The document discusses the concept of the "race to the bottom" phenomenon caused by globalization and deregulation. It provides several case studies as examples, such as poor working conditions in Bangladesh's textile industry, Nestle's formula milk scandal that killed infants, and e-waste dumping by developed nations. The race to the bottom intensifies competition that lowers costs by reducing worker benefits, environmental protections, and social welfare. While globalization increases competition and lowers prices, it also decreases wages and widens inequality gaps.
Avoid the race to the bottom on price by moving from the customer's thinking from price to value. Transform your business by exiting Level 1 thinking and move the conversation to Level 2 and Level 3 of Perceived value. Lead with your core uniqueness, lead with your people and their passion, not your products.
We are a team of passionate programmers who dream to change the way enterprise software is built and used. Here is what we have achieved and who we are.
Avoid the race to the bottom on price by moving from the customer's thinking from price to value. Transform your business by exiting Level 1 thinking and move the conversation to Level 2 and Level 3 of Perceived value. Lead with your core uniqueness, lead with your people and their passion, not your products.
We are a team of passionate programmers who dream to change the way enterprise software is built and used. Here is what we have achieved and who we are.
Skyline - Affordable, Customized and Mobile Enterprise SoftwareHu Hai
Skyline, is a lite-customized software for communication, management and business intelligence, designed specifically for SMB who can’t afford the pricier, higher-end IBM and Oracle e-business solutions. Skyline, available on both mobile and web platforms, combines instant messaging, resource management, and data analytics to create customizable business workflows and tasks on a user-friendly platform.
Within its development’s first stages no worldwide issue, that’s a problem that splashes might anybody in just about any part of Our Planet could be generated by several humanity. Consequently of the negotiation of property and just about all humanity formerly hidden the atmosphere and also level financial improvement started initially to seem progressively amplified issues that were worldwide. Each them and especially all together to trigger all existence on our planet’s damage.
Presently, the extensive, i.e. worldwide issues of humanity contain:
the demographic issue brought on by quick population development within the weakest countries;
ecological issue related to extreme ecological destruction, producing the earth uninhabitable;
the issue of individual improvement of types of assets, including meals;
geopolitical issues that supply rise to issues and jeopardize mankind suicidal World War;
problem of deepening inequality and unequal improvement of various places, countries, areas, etc., continuously making local and worldwide concerns.
This is actually the improvement of world, and also the most significant complicated individual issues in the world continuously produce fresh and new. Hence, humanity started initially to jeopardize horrible illness. These utilize medication habit, terrorism, offense, dying conventional religious ideals. This really is possibly grounded reasons for problems that are worldwide.
l̂̂̂ î;The environmental revolution has been almost.docxSHIVA101531
l̂̂̂ î;
The environmental revolution has been almost
three decades in the making, and it has changed for-
ever how companies do business. In the 1960s and
1970s, corporations were in a state of denial regard-
ing their impact on the environment. Then a series
of highly visible ecological problems created a
groundswell of support for strict government regu-
lation. In the United States, Lake Erie was dead. In
Europe, the Rhine was on fire. In Japan, people were
dying of mercury poisoning.
Today many companies have accepted their re-
sponsibility to do no harm to the environment.
Products and production processes are becoming
cleaner; and where sueh change is under way, the
environment is on the mend. In the industrialized
nations, more and more companies are "going
green" as they realize that they can reduce pollu-
tion and increase profits simultaneously. We have
come a long way.
fer to as its carrying capacity. Increasingly, the
scourges of the late twentieth century-depleted
farmland, fisheries, and forests,- choking urban pol-
lution,- poverty; infectious disease; and migration-
are spilling over geopolitical borders. The simple
fact is this: in meeting our needs, we are destroying
the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
The roots of the problem-explosive population
growth and rapid economic development in the
emerging economies - are political and social issues
that exceed the mandate and the capabilities of any
corporation. At the same time, corporations are the
only organizations with the resources, the technol-
ogy, the global reach, and, ultimately, the motiva-
tion to achieve sustainability.
It is easy to state the case in the negative: faced
with impoverished customers, degraded environ-
ments, failing political systems, and unraveling
societies, it will be increasingly difficult for cor-
Strateqies for a Sustainable World
But the distance we've traveled will seem small
when, in 30 years, we look hack at the 1990s. Be-
yond greening lies an enormous challenge-and an
enormous opportunity. The challenge is to develop
a sustainable global economy: an economy that the
planet is capable of supporting indefinitely. Al-
though we may be approaching ecological recovery
in the developed world, the planet as a whole re-
mains on an unsustainable course. Those who
think that sustainability is only a matter of pollu-
tion control are missing the bigger picture. Even if
all the companies in the developed world were to
achieve zero emissions by the year 2000, the earth
would still be stressed beyond what biologists re-
porations to do business. But the positive case is
even more powerful. The more we learn about the
challenges of sustainability, the clearer it is that we
are poised at the threshold of a historic moment
in which many of the world's industries may be
transformed.
To date, the business logic for greening has been
largely operational or technical: bottom-up pollu-
tion-prevention programs have saved companies
S ...
Skyline - Affordable, Customized and Mobile Enterprise SoftwareHu Hai
Skyline, is a lite-customized software for communication, management and business intelligence, designed specifically for SMB who can’t afford the pricier, higher-end IBM and Oracle e-business solutions. Skyline, available on both mobile and web platforms, combines instant messaging, resource management, and data analytics to create customizable business workflows and tasks on a user-friendly platform.
Within its development’s first stages no worldwide issue, that’s a problem that splashes might anybody in just about any part of Our Planet could be generated by several humanity. Consequently of the negotiation of property and just about all humanity formerly hidden the atmosphere and also level financial improvement started initially to seem progressively amplified issues that were worldwide. Each them and especially all together to trigger all existence on our planet’s damage.
Presently, the extensive, i.e. worldwide issues of humanity contain:
the demographic issue brought on by quick population development within the weakest countries;
ecological issue related to extreme ecological destruction, producing the earth uninhabitable;
the issue of individual improvement of types of assets, including meals;
geopolitical issues that supply rise to issues and jeopardize mankind suicidal World War;
problem of deepening inequality and unequal improvement of various places, countries, areas, etc., continuously making local and worldwide concerns.
This is actually the improvement of world, and also the most significant complicated individual issues in the world continuously produce fresh and new. Hence, humanity started initially to jeopardize horrible illness. These utilize medication habit, terrorism, offense, dying conventional religious ideals. This really is possibly grounded reasons for problems that are worldwide.
l̂̂̂ î;The environmental revolution has been almost.docxSHIVA101531
l̂̂̂ î;
The environmental revolution has been almost
three decades in the making, and it has changed for-
ever how companies do business. In the 1960s and
1970s, corporations were in a state of denial regard-
ing their impact on the environment. Then a series
of highly visible ecological problems created a
groundswell of support for strict government regu-
lation. In the United States, Lake Erie was dead. In
Europe, the Rhine was on fire. In Japan, people were
dying of mercury poisoning.
Today many companies have accepted their re-
sponsibility to do no harm to the environment.
Products and production processes are becoming
cleaner; and where sueh change is under way, the
environment is on the mend. In the industrialized
nations, more and more companies are "going
green" as they realize that they can reduce pollu-
tion and increase profits simultaneously. We have
come a long way.
fer to as its carrying capacity. Increasingly, the
scourges of the late twentieth century-depleted
farmland, fisheries, and forests,- choking urban pol-
lution,- poverty; infectious disease; and migration-
are spilling over geopolitical borders. The simple
fact is this: in meeting our needs, we are destroying
the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
The roots of the problem-explosive population
growth and rapid economic development in the
emerging economies - are political and social issues
that exceed the mandate and the capabilities of any
corporation. At the same time, corporations are the
only organizations with the resources, the technol-
ogy, the global reach, and, ultimately, the motiva-
tion to achieve sustainability.
It is easy to state the case in the negative: faced
with impoverished customers, degraded environ-
ments, failing political systems, and unraveling
societies, it will be increasingly difficult for cor-
Strateqies for a Sustainable World
But the distance we've traveled will seem small
when, in 30 years, we look hack at the 1990s. Be-
yond greening lies an enormous challenge-and an
enormous opportunity. The challenge is to develop
a sustainable global economy: an economy that the
planet is capable of supporting indefinitely. Al-
though we may be approaching ecological recovery
in the developed world, the planet as a whole re-
mains on an unsustainable course. Those who
think that sustainability is only a matter of pollu-
tion control are missing the bigger picture. Even if
all the companies in the developed world were to
achieve zero emissions by the year 2000, the earth
would still be stressed beyond what biologists re-
porations to do business. But the positive case is
even more powerful. The more we learn about the
challenges of sustainability, the clearer it is that we
are poised at the threshold of a historic moment
in which many of the world's industries may be
transformed.
To date, the business logic for greening has been
largely operational or technical: bottom-up pollu-
tion-prevention programs have saved companies
S ...
E-WasteFuture archaeologists will note that at the tail end o.docxjacksnathalie
E-Waste
“Future archaeologists will note that at the tail end of the 20th century, a new, noxious kind of clutter exploded across the landscape: the digital detritus that has come to be called e-waste” (Carroll 3).
This statement by Carroll shows the epidemic of e waste that the entire globe is suffering from. E waste from our definition is used electronics such as TVs, phones, computers, and radio. As technology advances new and advances electronic appliances are brought in the market which attracts consumers, therefore consumer in pursuit of elegance, quality or even prestige opt out of their old devices and go for the new more technological devices. This has created a major problem of disposing the old and used devices and over the years the total numbers of e waste have been in the rise. “Gordon Moore, co-founder of the computer-chip maker Intel, observed that computer processing power roughly doubles every two years. An unstated corollary to "Moore's law" is that at any given time, all the machines considered state-of-the-art are simultaneously on the verge of obsolescence” (Carroll 3). This shows us that the problem is here, which keep on the same way of consummating electronic devices, and the more we still doing the same thing, the more that we will get in bigger problem.
Various researches give various values for the amount of e waste that have been dumped not only across U.S but also all over the planet. However, both agree that the amount of e waste is alarming and have been on the increase over the recent years. For example, more than about 130 million still working phones were retired in 2002 in the U.S alone and the number have been increasing with the years. In Japan phones are said to be discarded a year after purchase (Slade 6). In the U.S it is said that about 98 million cell phones took their last call in 2005 (Carroll 3). The computers on the other hand are said to have decreased in lifespan from about 4.5 years in 1992 to about 2 years in 2005. This has led to large amount of e waste about 20 million per year globally. The digital migration of TVs from analog to digital has led to generation of about 25 million yearly e wastes of TVs in the US alone. In total according to the UNEP if all e wastes are tallied they could amount to about 50 million tones yearly (Carroll 3). This brings us to the question, what has led to this high number of electronic waste?
Each and every day Samsung, Apple, Microsoft and other information giant companies announce a new model, which they claim to be better than the previous model. New phones with more advanced or even new technologies are manufactured; TVs, which are better than the already existing versions are, invented daily, Laptops or PC with bigger RAM or internal memory or even better graphics enter the markets. This technological advancement is one of the major factors that have led to increase in the amount of e waste (Slade 6). Everyone is rushing to have the best of the availab ...
How will our children, grand children and great grand children be living? What policies, research and investments do they need us to make today to make their lives better tomorrow? A team of over 50 scientists and business analysts in CSIRO identified five megatrends, several megashocks and two scenarios for the next 20 years. A megatrend is a pattern of environmental, social and/or economic activity with profound implications for how we live. Megashocks are sudden, hard to predict, single events. Scenarios are a mix of science fiction and science fact and explore how the trends and shocks might play out into an uncertain future.
Considered both the future of society, the future of the people, the way of the future of education in a multi-stakeholder, the activities of the order to continue to create "Future Education Consortium" is, in fiscal 2015, such as consumers and companies · NPO / NGO · Students through the co-creation projects by various participants "21 Century Future Enterprise Project", we derive the "social and companies of the future scenario of 2030".
http://miraikk.jp/cat-03/2882
Essay About World War 1. Causes of World War 1 Essay Essay on Causes of Worl...Susan Belcher
World War 1 Essay | Essay on World War 1 for Students and Children in .... Causes of world war 1 essay - Write my essay for me with Professional .... World War 1 Essay Example for Free - 1139 Words | EssayPay. College Essay: World war one essay. World War One Essay Pdf - candydevelopers. 002 World War Essay Introduction Causes Of History Maxresde Education .... World War 1 Essay | World War I | Canada. Essay conclusion of world war 1.
globalization is undermining nation states. First, it is that it is empowering corporations at the expense of the nation state, and secondly, that the international institutions such
It does not make sense to talk of a world of 6 billion people becoming a monoculture. The spread of globalization will undoubtedly bring changes to the countries it reaches, but change is an essential part of life. It does not mean the abolition of traditional values.
As the WTO and World Bank are not democratic…. There is an issue of sheer size.
It is noted that many corporations are larger than nation states – more than half the 100 largest economies in the world are corporations.
Integration in the world economy contributes to environmental improvements by promoting growth, increasing incomes, improving property rights and the allowing the efficient use of resources.
Students, digital devices and success - Andreas Schleicher - 27 May 2024..pptxEduSkills OECD
Andreas Schleicher presents at the OECD webinar ‘Digital devices in schools: detrimental distraction or secret to success?’ on 27 May 2024. The presentation was based on findings from PISA 2022 results and the webinar helped launch the PISA in Focus ‘Managing screen time: How to protect and equip students against distraction’ https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/managing-screen-time_7c225af4-en and the OECD Education Policy Perspective ‘Students, digital devices and success’ can be found here - https://oe.cd/il/5yV
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
How to Split Bills in the Odoo 17 POS ModuleCeline George
Bills have a main role in point of sale procedure. It will help to track sales, handling payments and giving receipts to customers. Bill splitting also has an important role in POS. For example, If some friends come together for dinner and if they want to divide the bill then it is possible by POS bill splitting. This slide will show how to split bills in odoo 17 POS.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
We all have good and bad thoughts from time to time and situation to situation. We are bombarded daily with spiraling thoughts(both negative and positive) creating all-consuming feel , making us difficult to manage with associated suffering. Good thoughts are like our Mob Signal (Positive thought) amidst noise(negative thought) in the atmosphere. Negative thoughts like noise outweigh positive thoughts. These thoughts often create unwanted confusion, trouble, stress and frustration in our mind as well as chaos in our physical world. Negative thoughts are also known as “distorted thinking”.
1.4 modern child centered education - mahatma gandhi-2.pptx
Race to the Bottom Term Paper
1. RACE TO THE
BOTTOM
Globalization
and Regional
Economic
Integration
Submitted By:
Rashid Abdullah 19323
Raja Shoaib Akber 19608
Azhar Ali 19345
Submitted to:
Dr. Imranullah
2. Page1
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................2
Race to the Bottom.......................................................................................................................................2
Case Studies..................................................................................................................................................2
Poor working conditions in Bangladesh....................................................................................................2
Nestles Formula Milk Scandal.......................................................................................................................3
Poor nations serve as e-waste dumping ground, says United Nations ........................................................3
Nokia in Hungary...........................................................................................................................................4
Multinational Corporations ..........................................................................................................................4
Merits and Demerits (Race to the Bottom – Globalization Context)............................................................5
Advanced economies are also in the race ....................................................................................................5
“Informalization” fosters insecurity..............................................................................................................6
Hitting the brakes..........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................7
References: ...................................................................................................................................................8
3. Page2
Race to the Bottom
The debate on “Race to the Bottom” emerged in United State of America in 19th
century. Some
scholars initially titled it as the race to efficiency but later authors such as Justice Louis Brandeis
termed it as the race to bottom. It points to a situation where government deregulates the local
business and it results in lowering of the labor wages, falling of work environments and facilities
and companies such as multinational corporations not caring for the environmental
degradation.
Globalization
Race to bottom has been intensified by globalization and free trade. There is an intense
pressure on governments to deregulate its markets and open them to trade. However, once the
markets are deregulated, behemoths (MNCs) from developed world step in under the name of
investment and exploit the underdeveloped countries that are rich in cheap labor and natural
resources which form the raw materials for production.
Case Studies
Poor working conditions in Bangladesh
After China, Bangladesh is the world's number-one textile producer. Around 4,500 factories
produce approximately 80 percent of the country's exports, the total of which is annually
around 20 million euros. Bangladesh, the world's second-largest producer of textiles after
China, has the lowest minimum wage. Most of the people employed in the sector receive a
minimum wage, which in the year 2010 was raised to around US$ 38 per month (3,000 taka)
after mass protests.
Time and again there are protests in Bangladesh, not only over low wages, but also over
extremely harsh working conditions. Poor safety regulations and a lack of willingness from the
employers to improve the situation are harming the workers. A tragic incident happened in
April 2013 when Rana Plaza building, which housed a number of textile factories, collapsed,
causing the death of over 1100 people.
4. Page3
Nestles Formula Milk Scandal
Outrage started in the 1970s, when Nestle was accused of getting third world mothers hooked
on formula, which is less healthy and more expensive than breast milk. The allegations led to
hearings in the Senate and the World Health Organization, resulting in a new set of marketing
rules. Yet infant formula remains $11.5-billion-and-growing market.
It was "The Baby Killer," a booklet published by London's “War on Want” organization in 1974
that alleged that in poverty-stricken cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America, "babies are dying
because their mothers bottle feed them with Western-style infant milk". This really blew the lid
off the baby formula industry; Nestlé was accused of getting Third World mothers hooked on
formula; meanwhile, research was proving breastfeeding was healthier. Millions of babies died
from malnutrition. In the Times, USAID official, Dr. Stephen Joseph, blamed reliance on baby
formula for a million infant deaths every year through malnutrition and diarrheal diseases.
Irony of the fact is that Nestle got away with it and the formula and the dirty marketing tactics
including indirect bribes to the hospitals and doctors still continue.
Poor nations serve as e-waste dumping ground, says United Nations
Millions of mobile phones, laptops, tablets, toys, digital cameras and other electronic devices
bought this Christmas are destined to create a flood of dangerous “e-waste” that is being
dumped illegally in developing countries, the UN has warned.
The global volume of electronic waste is expected to grow by 33% in the next four years, when
it will weigh the equivalent of eight of the great Egyptian pyramids, according to the UN’s Step
initiative, which was set up to tackle the world’s growing e-waste crisis. Last year nearly 50
million tons of e-waste was generated worldwide – or about 7 kilograms for every person on
the planet. These are electronic goods made up of hundreds of different materials and
containing toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and flame retardants. An
old-style CRT computer screen can contain up to 3 kilograms of lead, for example.
The failure to recycle is also leading to shortages of rare-earth minerals to make future
generations of electronic equipment.
5. Page4
Nokia in Hungary
Nokia arrived in Hungary during the boom years of the late 1990s. As its devices reigned
supreme on global markets, Hungary produced so many that consumers in Asia and Africa often
came to identify the country with the Nokia phone.
But globalization has moved more jobs further east to Asia, and the spread of smartphones has
knocked Nokia off its throne in the mobile world, spelling bad news in Komarom, a town of just
20,000 residents in the northwest of Hungary. Komarom is separated from Komarno in Slovakia
only by the Danube River, and many Slovaks commute every day to work in the Nokia plant.
Nokia shed off, in one go, more than its 4,000 employees around the world, more than half of
them in Hungary, ending all phone assembly operations in Europe. In Hungary, 2,300 jobs have
been axed by the end of this December. The move hurts the labor market in Hungary as well as
Slovakia, where about a third of Nokia's workers have commuted from, even as Hungary's
political elite repeatedly declared the phone giant one of its most prized investors.
Multinational Corporations
Increased activity of global multinational corporations (MNCs) often leads to a decrease in the
effectiveness and implementation of environmental policy. For example, a large multinational
mining company, Rio Tinto, has extended its operations into the threatened forests of
Madagascar. In several underdeveloped countries, MNCs do not adhere to the labor or
environmental regulations. For example, in Pakistan, McDonalds pays wages to its sales staff
which is almost half the minimum wage set by the government. Similarly, several
pharmaceutical and chemical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and others are criticized for
irresponsible handling of chemical wastes and dumping them in natural water sources or
underground, which contaminates the water table and causes soil deterioration.
6. Page5
Merits and Demerits (Race to the Bottom – Globalization Context)
• We all benefit when competition results in lower prices for goods and services. When
corporations and governments lower costs by reducing worker benefits, environmental
protection, and social welfare contributions, then the results can be malicious.
• Mass production requires mass consumption. As each workforce, corporation, and
country lowers wages, then less money is available for consumption and economies
become stagnant, leading to recession. "As each country tries to solve its own problems
by producing and exporting still more products still more cheaply, the result is a
'downward spiral.'"
• Globalization has depressed the real earnings of low-wage workers, which has increased
gaps between rich and poor. This gap is increasing worldwide.
• The "new world economy" has transformed the nature of work for employees of
multinational corporations.
• According to Brecher and Costello, the power of capital to pick up and leave for lower
cost locales undermines the ability of local people to shape their futures through
democratic processes. Trade agreements further weaken "local" control, even at the
level of the nation state.
• Global corporations have become powerful economic actors. Global corporations have
become unaccountable because of a greater concentration of power within fewer and
larger corporations.
• Globalization engenders a destructive global rivalry that might result in global conflict.
• Globalization and its economic effects are exacerbating racism and extremist
nationalism because of the increased level of aggressiveness needed in an increasingly
competitive marketplace.
• Globalization is promoting global pillage rather than a global village because the
environment is being ignored for the sake of lowering production costs.
Advanced economies are also in the race
The “race to the bottom,” as evidenced by the flight of capital and jobs to locations with lower
wage costs, has not been limited to the developing world. Previously productive urban
7. Page6
industrial cities in the US, such as Detroit, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, have lost large
shares of their employment base. The “Race to the Bottom” also occurs within individual cities,
resulting in job losses where large segments of the labour force have to shift from one sector to
another. The urban poor are losing jobs and benefits and must now find other income-
generating opportunities in the informal sector, which offer no security or benefits.
“Informalization” fosters insecurity
The loss of secure jobs with secure community roots fosters an ‘informalization’ of the urban
economy, with more people eking out a living in unregulated sectors. According to the Report,
several economic processes converge to ‘informalize’ employment and other aspects of urban
life. The closing of formal-sector enterprises often coincides with the down-sizing of ancillary
industries and services. As one industry declines – as with light engineering in Karachi -
incomes in the city as a whole reduce. Former employees are no longer able to purchase
services on the street; hence, street vendors also suffer. Simultaneously, if utility tariffs
increase - as they did in Karachi during the 1990s - other enterprises suffer and are forced to
reduce their operations or close altogether.
Hitting the brakes
As “The State of the World’s Cities, 2004” points out, globalization has set cities against each
other in a desperate competition for a share of highly mobile capital and trade. The Report
emphasizes that the needs and desires of global capital must be balanced with policies based
on the needs of the region’s own inhabitants. Otherwise, efforts to alleviate urban poverty will
end up as meaningless gestures that provide little more than temporary relief – and the gap
between rich and poor will continue to grow larger.
According to the UN-HABITAT Report,
• Corporations have tended to concentrate direct investment in ten countries, including
China, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Thailand. In stark comparison, the poorest
countries – most of them in Africa – have seen no such investment.
8. Page7
• In an extreme case, Buenos Aires saw more than 50 per cent of its employment switch
sectors, as many medium-sized enterprises closed in a process of de-industrialization,
including more than 4,600 enterprises from 1995 to 2000, or about two per day.
• The vacuum created by “footloose industries’ is rarely filled by job opportunities for the
poor. Rather, any new jobs tend to be in knowledge-intensive industries, many requiring
university-level education.
• Free Trade used as a tool for exploitation by developed nations.
• Inability of developing nations to benefit from free trade, especially smaller economies.
• Lack of regulations in developing nations to protect labor from exploitation, local
businesses, bio-diversity and the environment.
• Little or no recycling mechanism to counter waste produced by industries.
• MNCs are above the law (e.g., Nestlé's formula milk kills millions of children each year).
• Developing countries being used as dumping grounds for hazardous waste
• Corrupt governments and bad financial policies make things worse
• IMF and WTO policies further aggravate the situation by forcing austerity cuts and
exploitative free trade policies.
Conclusion
The aforementioned has resulted in a race to the bottom, where developing countries are
declining in socio-economic indicators due to globalization. While the examples of China and
India are often quoted as a success story, the world my in-large is facing many challenges that
are overlooked, be it the poverty stricken sub-Saharan Africa or the air pollution in Beijing,
which is leading to a destructive path the results of which we cannot even begin to fathom. If
governments want to slow the pace of this “race to the bottom,” they need to have the
flexibility to move some of their own resources into activities to absorb labour – for example,
increasing construction or maintenance programmes. This would create a modest safety net for
the employees who face layoffs.
9. Page8
References:
Cities and Globalization: A Race to the Bottom
UN-HABITAT (Fruits of Globalization)
Reuters Website: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-hungary-nokia-idUSTRE8171OU20120208
http://www.confectionerynews.com/Manufacturers/Hachez-moves-packaging-to-Poland-in-search-of-cheaper-labor
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/11/labour-standards
http://www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?op=1