Globalization is the process of businesses and people of one nation trading among and within other nations without barriers to trade and exchange (i.e.: exchange of skills and occupations).
The Driving Forces
Some countries produce certain types of goods cheaper and more efficient/appealing then other nations, for example French perfumes are known to be the best in the world while the Swiss are renowned for their watches. We can therefore say that France is better at producing perfumes than watches in reference to Switzerland. Suppose a French company decides to sell perfume to Swiss directly this is called direct trade.
While most of globalisation is to do with direct trade it is not so clear cut. In a globalized world the French company selling perfumes might have research laboratories in France and production in Holland and may outsource their bottling to a company in India and have it transported by a German company to Switzerland. A few decades ago this scenario would not have been possible even in a reasonable theory the logistics to bring about such a process would not nave existed. This is for many a reason:
Recent advancements in transportation has made transporting products from the factory faster within the country
(by train Since the invention of the most primitive trains in 1550 (horse drawn)1 which travelled at an average speed of 10MPH Improved efficiency and grater capacity of trains (modern trains has made it cheaper and faster to transport products via trains trans-country/trans nation, trans continent.
Road transport has come a long way with highways and freeways being able to move goods in a very short period of time, and advancements in engineering has made transporting large amounts of goods in container carries cheap and safe.
Air transport is a relatively new form of transport compared to Rail and road transport but it plays a vital role, its one of the foundation blocks of globalisation. Air transport and moreover the invention of jet aircraft has shrunk the world, with the number of airlines around the world growing rapidly and the entrance of low cost long haul air crafts evermore lowering the cost of flying.
