the word globalization is also used, in a doctrinal sense, to describe the
neoliberal form of economic globalization.
Herman E. Daly argues that sometimes the terms internationalization and globalization are used
interchangeably but there is a significant formal difference. The term "internationalization" (or
internationalization) refers to the importance of international trade, relations, treaties etc. owing to the
(hypothetical) immobility of labor and capital between or among nations.[citation needed]
Finally, Takis Fotopoulos argues that globalization is the result of systemic trends manifesting the
market economy’s grow-or-die dynamic, following the rapid expansion of transnational corporations.
Because these trends have not been offset effectively by counter-tendencies that could have emanated
from trade-union action and other forms of political activity, the outcome has been globalization. This is
a multi-faceted and irreversible phenomenon within the system of the market economy and it is
expressed as: economic globalization, namely, the opening and deregulation of commodity, capital and
labour markets which led to the present form of neoliberal globalization; political globalization, i.e., the
emergence of a transnational elite and the phasing out of the all powerful-nation state of the statist
period; cultural globalization, i.e., the worldwide homogenization of culture; ideological globalization;
technological globalization; social globalization.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization#Definitions: 27.01.2010
Gracinda Couto nº 3 José Costa nº 17 Mário Lopes nº 22
Fátima Couto nº 6 Fausto Leal nº 19 Liliana Trabuco nº 23
Micael Santos nº 8 Beatriz Nunes nº 20 Vítor Carneiro nº 24
Marina Ribeiro nº 16 Filipe Nunes nº 21 EFA B3