role of technology in globalization essay

How globalization is changing innovation

The global innovation landscape is changing. Image:  REUTERS/Dave Kaup

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The diffusion of knowledge and technology worldwide in recent decades has brought important changes to the global innovation landscape. But those changes could be much more profound if countries created more supportive investment environments.

WASHINGTON, DC – Globalization has come under fire in recent years, with people in some countries becoming increasingly frustrated with the uneven distribution of its gains. But weaknesses in management or execution should not be allowed to obscure globalization’s far-reaching potential benefits, including its promotion of productivity-enhancing technology transfer and innovation worldwide.

As the April 2018 issue of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook points out, globalization – encompassing freer trade, increased foreign direct investment, and the international use of patents and copyrights – has substantially bolstered the diffusion of knowledge and technology. The increased international competition associated with globalization may also contribute to overall prosperity, as it strengthens incentives to adopt new technologies and to innovate.

By bolstering productivity, all of this can boost average output at a relatively low cost. The WEO estimates that in emerging-market economies, foreign knowledge accounted for about 0.7 percentage points of annual growth in labor productivity from 2004 to 2014, and a total of 40% of observed sectoral productivity growth. In 1995-2003, that rate was just 0.4 percentage points. These results remain robust even when China is excluded, indicating that the productivity effects associated with globalization were broad-based.

Moreover, the global diffusion of knowledge and technology generates positive network effects through cross-pollination, as it enables technology-receiving countries to advance their own research and development. Such dynamics are a major reason why, in China, R&D expenditures have skyrocketed, and in South Korea, stocks of international patents are piling up. These countries have joined traditional leaders in sectors such as electrical and optical equipment and (in South Korea’s case) machinery.

Meanwhile, since the early 2000s, frontier economies have confronted a slowdown in the growth of both labor and total factor productivity (which measures how efficiently inputs are being used in the production process). These economies have also experienced slower patent growth and, to some extent, declines in R&D investment.

Some argue that the slowdown in frontier-economy innovation is a temporary condition. The impact of the most recent major wave of innovation (resulting from advances in information and communication technology) is fading, according to this view, while the impact of the emerging wave (powered by artificial intelligence, automation, and machine learning) has yet to materialize fully.

Others are less optimistic, noting that transformative advances become increasingly difficult to achieve over time, leading to a secular decline in productivity growth. But even in this scenario, persistent technology gaps imply plenty more opportunity for emerging economies to catch up through adoption, and to engage in adaptation and innovation of their own.

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Of course, interconnectedness alone does not automatically spark productivity increases and local innovation. For that, economic actors must combine received technologies with content specific to their location, which cannot be acquired or transferred through standard channels, such as textbooks, and thus cannot be perfectly diffused as either public information or private property.

By taking advantage of idiosyncratic knowledge and local capabilities, countries can make the most of technological diffusion, often beginning with adoption, then moving to adaptation and, later, invention. That has been the approach taken in South Korea and China, which are now engaging in innovation of their own. According to the WEO , while South Korea and China are still treated as recipients of global knowledge flows, they are on their way toward becoming important sources.

For any emerging or developing economy, success depends on the presence of a broad set of complementary factors : access to finance, quality infrastructure, sufficient skilled labor, and sound managerial and organizational practices. Market failures must not be allowed to undermine the incentive to accumulate knowledge. And the transaction costs associated with doing business – such as trading across borders and hiring and enforcing contracts – must be kept in check. Without this supportive environment, investment in the development of innovation capabilities will likely bring low returns.

Yet such an environment exists in relatively few places. This explains why, though the global innovation landscape is certainly changing, the transformation has not been as fast or profound as one might expect. It also explains what World Bank economists Xavier Cirera and William Maloney have called the “ innovation paradox ”: despite the vast potential returns to investment in innovation in developing countries, those countries pursue far less of it than their advanced counterparts.

Globalization has already been shown to have enormous potential to bolster innovation, productivity, and growth worldwide. Rather than opposing it, more countries should be building their capacity to take advantage of it.

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Globalization of Technology: International Perspectives (1988)

Chapter: overview.

H.GUYFORD STEVER AND JANET H.MUROYAMA

T HE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE on the global economic structure are creating immense transformations in the way companies and nations organize production, trade goods, invest capital, and develop new products and processes. Sophisticated information technologies permit instantaneous communication among the far-flung operations of global enterprises. New materials are revolutionizing sectors as diverse as construction and communications. Advanced manufacturing technologies have altered long-standing patterns of productivity and employment. Improved air and sea transportation has greatly accelerated the worldwide flow of people and goods.

All this has both created and mandated greater interdependence among firms and nations. The rapid rate of innovation and the dynamics of technology flows mean that comparative advantage is short-lived. To maximize returns, arrangements such as transnational mergers and shared production agreements are sought to bring together partners with complementary interests and strengths. This permits both developed and developing countries to harness technology more efficiently, with the expectation of creating higher standards of living for all involved.

Rapid technological innovation and the proliferation of transnational organizations are driving the formation of a global economy that sometimes conflicts with nationalistic concerns about maintaining comparative advantage and competitiveness. It is indeed a time of transition for firms and governments alike. This book provides a broad overview of these issues and seeks to shed light on such areas as the changing nature of international competition, influences of new technologies on international trade, and economic and social concerns arising from differences in national cultures and standards of living associated with adoption and use of new technologies.

The volume is a compilation of papers presented at the Sixth Convocation of the Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences held in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 1987. The convocation brought together about one hundred leaders in technology from more than twenty countries to discuss issues of “Technology and the Global Economy.” The program of the convocation was structured around four objectives:

identification and discussion of the driving technologies of the current era, for example, in materials, information, and manufacturing;

evaluation of how technological advances are transforming industrial sectors such as telecommunications and construction;

exploration of how in turn the global economy is affecting technology and production through such factors as marketing strategies, intellectual property rights, and financial markets; and

clarification of regional and national consequences of globalizing industries for several geographical areas including the Pacific Rim, Western Europe, and Latin America.

An overall assessment of the issues raised was provided in conclusion by a panel consisting of Morris Tanenbaum, Wolf Häfele, Sir Robin Nicholson, and Robert Malpas. On the one hand, their assessment made clear that though most technological advance occurs in industry, there are too few mechanisms for exchange of views on international technology and cooperation that involve both private and public sector representatives in a forum not constrained by the formal policies and stands of national governments. There is great need for improved and more open lines of international communication on topics where engineering and technology intertwine with trade and economic growth.

At the same time, the panelists’ evaluations made clear a hierarchy of four sets of relationships among technology, technologists, and the societies they attempt to serve. The first of these includes relationships at the human level, ranging from professional education to relations between management and labor to the public’s understanding of the impact of technology on our lives. The second includes relationships at the institutional level, that is, the impact of technology on the management of businesses and industries. The third relationship is at the national level, where public and private interactions determine the use of technology and possibly a country’s ability to grow economically. The fourth relationship occurs at the international level. Here information flows, trade frictions, and alliances characterize technological development, its diffusion, global competition, and economic advance.

At the human level a key area of change is the invisible contract between a manufacturing company and its customers and employees. In the factory, we are seeing a movement away from the expectation that workers should be organized to fit the technologies and a movement toward networking and

small teams. Wolf Häfele referred to this as the evolution of a higher level of integration between technology and human relations. This is evident, he said, in the emphasis on words such as “interface,” “reliability,” and “adaptation” in describing or explaining some of the new technologies. As a result of this phenomenon, organizations that pursue single objectives may be less suited for survival than those that consider a broader range of issues that optimize the human, organizational, and technological elements.

At the institutional level, private enterprises are the principal instruments in many countries for developing and using technology, although governments play an important enabling role. The task of private enterprises is to be knowledgeable about the current state of science and technology, to understand the needs of the marketplace, and then to create technologies, products, and services that best meet those market needs. Morris Tanenbaum pointed out that this endeavor embraces many disciplines (basic science, engineering, production, distribution, marketing, and finance) and individual motivations. Many participants and observers of the contemporary technological scene propose that we are going through a period of discontinuous change as the breadth of technological applications expands and the time scale of change becomes shorter. For example, markets are becoming more global as transportation and communication speed the flow of knowledge of new products, and greater investment is being made in research and development (R&D) as technological capability has expanded. This process has placed new demands on organizations as they strive to obtain quick and effective market information and access, recoup their R&D investment more quickly, and recognize the importance of sharing technological capabilities. This is particularly true with regard to the information technologies—the one technology most rapidly changing other technologies. It achieves its greatest power when it is most global; where it provides the means to obtain access to the information systems of other countries and establish arrangements that promote the transfer of technology.

Government plays a central role in technology issues at the national level. Technology has now become a part of almost every political discussion as politicians have realized the impact of technology on world events. Governments vary in the way they influence and exploit technological changes, for example, through regulation, procurement, protectionist policies, and support of R&D. Public attitudes among various countries also differ, and these differences can affect governmental technology policy. “Given the fact that there is no ‘correct’ way of dealing with technologies which is applicable to all countries,” Sir Robin Nicholson commented, “each country must find its optimum way depending on its history, institutions, and public attitudes.” This implies that countries will move forward at different speeds, creating imbalances among nations. In this respect, multinational corporations, responsibly managed and sensibly treated by the countries in which they invest,

and transnational joint ventures serve an important function by promoting global equilibrium.

From an international perspective, the main issue is to sustain and improve world growth and improve growth per capita. This breaks down into the problems of Western Europe, Japan, the United States, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and the problems of the more and less advanced developing countries. Robert Malpas noted that it becomes essential for all these players to harness technology for growth; however, this effort is frequently constrained by protectionism, concerns about intellectual property, the demands of international marketing and finance, and, of course, national security. The net result appears to be that emerging nations, with a few exceptions, have even more difficulty achieving the growth necessary to close the gap with leading nations. Among the trends at the international level that can help sustain and improve world growth: the rebirth of interest in manufacturing, the spread of expert systems which multiply skills and help in the industrialization process, the acceptance of multinational corporations, the privatization of various industries, and the increased interest of governments in technology.

As evidenced by the papers in this volume, these four relationships at the human, institutional, national, and international levels permeate discussions on the globalization of technology. In his keynote paper, Simon Ramo maintains that technological issues lie at the heart of most of the social, economic, and political issues of today, sometimes causing problems but more often offering possibilities for their solution. From this perspective, Ramo goes on to make several intriguing predictions about the role of technology in the future. Particularly powerful influences on the diffusion of new technological processes and products will be governments, corporations, national security concerns, and the rate of advances in scientific research. Technological discovery will become a global rather than an individual or national endeavor. As a result, new mechanisms will be developed to facilitate the flow of technology, despite protectionist-nationalist tendencies to stem the free exchange of information. One of these influences impeding the flow of technology is national security concerns. Ramo, however, is optimistic about the direction of the two superpowers, predicting that offensive forces will be reduced, thereby lessening interference with the flow of advanced technology and allowing the application of military technologies to peacetime applications in manufacturing, transportation, and services.

In scientific research, Ramo reiterates his belief that the expense of conducting such research, particularly in “big science” areas such as super colliders or in outer space, and the recognition that such knowledge must be shared to achieve maximum progress are driving scientists toward international cooperation. Since the role of government in setting a national direction for technology is so pervasive, its relationship to the private sector in the

productive use of technology will continue to be problematic. Yet, Ramo argues, it is only the government that can perform the regulatory functions necessary for the smooth operation of free enterprise activity that makes use of new technologies. It is also the government, he says, that will be the primary obstacle to diffusion of the benefits of technology to world society.

As experts on the costs and benefits of developing technology, engineers are in a key position to contribute to policy formation of these issues. For engineers to better prepare themselves for the future, Ramo suggests that engineering education place more emphasis on the links between engineering and its societal applications. The result, he says, will be engineers equipped to play a broader role in influencing government policies and practices regarding technological advance.

Umberto Colombo’s analysis of technological and global economic issues emphasizes the impact of the technological revolution on production methods, types of products, labor markets, and on the importance of manufacturing to the economy. He compares manufacturing to agriculture—although it will no longer dominate the economy or provide the majority of jobs, it will continue to perform an important function even in a service-oriented society. Certain key technologies are bringing about this transition, both creating new industries and rejuvenating mature ones, and in the process are changing patterns of development throughout the world. The rapid spread of innovation makes it imperative that firms quickly exploit any competitive advantage. Moreover, their increased ability to operate in the global marketplace rein-forces the importance of cooperative agreements to advance innovation. Another force driving the trend toward cooperation is the increasingly scientific nature of technology, which requires that firms take a cross-disciplinary approach to solving problems. Colombo also argues that the technological revolution brings about a “dematerialization” of society, one element of which is that fewer raw materials are now needed to achieve a particular level of economic output and income generation.

The globalization of technology is being spearheaded by North America, Western Europe, and Japan. Despite their influence in shaping a new pattern of global competition, each has unique problems. The United States, though a leader in developing emergent technologies, is facing the double threat of enormous budget and trade deficits as well as deindustrialization of traditional economic sectors. Japan, which has demonstrated enormous success in commercializing new technologies, has an economy excessively dependent on exports. Western Europe has the cultural tradition and core of excellent research groups to facilitate its leadership in the technology arena, yet it lacks the cohesion necessary to develop strategic initiatives in important sectors.

Colombo optimistically concludes that globalization will bring the emergence of many small and medium-size multinational firms that will rely on

a network of technology alliances. Governments will provide oversight and strategic direction. The impact on developing countries will be enormous. With the help of new technologies, Third World countries can transform their raw materials and energy into value-added commodities and thereby accelerate economic development without dysfunctional effects. It is the responsibility of developed countries, Colombo concludes, to see that this happens.

Though desirable, the alliances proposed by Colombo are not easily established. As Gerald Dinneen points out in his paper on trends in international technological cooperation, international arrangements, whether they be international marketing organizations, joint ventures, or creation of subsidiaries, are necessary if industries are to get a proper return on investment and remain competitive. However, the “not-invented-here” syndrome, differences in standards, lack of protocols for transmission of data, and especially protectionist sentiment prevent companies and countries from collaborating. Despite these barriers, Dinneen says, international labs and exchanges of scholars and students in schools of engineering have been effective mechanisms for fostering international cooperation.

Presenting the European perspective on technological cooperation, Harry Beckers comments on the impacts of the dissimilarities in the ways academicians and business people conduct research as well as differences in R&D support in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. Western Europe, he says, faces the unique difficulties posed by its diversity and nationalistic tendencies. Nevertheless, there are a number of EEC programs that facilitate international cooperation among various countries, thereby helping to bring about “Europeanization” in the technology sector.

Papers on three of today’s most crucial technologies—software, materials science, and information technologies—illustrate how the nature of the technologies themselves has created a global environment for research and applications despite the barriers mentioned above. George Pake describes a number of key advances in software: architecture of hardware systems used for software development; advances in writing, editing, running, and debugging of software; development of different programming languages; and systematic forward planning and task analysis. The creativity so evident in software technology today is not in danger, Pake says, despite the trend toward greater standardization and the possibility that ossification of the development system could occur in the future.

Pierre Aigrain addresses several provocative questions about materials, particularly pertaining to the rate at which discoveries are made, the extent to which applications are found, and the impact of these discoveries on industry and society. Citing the influence of the market and the continued interaction between science and materials research, Aigrain predicts that the rapid trajectory of materials discovery will continue. However, processing

costs, rather than the costs of the materials themselves, prevent materials from widespread application. The development of superconductors illustrates this point, and he concludes with a description of the impact these new materials in particular will have on industry and society.

Lars Ramqvist provides insight on several of the cutting edge technologies that have had a major impact on information technologies. These include VLSI technology, computers, software and artificial intelligence, fiber optics, networks, and standards. In addition, he looks at three main applications of information technologies—normal voice telephony, mobile telephony, and data communications—assessing, first, the current state of the art and, second, projections for the future. Ramqvist concludes that because information technologies allow for the dissemination of information, and thus understanding, they will form the basis for a more equitable, humane society.

Hiroshi Inose examines the telecommunications sector from a different angle—the effect of globalization on the entire industry. Particular technological advances, for example, the convergence of service modes and the microelectronics revolution, provide economies of scale but also require rapid inputs for capital investment. Among the problems and challenges Inose addresses are the software crisis, or the high cost of developing more sophisticated and diversified software; structural changes in industry, particularly in job design and labor requirements; standardization and maintaining interoperability between systems and equipment; reliability and security of systems against both external and internal disturbances; and integrity of information and protection of privacy. Like Ramqvist, Inose views telecommunications technology as the means to promote mutual understanding and cultural enrichment worldwide.

Perspectives on the impact of technology on another industrial sector—construction—are presented by Alden Yates who describes the most significant trends in the areas of construction-related design, construction equipment and methods, automation and expert systems, and construction management. Computer-aided design has, among other things, improved communication between designer and supplier and speeded up the design development process. Increases in productivity are being achieved through off-site fabrication and assembly and robotics. Logistics practices, skill requirements, and labor-management relations are also changing as a result of these new technologies. Yates suggests that improved management methods and automation hold the greatest potential benefit for the construction sector, and that to remain competitive in the global marketplace, firms must look at their R&D commitments. In the long run, however, the effectiveness of management will determine success.

Pehr Gyllenhammar makes a complementary point about the importance of management practices in his paper on the manufacturing industry. To claims that the manufacturing sector is on the decline in an increasingly

services-based, information society, Gyllenhammar responds that the manufacturing industry is adapting to today’s environment. One of the most influential changes has been the new technologies employed in the automotive sector, including new engineering materials, computer-aided design, robots, and microcomputers. These new technologies mean that decision making can become decentralized and that small-scale manufacturing can be cost-effective. Another important factor changing the manufacturing industry has been new demands from employees and customers, what Gyllenhammar refers to as the invisible contract between them and the corporation. In fact, the new technologies have brought about important changes in the way work is organized. Less desirable tasks have been taken over by robots; light, flexible technologies allow workers to organize themselves so that they command the technology instead of vice versa; and new materials-handling mechanisms permit the layout of equipment to fit particular work organizations. The challenge for managers lies in organizing production so that they can develop their workers through both technical and leadership training. To accomplish this goal, it will be necessary for the manufacturing industry to take a longer term perspective and use “patient capital” rather than striving for a quick return on investment. Gyllenhammar concludes that a viable manufacturing industry is necessary but not sufficient to solve the problems of unemployment and slow growth.

The manufacturing industry is also the subject of the paper by Emilio Carrillo Gamboa; however, he discusses the issue of production sharing as both a result and a means of globalizing industry. By moving production facilities abroad to low-wage developing countries, firms manufacturing products that have entered the downside of the product cycle can maintain a competitive cost advantage. Mexico, in particular, has become an important production-sharing partner for the United States because of proximity, demographic factors, and the Mexican economic crisis which has resulted in lower wage levels that are competitive with labor costs in the developing countries of Asia and government programs that support production-sharing.

The maquiladoras, or production sharing sites, have been the subject of debate in Mexico for a number of reasons: the benefits of foreign-owned assembly services are not extended to the rest of the economy, the maquiladoras do not absorb traditional unemployment, and they are too vulnerable to swings in the U.S. economy. In addition, some of the plants have been criticized for their poor working conditions. Nevertheless, the author contends that they are an important source of income, employment, and foreign exchange, and proposes that the production sharing offers significant economic opportunities if the competitive advantages of Mexico as a production-sharing site are improved and assembly activities are more closely linked with the domestic economy. Carrillo Gamboa acknowledges the objections to offshore production sharing but suggests that its economic and political advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Further discussion of specific regional issues concerning technology’s impact on development is provided in papers by Jan Kolm (Pacific Rim), Enrique Martin del Campo (Latin America), and Ralph Landau and Nathan Rosenberg (United States). In his paper on the consequences of globalizing industry in the Pacific Rim, Kolm uses a theoretical construct based on the technological complexity of goods and the product cycle to describe some general trends in the region’s economic development. For example, gross national product (GNP) has increased rapidly due to the globalization of industry, and export-driven economies have helped the Pacific Rim nations overcome the disadvantages of scale and the shortage of foreign exchange. Kolm asserts that progress in the region is likely to continue, considering that there are suitable gradations of development, ample raw materials in the region as a whole, and a populace that has demonstrated its ability to cope with technological change. The focus of the paper then narrows to an examination of the problems and challenges facing the major groupings of Pacific Rim countries: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the newly industrializing countries, in particular, the Republic of Korea; Australia; and the United States and Japan. Despite their diversity and the impediments they have faced in their industrialization, Kolm contends that technology transfer has been less problematic in the Pacific Rim than in other countries of the world, a sign of hope that competition can coexist with cooperation.

Enrique Martin del Campo deals specifically with the influence of technology on development in the Latin American and Caribbean countries. Shifts in economic strength and investment patterns influence the developing countries and make it imperative for them to develop strategies for growth through improved technological and entrepreneurial activity. Martin del Campo suggests that the region’s technology strategy must combine development of both advanced and intermediate technologies, linkage of smaller and large enterprises, and diffusion of technological development through many sectors.

Because the economies of the region, like most developing countries, participate in the international sphere through foreign trade, competitiveness in foreign markets is crucial. The rate of innovation, the ability to apply advanced technology, the degree of capital investment, use of natural resources, and the existence of technological support services all affect the competitiveness of Latin America in foreign markets. Two major factors, however, hamper economic growth in Latin America. First, investment is curbed by an economically depressed environment, and second, global demand for the region’s traditional exports is weak. Any plan to remedy these problems would require a strong technological component, including development of local capabilities in technology, internal and external transfer of technology, strategic projects that integrate science and technology, and government policies that support scientific and technological endeavors.

Ralph Landau and Nathan Rosenberg review the impact of technological change on U.S. economic growth. They cite several key influences on such growth, including technological innovation, high capital investment rates, and increased training of the total work force. The authors conclude that U.S. economic policies are not conducive to innovation and capital formation, and they propose strategies to ensure continued economic growth.

One change that poses both opportunities and difficulties is the rapid diffusion of technology to other countries. As a result, the exploitation of new technologies is no longer an exclusive strength of the United States. The maintenance of a high-wage economy will depend on the ability of U.S. firms to compete in international markets, particularly in manufacturing because of that sector’s contribution to GNP, foreign trade, and national security; its purchases of services; and its productivity increases and consequent contribution to the overall economy.

Landau and Rosenberg also focus on the role of government in creating a favorable environment for business decision making. Policies that encourage personal savings from which investments could be made, reduce the budget and trade deficits, and support a long-term financial climate are essential. However, because U.S. business interests and government do not work as closely as they do in some other countries, Japan, for example, this goal may be difficult to achieve. If the United States is to remain competitive, increases in productivity must be sustained, and this will happen only if training, management, and investment in manufacturing and services are part of public and private strategies.

In the volume’s final paper, Hajime Karatsu reminds us of some fundamental points about the role of technology in improving the quality of life. Technology is instrumental to economic growth, and as a result, economic strength is no longer a function of a nation’s size and population, as it was before the industrial revolution. Although some will argue that technology is the cause of the problems resulting from industrialization, Karatsu describes how technology has been used to provide solutions to some crucial problems—the oil crisis and pollution—in his own country, Japan. Although not explored in his paper, one issue Karatsu’s point raises is the extent to which technological decisions operate in concert with other strategic policies. For example, Japan’s pollution problem, and that of many other industrialized countries, has been solved in part by the export of the pollution-causing industries to other nations.

Karatsu supports his views on the importance of technology to economic growth by commenting that Japan’s methods of applying technologies have allowed it to achieve a 1986 GNP of $2.3 trillion, or 11 percent of the world’s economic activity. One characteristic of Japanese methodology is that new, advanced technologies are applied in practical and simple ways that can be easily commercialized. He cites as an example the use of carbon fiber in

golf clubs and fishing rods. This practice contrasts with that of the United States, where advanced technologies are frequently applied to complex products in the defense industry. A second aspect of Japanese practices in commercializing new technologies is their attention to incremental changes and improvements in product and process. Karatsu concludes by stressing the importance of technological cooperation so that standards of living can be improved worldwide.

The papers in this volume reflect a diversity of national perspectives on the impact of cutting-edge technologies on the individual, industry, and society; appropriate means for harnessing technology to facilitate economic growth for all nations; and the roles that should be played by institutions and governments in the emerging global economy. Nevertheless, agreement on several key issues is apparent: First, technology will continue to fuel economic growth and rising standards of living around the world. Indeed, technology’s influence is pervasive, for it shapes trade patterns and policies, employment, and even relations among nations. A second area of consensus centers on the important role to be played by the engineering community in facilitating international technological advancement. As mentioned by Stephen Bechtel in his introduction of the keynote speaker at the convocation, “…we (engineers and technologists) can only benefit by being more attuned to the factors that influence each country’s technological interests and capacities.” Although this process is frequently constrained by national competitiveness concerns, Bechtel asserts that it is only through increased cooperation that nations remain competitive. “A nation’s strength as a participant in the world economy is derived in part from its ability to adjust to rapidly fluctuating economic conditions and technological change. Cooperation provides access to regional and national trends in technology, thereby benefiting individual nations as well as the international engineering endeavor.” Indeed, industrial competition can be a source of creative tension for the world economy when viewed within the larger global framework of cooperation directed at improving the quality of life for all.

The technological revolution has reached around the world, with important consequences for business, government, and the labor market. Computer-aided design, telecommunications, and other developments are allowing small players to compete with traditional giants in manufacturing and other fields. In this volume, 16 engineering and industrial experts representing eight countries discuss the growth of technological advances and their impact on specific industries and regions of the world. From various perspectives, these distinguished commentators describe the practical aspects of technology's reach into business and trade.

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Advances in the Technology of Managing People: Contemporary Issues in Business

ISBN : 978-1-78973-074-6 , eISBN : 978-1-78973-073-9

Publication date: 10 June 2019

There is no lack of information on technology. This topic seems to prevail in a variety of publications and media channels. The subject of globalization is equally popular and widely discussed. Scarce resources reaffirm the idea that globalization, as the socio-economic reality, became possible only because of the astounding advances in technology. Consistent developments in technology contributed to the intensified globalization of the modern world, as we know it today. The role of technology in shaping the world’s history, trade, people’s wellbeing, social interactions, and other valuable exchanges of economic, social, and cultural capital is undoubtedly beyond compare. This chapter illuminates the impact of technology on the progress made in business and workplace practices, competitiveness of organizations, and management innovations.

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Weisblat, I.A. (2019), "Technology and Globalization: The Evolution of Human Interactions, Values, and Management Practices", Gordon, P.A. and Overbey, J.A. (Ed.) Advances in the Technology of Managing People: Contemporary Issues in Business ( The Changing Context of Managing People ), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-073-920191001

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Digital globalization: The new era of global flows

Conventional wisdom says that globalization has stalled. But although the global goods trade has flattened and cross-border capital flows have declined sharply since 2008, globalization is not heading into reverse. Rather, it is entering a new phase defined by soaring flows of data and information.

Remarkably, digital flows—which were practically nonexistent just 15 years ago—now exert a larger impact on GDP growth than the centuries-old trade in goods, according to a new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, Digital globalization: The new era of global flows . And although this shift makes it possible for companies to reach international markets with less capital-intensive business models, it poses new risks and policy challenges as well.

The world is more connected than ever, but the nature of its connections has changed in a fundamental way. The amount of cross-border bandwidth that is used has grown 45 times larger since 2005. It is projected to increase by an additional nine times over the next five years as flows of information, searches, communication, video, transactions, and intracompany traffic continue to surge. In addition to transmitting valuable streams of information and ideas in their own right, data flows enable the movement of goods, services, finance, and people. Virtually every type of cross-border transaction now has a digital component.

Trade was once largely confined to advanced economies and their large multinational companies. Today, a more digital form of globalization has opened the door to developing countries, to small companies and start-ups, and to billions of individuals. Tens of millions of small and midsize enterprises worldwide have turned themselves into exporters by joining e-commerce marketplaces such as Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, and Rakuten. Approximately 12 percent of the global goods trade is conducted via international e-commerce. Even the smallest enterprises can be born global: 86 percent of tech-based start-ups surveyed by MGI report some type of cross-border activity. Today, even the smallest firms can compete with the largest multinationals.

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Individuals are using global digital platforms to learn, find work, showcase their talent, and build personal networks. Some 900 million people have international connections on social media, and 360 million take part in cross-border e-commerce. Digital platforms for both traditional employment and freelance assignments are beginning to create a more global labor market.

In this increasingly digital era of globalization, large companies can manage their international operations in a leaner, more efficient ways. Using digital platforms and tools, they can sell in fast-growing markets while keeping virtual teams connected in real time. This is a moment for companies to rethink their organizational structures, products, assets, and competitors.

Global flows of all types support growth by raising productivity, and data flows are amplifying this effect by broadening participation and creating more efficient markets. MGI’s analysis finds that over a decade, all types of flows acting together have raised world GDP by 10.1 percent over what would have resulted in a world without any cross-border flows. This value amounted to some $7.8 trillion in 2014 alone, and data flows account for $2.8 trillion of this impact. Both inflows and outflows matter for growth, as they expose economies to ideas, research, technologies, talent, and best practices from around the world.

Although there is substantial value at stake, not all countries are making the most of this potential. The latest MGI Connectedness Index—which ranks 139 countries on inflows and outflows of goods, services, finance, people, and data—finds large gaps between a handful of leading countries and the rest of the world. Singapore tops the latest rankings, followed by the Netherlands, the United States, and Germany. China has grown more connected, reaching number seven, but advanced economies in general remain more connected than developing countries. In fact, each type of flow is concentrated among a small set of highly connected countries.

Lagging countries are closing the gaps with the leaders at a very slow pace, and their limited participation has had a real cost to the world economy. If the rest of the world had increased its participation in global flows at the same rate as the top quartile over the past decade, world GDP would be $10 trillion, or 13 percent, higher today. For countries that have been slow to participate, the opportunities for catch-up growth are too substantial to ignore.

James Manyika, Jacques Bughin, and Lola Woetzel are directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, where Susan Lund is a principal; Kalin Stamenov and Dhruv Dhingra are consultants in McKinsey’s New York office.

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• 193 The Persistent Impact of Language on Global Operations
• 211 Technology and Globalisation: An Overview
• 223 An Information Infrastructure for Development
• 231 The Rural-Urban 'Digital Divide' in New Zealand: Fact or Fable?
• 253 A New Research Programme on Information and Communication Technologies. The E-Society: Understanding the Restructuring of Practices and Institutions in the Digital Age
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Technology and Globalisation: An Overview

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Abstract

Globalisation is a term too easily used without reference to the basic enabling role of technology. It is the interplay between available technology and the prevailing social processes, especially dominant institutional forms, which has essentially determined the long process of globalisation. This process has gone through phases exhibiting varying core characteristics as production, transport and communications technologies especially have interrelated with the institutional structures of nation states, military forces and firms especially. However, a general trend to geographical and tendentially global expansion has been constant, along with an intensification of information processing and communications capacity. The role of technology has been to enable this physical expansion culminating in globalisation, including the techno-industrial capacity that increasingly drove it through the construction of better and cheaper artefacts.

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Cultures and Technology: An Analysis of Some of the Changes in Progress—Digital, Global and Local Culture

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• Mariella Combi 4  

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The analysis presents some reflections on the changes produced by the use of digital technologies in contemporary Western societies. The scope is to understand the occurrences of the recent past, from the second half of the 1900s, and what is happening in social and individual experiences today. To devise a future, to decide how, when and what to offer in order to transmit to young people the fields of knowledge and skills that will be of use for managing their future successfully in a changing Europe. The prevailing theoretical approach is from an anthropological cultural point of view with interdisciplinary encounters. The chapter is divided into three parts: the first two are general reflections on the role of digital technologies in the past and present and focus on questions, expectations, characteristics that have interested scholars over time. The third level looks at the problematic features of people who were born after 1980, the so-called ‘digital natives’.

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The Ups and Downs of Technology in Society

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Digital Revolution and Sociocultural Change

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The aim of this article is to understand the cultural changes brought about by the rapid diffusion of the new communications technology in the globalized context of the West. The main slant is from a cultural anthropological point of view, but it is inevitably also interdisciplinary due to the common ground shared with philosophy, psychology and sociology. The analysis intends to make some proposals on how to think about a European future, and how to intervene consciously in the current situation so that it keeps pace with the young, the so-called ‘digital natives’ (Prensky 2001 ). In order to do this, I begin by tracing a brief outline of the reasons why the discipline of cultural anthropology plays such an important role in the understanding of the digital revolution which today is a part of our everyday life. The new information technologies and their global diffusion have radically influenced the changes in Western society and locally. The current process of globalization has favoured and has been strengthened by the Internet which has evolved with unprecedented rapidity.

Cultural differences between groups of human beings have always been at the very core of cultural and social anthropology since it became an academic discipline: as Hunnerz ( 2010 ) says “diversity is our business”. Initially the discipline was concerned with the study of non-Western, so called ‘primitive’ cultures, which today also have an impact on our own society. Anthropology is characterized by multiple, interconnected fields of study which make up the ‘culture’ of a group of human beings. This anthropological concept helps us understand what we are talking about and consists of a wide range of different realms of knowledge elaborated by all populations, and their resulting actions and behaviours. Such spheres of knowledge are organized into a cognitive structure whose content varies from group to group.

These realms of knowing are considered useful by a society to tackle everyday life, extraordinary events, and problems that give meaning to the world around them. This cultural model is learnt at birth, more or less unconsciously; people make it their own by imitation and example and it is expressed in the local language. This is not a once-and-for-all procedure but a flexible one, subject to continuous change, a life-long learning process influenced by personal experience. Culture is, therefore, essential for creating a sense of belonging and identity for every human being (Combi 2006 ).

Every cultural model finds its own answers to internal impulses that occur over a period of time, but above all to those produced by encounters with other cultures. The modifications, theoretical or practical, which emerge from the diversity of the fields of knowledge that characterize different societies can be influential to a greater or lesser degree. This is a case in point for changes arising from the introduction of advanced technologies, whether these are felt consciously or unconsciously in our Western culture and in other cultures. When a human group comes into contact with new elements it arranges them inside an already existing pattern, thus modifying the order of what is already known. The introduction of new technologies, for example, has led to changes which required readjustment, or new articulations, of relations between the various fields of knowledge and the daily life of both the individual and the community. Technical revolutions have also turned out to be cultural revolutions, as witnessed by the changes wrought by inventions such as the wheel, the steam engine etc., and also by the passage from an oral culture to a written one (Combi 1992 ).

Anthropology has the instruments to analyse cultural changes and to understand the current process of globalisation and the effects created by information technology on different societies.

The role of technology in a society shows the indissolubility of the relationships that bind technology, society and the individual as shown by this analysis which identifies the numerous cultural changes caused by the use of information technology (IT). Technology is not only the machine itself but is the whole set of relationships between human beings, utensils and fields of knowledge. Another important feature of anthropological theory is that it enables us to define culture as a set of communicative acts. Communication is what allows groups and individuals to represent themselves and interact with the world through norms and values.

For years now the mass media have in forecasting a future of homogenization, a levelling-out or even disappearance of cultural differences. Field research and ethnography carried out all over the world by anthropologists have maintained the contrary for decades and this has been confirmed by current trends. For example, the constant rising demand to have own cultural and linguistic features acknowledged within Nations such as the Scots in Great Britain, the Catalans in Spain, etc.

One final general observation: new technologies modify space, time, relationships and types of communication that still continue to co-exist with the other fields of knowledge inherent in a culture. The different pace of development of different societies in the world has been overwhelmed by this innovation, which has caught everyone unaware. The greater our awareness of living in a global world, the more strenuous our defence of local identity is. There is a gap between the speed at which digital technology is developing and the slow pace at which cultural models and their inherent values are changing. For example, time and space are perceived in different ways on the net and in real life, although the perception of the web is slowly influencing the perception in real life.

This push for cultural change greatly stimulated by the web, is present in all societies involved in this technological experience. Therefore, anthropology does not only seek to understand how one learns to become a member of a society, but it also seeks to understand how selection activities and human creativity modify the process of learning in order to open the mind and get to know and learn to respect the world view of others.

1 Changes in Cultural Codes, Behaviours and Fields of Knowledge

The following analysis is divided into the three periods of our society’s time continuum past, present and future. To provide young Europeans with the necessary cognitive abilities to manage their future with greater awareness, it is essential to revise previously-held opinions and, with the benefit of hindsight, to answer questions that had no answers from the second half of the 1900s to the first decade of the twenty-first century, re-analysing the cultural changes that have occurred since then. The past that I am therefore interested in is the recent past. Many of us can hardly remember ever having lived without e-mail, computers, smart phones, all those technological devices that today seem indispensable.

Appadurai ( 1996 ) and Lévy ( 1997 ) who studied the interdependent phenomena of globalization and the computerization of society in the second half of the twentieth century, considered some aspects of the new instruments of communication problematic. Problems include: the rapidity of the transformations and rhythms of knowledge acquisition; the ever-increasing number of people who have access to information through computers and who produce it; the instruments of knowledge inherent in the Internet; their influence on the creation of new personal identities and interpersonal relationships. The analysis of these aspects revealed that it was not only a question of technological change in the communications system, but a transformation of knowledge in the whole of Western society. It must be remembered that the situations analysed, then and today, are different in the USA and Europe and these differences are also apparent in the time it took for IT to spread, and the impact on users and on the collective or personal identity styles in the two different linguistic and cultural contexts.

I would like to introduce some features of the new technologies that have elicited various issues in the latter half of the twentieth century. Some have become obsolete or are no longer considered interesting, others remain in the background of some of the research and our perceptions, while others still make their presence felt in the current debate.

In his work Cyberculture. Rapport au Conseil de l’Europe published in 1997, the French philosopher Pierre Lévy proposed an analysis of the situation brought about by digital technology and by the theoretical and practical implications on society. He also underlined the main problems linked to current and future changes. The salient aspects of the digital era emerged with the widespread use of personal computers in the home. Above all, Lévy showed that the new technologies were transforming global society, something that had already occurred in the past with the alphabet, the printing press, the telephone, the radio and the television.

All the questions concern the cultural implications of the new technologies, the new relationships with knowledge, the necessary changes in education and training, the conservation of linguistic varieties, problems of social exclusion, and the impact on democracy. He also offers possible lines of intervention. This awareness has prompted questions on the role of IT and the cultural and social effects that the widespread introduction of these technologies is causing and will continue to cause.

Two concepts play a key role in this analysis: cyberspace and cyberculture. The term cyberspace was first coined by William Gibson in his famous science fiction novel Neuromancer (1984) and has been successfully adopted by the collective imagination. Lévy ( 1997 ) defines it as a space, a new context opened up by the communications network produced by the global interconnection of computers. The symbol of this medium is the Internet. His notion of cyberspace includes the enormous quantity of data circulating and the people who use the Internet and foster its growth. Today cyberspace is a new realm of knowledge. Lévy uses the word cyberculture to mean the set of material and intellectual techniques, practices, attitudes, ways of thinking and values that are expressed and developed in cyberspace. Cyberculture is an enormous problem seeking solutions to constantly changing situations caused by technical developments and collective reactions. Lévy's research, in the period mentioned above, includes six features—which represent also six questions—of the phenomenon which will be described individually below.

The six questions in Lévy’s work are: (1) Is there a fear of a new kind of colonization? (2) Does cyberculture encourage exclusion? (3) Is there the possibility of creating a direct democracy of the masses? (4) How does the transition from a passive reception of communication to an active reception change the content of the information and communication in a society? (5) Is linguistic and cultural diversity threatened in cyberspace? (6) Is cyberculture perhaps a synonym for chaos and confusion? The first of these questions is the fear of a new kind of colonization especially by the United States which is also the creator of these technologies. For example, most discussions and doubts circle around the setting up of data banks: who should insert the data, and which data are important. The worries focus on what information should be made available to everybody, what should be made available partially or not at all, and what kind of expert should be assigned to this task.

The second issue concerns a predictable rise in social inequality, with almost exclusive access by the élite. On the one hand, the answers to Lévy’s question—does cyberculture encourage exclusion?—refer to the importance of significant economic investments in infrastructure and computers, thus denying parts of the world and groups of people access to cyberspace. While on the other hand the answers reflect the political dimension of institutional, political and cultural resistance to using forms of collective, transnational and interactive communication. Despite the optimistic forecast, due to decreasing costs and the increasing numbers of countries interconnected in different places and cultures, Lévy confirms that any new technological progress brings with it the inevitable exclusion of some. One of the objectives to aim for is the creation of that “collective intelligence” (Lévy 1999 ), which would increase the value of culture, foster competences, resources, local projects, collegial participation and the fight against inequality. Moreover, the danger of creating new forms of dependence linked to commercial usage and economic and political predominance with regards to the less favoured regions is to be avoided (Lévy 1997 ).

Access for everyone gave rise to widespread and shared expectations—which lay between the past and the present: Lévy wondered whether it was possible to create a direct democracy of the masses. The myth of equality was based on the public and social potential of communications technology in the political sphere. A virtual agorà: where the creation of a collective consciousness and pluralist discussions would give rise to a large scale direct democracy. Decisions would be taken collectively and evaluation would be tailored to the communities that participated. Wolton ( 1999 ) criticised these optimistic expectations and based his comments on the fact that without social integration and shared values there could be no direct democracy.

Lévy's approach to another issue—understanding the consequences of the transition from a passive reception of communication—TV, radio, cinema—to an active reception—the web, Internet was completely different and raised further question: How does this change the content of the information and communication in a society? First and foremost, the subject wielding the power over the information changes: as opposed to the mass media which use a system of ‘from a few to many’, Internet users exchange information on the basis of ‘many to many’. People, no longer isolated thanks also to virtual communities, activated this new way of creating long-distance interpersonal links on the basis of sharing common interests. This innovation of the communication system would lead to a deeper understanding between cultures through virtual encounters with the possibility of gaining greater insight. The rapidity of communicative exchanges in time and space, made possible by the availability of the web everywhere, would lead to an understanding of the systems of symbols, values and politics, religions and philosophies of others. This was an error of judgement which did not foresee any other possible solution, such as, for example, the greater visibility of otherness and its rejection (Wolton 1999 ). When analysing theoretically the features of the artificial information contained in any linguistic message, it becomes clear that this new society is not at all a society of reciprocal understanding. This excessive communication is too often a symptom of self-expression rather than the desire to really step into the shoes of another person.

Another issue, summarized in Lévy’s fifth question—Is linguistic and cultural diversity threatened in cyberspace?—gave rise to further debate. The use of English as the favoured language on the web is a limit for non-English speakers. On the other hand English acts as a mediator in international exchanges. Nevertheless, information had already appeared in hundreds of other languages. As successive developments show, even the technical problems linked to the use of non-Roman alphabets, and non alphabetic script have been solved. The participation of the individual determines what appears on the web, thus it is of utmost importance that people from different linguistic groups, especially those of ‘minority’ languages, should intervene and keep these languages alive in the virtual world.

In his last question Lévy asks whether cyberculture is perhaps a synonym for chaos and confusion. Cyberculture was considered the system of systems and, therefore, the system of chaos. He interpreted the phenomenon as a disappearance of selection, of hierarchies and of the structures of knowledge that were immutable and addressed to everybody.

The innovative feature of the web is its use as an instrument of communication among individuals which ensures that the community can teach its members what they want to know. Lévy concludes and maintains that the construction of a personal intelligence, fruit of individual effort and the necessary time to learn it, is inevitable. It is not difficult to see even today that the image of the web is chaotic. The setting up of netiquette marks a first initiative to control the lack of discipline on the Internet. Netiquette is the guide to the Internet, which introduces norms that govern issues of legality and good behaviour on the web.

This brief discussion of Lévy’s six questions and his future proposals concerning the changes in the cultures only partially reflects the research taking place at the time but is certainly enlightening for today. It is clear that cultural models in the Western world have undergone great changes. Every society elaborates codes of communication that are considered essential for the transmission of knowledge and interpersonal and intercultural encounters—just think of oral, written, non verbal and visual communication. Communication is a kind of reflection of society; in fact every language manages to express all the culture devised by a group of people. Today more than ever, these technological changes must make us aware of the importance of existing cultural diversity in the European context, its richness and the history that links different countries. It is easier to focus on what individuals and cultures have in common rather than deal with the complexity of their differences.

Although new technologies appear to favour proximity among human beings, in fact the opposite effect is true and much more deceptive. This is why it is so important to be aware of the fact that the differences in the content of knowledge and the actions springing from it, exist beyond the shared use of the communication codes used on the web. This is because behind the software and the hardware there are human beings who decide what a programme should or should not do. Their choices are guided by their personal interests and aims, and their own cultural and emotional experiences. This means that surfing the web is not a neutral or objective experience, but is the result of decisions made by someone who knows how to exploit the expectations of the moment, who means to obtain some economic profit from this activity and who maintains control of the information.

Thus digital technology does not eliminate the inevitable acquisition of a cultural model which gives you the perception of belonging to a society or a real community. It accompanies the latter and modifies it by transforming knowledge, interpersonal relationships and behaviour which apparently connect young people today. Digital technologies are similar round the world but fortunately encounter a diversified cognitive world in the different localities. The local culture acquires the new technologies, re-works them to make them acceptable to the existing culture in that community and sends them back to the global level in a continuous exchange of intercultural influences and in constant transformation. A little like the wearing of jeans: everybody, ‘primitive people’ and rich Westerners alike, wear them, but the individual wearing them expresses values, concepts, ethics, norms, religious beliefs and images learnt from his own group which differ greatly from all other groups.

The chapter continues with the discussion of cultural changes that have occurred to date because some categories today have become more evident or have changed: they are influencing people’s perception of the world stimulated by the use of the web and the Internet. Categories involving more personal attitudes to a ‘digital native’ will be dealt with in the final part concerning proposal for the future.

The following categories—space-time; values; veracity; transparency; creativity and imagination—involve more general cultural context and will be dealt with below. The space-time category has undergone great changes. Space plays a significant role in all societies, as human beings, always and everywhere, modify the natural environment and transform it into a local cultural environment. Locality reflects the creative solutions that the inhabitants of a particular space have adopted to deal with problems of survival. This process has some implications of power as, for example, in the relationship between the centre and the periphery of the world, of a nation or of a city. Digital technology has made it possible to re-position the two concepts: peripheral places can now influence the centre, make the world aware of their existence. There are two active processes concerning space on the web: deterritorialization and decontextualization. The former implies the knocking down of borders, nomadic movement, going beyond the sense of place and living anywhere in cyberspace. This reminds us also that every local context is really a temporary form of passage that embraces linguistic experiences and life-styles that vary in the course of time. Decontextualization, the absence or lack of importance of reference points of communication, goes hand in hand with deterritorialization.

In a situation of communication the cultural and temporal context cannot be disregarded because it influences the meaning and enables a correct interpretation of the information. On a general level, even the construction of a local identity and the recognition of otherness needs to be contextualized, to be considered consciously. When space loses its physical nature and changes into a conceptual space it becomes ubiquitous, thanks to new technological devices, and the instantaneous links which cancel the perception of spatial distance. Digital technology connects any point in the world with another and at the same time information can be retrieved from any point in the world in real time so that the traditional spatial-temporal parameters are made obsolete by the global dimension and instant nature of communication on the web.

Traditionally the perception of time is shared by all members of a real community but is at the same time linked to subjective experience. Today, the most significant features of the perception and organization of time in Western online and offline contemporaneousness are: the perception of accelerated time and the present lived as if it were a continuous moment which cancels the past and the future; people surf in a present without end. There are no intervals of solitude, silence, or isolation dedicated to reflection and imagination and no opportunity to evaluate the seriousness of a problem and create a hierarchy of priorities. Contrary to what was maintained at the beginning of this technological adventure (you will have more free time …) everyday life shows that all of us are always in a hurry, that there is no time.

Also the role played by values in real life, in the virtual sphere and in the education for a future for everyone is changing. As shown by Gardner ( 2012 ), a psychologist who works with minds and the cognitive abilities required for the future, in his book Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed. Educating for the Virtues in the Twenty-first Century . We must re-educate young people to the values. At this point, we must deal with Lévy’s ( 1997 ) last question—whether cyberculture breaks with the values of European modernity? This gives the philosopher the opportunity to reply that cyberculture pursues and realizes the progressive ideals of the eighteenth century, which sustained the emancipation of human beings, participation in debate and discussion groups, exchange of information and believed in three values: liberty, equality and fraternity. Despite this continuity, Lévy highlights his expectations of a radical renewal of political and social thought in Europe, a renewal which has not taken place yet.

Another important change in attitude to online communication concern the veracity of information. Internet users do not set great store by truth; do not check or cite the source of information. The very fact that the information appears on the web automatically seems to confer authority on the information and the user can take possession of it with impunity. This lack of discernment, which should differentiate between credible, official or institutional sources and sources such as paedophiles, terrorists, criminals and manipulators, is dangerous. The initial conviction that the instant distribution of news in all parts of the world would guarantee transparency has faded. Nevertheless, nobody doubts that the goal of transparency and veracity will be reached in the next decades. The main problem is: how will it be achieved? According to Wolton ( 1999 ), transparency is impossible as social relationships are never transparent and technical bureaucracy must be added to human bureaucracy, both with their own hierarchies.

Two further categories, creativity and imagination, have undergone great changes on the web. The perception of an image, an element of imagination, is based on the personal history and values of the individual and the new technologies offer an incredible number of incentives and new instruments to give vent to one’s imagination and creativity, especially the latest app. However, there are limits to this process set by the specific structure of the application and the codes invented by the designer of the product.

In conclusion: the general characteristics of essential cultural change is being able to do things that were not possible before: the instant circulation of information; the uninterrupted 24-h link with people or software all over the world; the personal presentation of yourself and your own creativity and imagination; the knocking down of real borders; the transnational nature of the circulation of ideas and instruments ever smaller, more powerful and lighter laptops, smart phones, IPods, IPads, tablets, wearable technology etc.—no longer only ‘many to many’ communication but also ‘always-on’. Today communication via the computer occurs in real time, is reciprocal, interactive and non-stop.

2 Some Considerations Concerning ‘Digital Natives’

The term ‘digital natives’ (Prensky 2001 ) is applied to people born after 1980–1990 when social digital technologies came online. They are young people who have access to networked digital technologies. The use of those technologies have also changed the way they think and process information. An in-depth analysis of the ‘digital native’ makes it possible to link up with things said at the beginning.

One of the main tasks that awaits anthropological cultural research is that of reflecting on the cultural changes that have been produced by the new technological changes in our society. And make young people aware of the limits of technology into which they place a great part of their lives. Such changes need an educational or, in a broader sense, formative model, which acknowledges the new ways of learning and communicating of the young of the ‘app generation’ and the social networks. The features of the new media—speed, accessibility, easy acquisition, transfer and transformation of information, possible anonymity, and multiple identity—cannot be ignored especially due to their problematic aspects mentioned above.

This chapter targets these young people who are the focus of European research projects which provide us with a general profile of this generation and cannot ignore the changes in the wider social context discussed above and the positive online experience. Some of the questionable characteristics of a ‘digital native’ are: identity problems; narcissism and self-promotion; difficult local/global relation; growing individualism; reluctance to accept responsibility and risk; distorted perception of time. Above all we cannot ignore the great transformation of the web which from information supplier, with web 2.0 has become a social space, highlighting the constant search for social encounters, and contacts like ‘anytime anywhere’, ‘many to many’ , ‘peer to peer’ which favour encounters, friendships and virtual and real comparisons.

The research undertaken by Gardner and Davis ( 2013 ) offers us an interesting viewpoint on the learning process of young people today and their limits. By analysing the consequences of the general and invasive use of app in everyday life, what does living in a ‘world of apps’ really mean for the future of our species and our planet? the authors ask themselves. Apps are procedures that allow the user to obtain a result rapidly and pleasantly. However, they have effects that may turn out to be negative, because the invasion of a person’s everyday life by apps favours the construction of a worldview based on their codes. They are ‘shortcuts’ that speed up interaction, simplify them and make them less risky.

From a personal point of view, apps embrace a set of interests, habits and relationships that characterize an individual: it is personal identity revealed to the outside. Their general use influences aspects of a personality which tends to take on the form of a “tailor-made self” (Gardner and Davis 2014 ) a positive and directed at self-promotion, which is desirable but distracts the attention from the inner self, the deepest feelings and personal projects. Some specific traits linked to self promotion online are encouraged by the presumed anonymity of the web. For example, you do not show how you really live but only how you appear to live, even if the image is not far from reality. Young people do not really consider their online and offline identities as being very different just as the private and public spheres are not really considered separate.

Another new aspect involves the concept of interculturality: the young are aware of a global outlook but often lack a deeper understanding due to a poor cultural background and, the authors add, they speak globally but act locally. The apps provide them with the opportunity to access experiences outside everyday life, but it is not known how much the young really benefit from them even if the acceptance of otherness has increased. This is an aspect of the “respectful mind” (Gardner 2006 ) which implies an open attitude towards knowledge and an acceptance of people and things that are culturally different.

The new communication technologies also play a role in giving young people a sense of security as they avoid many risks of real life, such as finding their way in unknown places or dealing face to face with the unexpected reactions of a person. Once again the importance of remaining in constant contact with reality and direct relationships emerges as a reference point for experiencing significant relationships thus going against the trend of increasing isolation and decreasing empathy. Many young Europeans share these characteristics described above and are preparing for a future with many uncertainties.

3 Looking at the Future

As a conclusion to the above considerations it would be useful to ask ourselves what proposals we can make to prepare young people for the future. Technology influences communication because it offers new elements in the creation of imaginary subjects and worlds. They tend to integrate subvert and transform other contextual forms of learning (Appadurai 2013 ). That is why thinking about the future means selecting and providing knowledge which will be of use to them in the years to come. To this end I would like to highlight some cultural features which, in my opinion, play an important role in the acquisition of awareness, competences and capabilities to tackle the future. These features, which intend to provide young Europeans with the necessary instruments, should also feature as relevant aspects in any research on young people in Europe. Amongst others these are: acquiring the awareness of one’s local and European identity; learning to think in an intercultural and interdisciplinary manner; acquiring the ability to synthesize; overcome the perception of time as one continuous moment.

The proposal relevant to the relationship between local and global culture focuses on the fact that learning about the cultures of other European countries (and not only) helps one to think about one’s own culture. The young use technology to communicate but know little or nothing about the countries that youngsters of their own age live in and are full of stereotypes and prejudices. There is no conscious identity without the encounter of otherness, anthropologists say, especially if one focuses on beliefs, traditions, language, myths, rites, tastes, which on first impact are different from one’s own. Getting to know others, reflecting and thinking critically about oneself makes one aware that every person is the expression of a cultural model with its own features which only the encounter with otherness brings into evidence. Student exchange programs, for example, provides a practical situation for experiencing otherness, which makes young people aware of the local dimension of their own culture which is a specific expression of knowledge. In fact, we tend to consider our beliefs, behaviour, habits, physical and emotional expressions, which we share with other members of our society, as ‘natural’. They are really the expression of that particular culture which we belong to and differ from those of other cultures. Ethnocentrism, which considers one’s own culture as superior, is common to all groups of human beings. This mental attitude is at the root of many incomprehensions, also at the communication level in intercultural meetings and makes negotiation difficult if not impossible.

This means that young people must learn to give priority to an intercultural approach fostered by the discovery and the comparison of the features of two or more cultures. This kind of approach must go hand in hand with an interdisciplinary approach. The latter is not simply meant as bringing different realms of knowledge together but also as a meeting place for different theories and methods to create a new point of view, a new approach to problems not achievable through single disciplines. These two approaches require one to select a particular subject matter (anthropology, literature, history, geography, art, the history of religions, etc.) best based on personal interests. In this way it is possible to carve out a mental path, which guides the forays into the Internet to find what one is looking for without getting lost and constantly returning to the starting point, and consequently stops a person from feeling overwhelmed by the cognitive incongruence of the situation, the fragmentary and superficial nature that is characteristic of many people who surf the web. I am referring to the “disciplined mind”, one of the five minds Gardner ( 2006 ) considers essential for the future, which requires in-depth knowledge of the theories, methods and paradigms of a discipline. The other four minds Gardner specifies are: the “synthesizing, creating, respectful (already mentioned) and ethical” briefly summarized below.

The skill of synthesis, the synthesizing mind is fundamental in overcoming the superficial and fragmentary nature of an unconscious personal technological learning process, which favours non-knowledge; without taking anything away from the positive effects of the new technologies and the web 2.0 world, as for example, a greater acceptance of diversity (ethnic, sexual, cultural). Furthermore, synthesis requires greater detail and slow memorization which implies the perception of the difference between quality and the quantity of the data. The latter are characteristics, for example, of multitasking, when people work on various communication fronts at the same time. Once again technology favours the quantity and speed of the passage between different technological supports, but the information that comes into play is superficial to the detriment of quality and analytical correctness.

One important effect of the total immersion in the web is to upset one’s perception of time which is one of the revolutionary changes of information technology. Art and literature, for example, are fitness to the existing relationship between time and contemporaneity. In Augé’s analysis ( 2015 ) the latter in particular, is seen as the taking on of the past and the future of the different generations. Behavioural and social sciences, art and literature today have to rise to the same challenge of a world which perceives time as accelerated and sees the present as one continuous, never-ending moment. The trend is to live in one endless moment, an immediate present that cancels the dimensions of the past and thus also precludes the future.

According to Gardner ( 2006 ) the ethical and creating minds complete the wealth of intelligence he considers fundamental for the future. They are fundamental as they include the dimension of values. The ethical mind allows a person to reflect on the principal features of the role they play at any particular moment of their life. This is essential as it means that they can recognise the responsibilities inherent in this role and the consequent morally correct behaviour. The creating mind is the most developed in the technological world with particular and endless references to the artistic-literary environment.

Any research attempting to understand a society and foresee its changes in the future must take place in a cultural anthropological context as indicated at the beginning of this chapter. It provides a flexible network of interconnections between the different realms of knowledge that characterize all groups of human beings. That is why it cannot be ignored when analysing the great cultural and technological changes involving all human beings all over the world. Cultural anthropology provides the methodology for a comparison between different European cultures (and not only) and to analyse cultural changes, wherever these occur. It also provides the opportunity to draw people closer to ‘indigenous’ cultural products, especially, all artistic expressions. They favour comparisons and the crossing of the borders of local cultures, they make it possible to participate in global creativity starting from taking pride in one’s own origin. New technologies, if used properly can help this process and open one’s mind to the meeting with expressions of knowledge conceived by other human beings.

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Combi, M. (2016). Cultures and Technology: An Analysis of Some of the Changes in Progress—Digital, Global and Local Culture. In: Borowiecki, K., Forbes, N., Fresa, A. (eds) Cultural Heritage in a Changing World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29544-2_1

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The globalisation of technology: a new taxonomy

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Daniele Archibugi, Jonathan Michie, The globalisation of technology: a new taxonomy, Cambridge Journal of Economics , Volume 19, Issue 1, February 1995, Pages 121–140, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035299

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Much has been written on the increasingly international generation, transmission and diffusion of technologies, with the phenomenon having been given its own term—techno-globalism—and interpreted by some as displacing national systems of innovation and making redundant and futile any attempt by national governments to foster technological development domestically. This paper reconsiders the evidence by developing a new taxonomy and investigating separately: (a) the global exploitation of technology, (b) global technological collaboration and (c) the global generation of technology. We find quite distinct answers when the degree of globalisation is evaluated separately on these three definitions.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Globalization.

Globalization is a term used to describe the increasing connectedness and interdependence of world cultures and economies.

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Globalization is a term used to describe how trade and technology have made the world into a more connected and interdependent place. Globalization also captures in its scope the economic and social changes that have come about as a result. It may be pictured as the threads of an immense spider web formed over millennia, with the number and reach of these threads increasing over time. People, money, material goods, ideas, and even disease and devastation have traveled these silken strands, and have done so in greater numbers and with greater speed than ever in the present age. When did globalization begin? The Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes across China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean used between 50 B.C.E. and 250 C.E., is perhaps the most well-known early example of exchanging ideas, products, and customs. As with future globalizing booms, new technologies played a key role in the Silk Road trade. Advances in metallurgy led to the creation of coins; advances in transportation led to the building of roads connecting the major empires of the day; and increased agricultural production meant more food could be trafficked between locales. Along with Chinese silk, Roman glass, and Arabian spices, ideas such as Buddhist beliefs and the secrets of paper-making also spread via these tendrils of trade. Unquestionably, these types of exchanges were accelerated in the Age of Exploration, when European explorers seeking new sea routes to the spices and silks of Asia bumped into the Americas instead. Again, technology played an important role in the maritime trade routes that flourished between old and newly discovered continents. New ship designs and the creation of the magnetic compass were key to the explorers’ successes. Trade and idea exchange now extended to a previously unconnected part of the world, where ships carrying plants, animals, and Spanish silver between the Old World and the New also carried Christian missionaries. The web of globalization continued to spin out through the Age of Revolution, when ideas about liberty , equality , and fraternity spread like fire from America to France to Latin America and beyond. It rode the waves of industrialization , colonization , and war through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, powered by the invention of factories, railways, steamboats, cars, and planes. With the Information Age, globalization went into overdrive. Advances in computer and communications technology launched a new global era and redefined what it meant to be “connected.” Modern communications satellites meant the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo could be watched in the United States for the first time. The World Wide Web and the Internet allowed someone in Germany to read about a breaking news story in Bolivia in real time. Someone wishing to travel from Boston, Massachusetts, to London, England, could do so in hours rather than the week or more it would have taken a hundred years ago. This digital revolution massively impacted economies across the world as well: they became more information-based and more interdependent. In the modern era, economic success or failure at one focal point of the global web can be felt in every major world economy. The benefits and disadvantages of globalization are the subject of ongoing debate. The downside to globalization can be seen in the increased risk for the transmission of diseases like ebola or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), or in the kind of environmental harm that scientist Paul R. Furumo has studied in microcosm in palm oil plantations in the tropics. Globalization has of course led to great good, too. Richer nations now can—and do—come to the aid of poorer nations in crisis. Increasing diversity in many countries has meant more opportunity to learn about and celebrate other cultures. The sense that there is a global village, a worldwide “us,” has emerged.

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Technology and Its Impact in Globalization, Essay Example

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Globalization has increased at a fast rate in the last few decades due to advancements in information technology. Internet has made it possible to quickly access information as well as improve communication. A research studies showed that internet helps businesses accelerate the diffusion of their products because it is possible to provide easy to access information to customers online and market products more cheaply (Prince & Simon, 2009).

Another way technology has helped globalization is through progress in supply chain networks. Internet and communications technology has enabled companies to have a global supply chain as well as production facilities in various parts of the world. Despite the distances involved, these production facilities and suppliers collaborate with each other in real time and are able to track each other’s progress. Technology has made it possible for companies to sell products directly to customers without any middle stakeholders such as distribution intermediaries as well as sell certain products and services in digital format with none or very negligible marginal cost. Apple can operate all of its iTunes global websites from a single IT center and still be able to meet the needs of different markets.

In short, advancements in technology have made factors of production more mobile, communication more effective and cheaper, and reaching and marketing to customers more economical and effective.

Prince, J.T. and D.H. Simon. “Has the Internet accelerated the diffusion of new products?” Research Policy October 2009: 1269-1277.

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Describe the role of technology in promoting the globalisation process.

Technology is a vital force in the modern form of business globalization products are delivered very fast at a lower cost. telecommunication and the internet have been influenced a lot more. able to contact one person from another country or state by telecommunication facilities. satellite communication devices are used very rapidly. globalization globalisation is a multidimensional concept. it has economic, cultural, and political manifestations. globalisation deals with flows. the critical factor of globalization is the ‘worldwide interconnectedness’ that is generated and sustained as a result of these constant flows. these flows could be of various types which are given below: trade of commodities, goods, and services between countries. people migrate to different countries in search of better opportunities and livelihoods. movement of ideas from one part of the world to another part of the world movement of capital shunted between two or more places. consequences of globalization some of the consequences of globalization are political, economic, and cultural. political consequences erosion of state capacity concerning the capacity of the government on what they can do. many of the governments' welfare functions are withdrawn and stick to core functions such as providing security to the citizens of the country and maintaining law and order. economic consequences to ensure that the jobs of the citizens of a country are guarded, developed countries have restricted visa policies. people who were dependent on government welfare and jobs have been affected. cultural consequences globalization can lead to cultural homogenisation. hence people fear that there is a threat to the world's different cultures..

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MNCs IN THE PROCESS OF GLOBALISATION PROCESS?

An autonomous organisation under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology (Govt. of India) plays a vital role in technology development and promotion in India is ___________.

HOW IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONECTED WITH GLOBALISATION? WOULD GLOBALISATION HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT EXPANSION OF IT?