Globalization Exam Paper Example

You MUST complete the questions INDEPENDENTLY and submit your responses on Blackboard. Work must be original and any work taken from other sources will not receive a grade.

Questions

Discuss the meaning of the term globalization. Approximate length 1 paragraph (5 points)

Globalization is the interaction between nations and people spurred by trade and innovations. The most recent contributor to this concept is the internet. Alongside other modern technologies, innovations have been the key factors that have influenced trade, investments, migration of people, and sharing of knowledge that form the fundamentals of globalization. The term globalization however has been used in all manner of literature o describe a process, an age, and a force. The result is the confusion that this usage generates. The agreement, however, is that all interpretations of the term signify the interaction that is increasingly making international boundaries meaningless.

Answer either a OR b. Approximate length 3 paragraphs (10 points)

Imagine that you were one of Miltons Friedmans students, known as the Chicago Boys, in 1957. Explain your economic perspective, and how your viewpoint influences your position on globalization.

OR

Imagine that you are Sir Edward Malet, the British representative to the Berlin Conference in 1884-85. Describe the conference, then discuss your political perspective on the partitioning of Africa and your strategy for obtaining land in Africa. Finally, briefly list the results of the conference.

Berlin conference was a meeting by European nations to make formal their scramble for Africa. The then-powerful nations before the 1884-85 conference had begun looking to Africa to expand their empires as a way to source for more natural resources to drive industrialization in their home countries. Others saw Africa as a market for whatever their industries produced. As expected, the European nations would send scouts to do territory marking through striking with the indigenous peoples tribal chiefs. The move created conflicts among the European powers. However, It is the between Great Britain and France in West Africa that got the intervention of the then German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck called a meeting in Berlin in 1884. In the meetings that followed, King Leopold II, German, France, Portugal and Great Britain tabled and negotiated their claims on various parts of Africa. In the end, a map to formalize the negotiations was produced.

As a diplomat. The partition was done in a somewhat selfish fashion, with each nations and individuals immediate interests and needs in mind. Pushing for the common good for their newfound frontiers was also not part of the negotiations. The advantage of this is that desires to expand their empire was gratified. The underside was that the approach overlooked the temporary nature of their interest in the continent. African people would soon see through the suffocation in their ability to develop their resources brought by the Europeans.

Obtaining in on the relatively large piece of land that is Africa had to come with a change in the status quo. The strategy would enable exploitation in every part of it. Offering treaties and maintaining the status quo while the negotiations were on would shorten the time to acquiring land.

The results of the conference;

Formal colonization of Africa by European nations

Resolution on the issues surrounding the navigation on River Niger and the Congo River.

Establishment of rules and regulations to govern laying claim on African land

Arbitrary African national boundaries

Identify the key components of the Human Development Index (HDI). Imagine that you were recently hired by the United Nations to critique the value of the HDI in assessing the development of countries. Provide an outline of your critique that includes both the strengths and weaknesses of the HDI. Can be written in a table, or point form.

The critical components of the Human Development Index include Life expectancy, Average years of schooling- literacy, and the Gross national income (GNI) per capita. In some Instances, the index also includes a standard for human freedoms. The goal is to measure the quantity and quality of each of the components.

Outline of critique the value of the HDI

Introduction

State the developers and title of the HDI

Provide a summary of the HDI

Write the thesis statement

Body

Discuss Objectivity of HDI

Explore weighting of ranks

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using HDI in assessing the development of countries.

Conclusion

Restate the thesis statement

summary

Complete the Sally Jones Case that is attached. (25 points)

South East USA and Ethiopia have a high CAGE distance

Cultural Distance Administrative/ political Distance Geographical Distance Economic Distance

Attributes creating distance Different language

Different region

Different ethnicity No common coloniser

No shared trading block

High physical distance

Different climate

Different time zone Difference in production capabilities

Different quality of natural, capital and human resources

Discuss social stratification and/or debt based on information from ONE of the following images on the next page. Approximate length 1 paragraph. (5 points)

Social Stratification

Societies have continually categorized people depending on their capabilities. This trait is largely based on power and wealth, although various societies have developed other forms of status. The rise of capitalism brought forward categorizing people based on their wealth irrespective of how it is generated. The nature of capitalism is such that few have more resources than the others, making the stratification to extend over generations. These stratification happens universally and is majorly accelerated by inequalities in the society.

The case

SALLY JONES AND THE HUMMUS DECISION

Sally Jones leaned back in her chair and gazed out at the Washington Monument. The monument always helped her to refocus her thoughts and remember why she had taken a position with TAG Consulting.

When she was a student in her business degree program, Sally thought she would end up in banking or in the finance department of a multinational corporation (MNC). However, elective courses in globalization and sustainability had provided another lense through which to few the role of business and its impact on society. She understood that while there were certainly many organizations that were doing their best to behave responsibly, there were many organizations that were not doing their best. In the end, she decided she would rather be part of the solution than part of the problem.

TAG (Thinking about the Globe) Consulting was committed to taking on big business and fighting what it perceived to be the negative effects of globalization. In her time at TAG, Sally had taken on pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, and even banks. For Sally, issues like the cost of drugs in Africa or the impact of pipeline developments on First Nations communities in Canada had very clear sides to them. She always knew where she stood. She didnt always win, but she slept well at night and felt she was making a difference in the world.

The File

The file on her desk today was anything but clear.

TAG was beginning to see opposition to a major marketing thrust by Pepsico, Kraft and others that would put hummus in the refrigerators and on the snack trays in American homes.

Small farmers in the Southeastern United States were concerned that if demand materialized as anticipated, many farms would switch from conventional crops to the cultivation of chickpeas (the primary ingredient in hummus). By itself, this might not be a bad thing. However, some farmers were concerned about their ability to compete with offshore producers (the United States was a net importer of chickpeas), while others were concerned about switching from crops like tobacco which had been a staple of the regional economy for generations to the new and unfamiliar chickpea. What would the impact be on small communities? What about the impact on the supporting infrastructure that had been developed over literally hundreds of years for crops like tobacco?

Some global activists were concerned about Pepsicos activities in Africa. Pepsico had recently signed an MOU with the Government of Ethiopias (GoE) Ministries of Health and Agriculture and Agriculture Transformation Agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the UN World Food Program (WFP) to accelerate Ethiopias into a major producer of chickpeas. It was expected that Pepsico would be the major buyer of the crop (for use in its Sabra hummus brand). Was it a good thing they wondered, for a profit-seeking MNC to be so closely tied to the food supply in an underdeveloped country?

Other activists were concerned about the integrity of the Pepsico effort more generally. While there is no denying the nutritional benefits of hummus the chickpea is an excellent source of high-quality protein and essential amino acids, as well as being high in dietary fibre, low in fat and a source of phosphorus, magnesium, iron and zinc they found it difficult to reconcile Pepsico as a purveyor of a product with such benefits with Pepsico as a purveyor of such other products as Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

Similarly, while Kraft Foods runs the Athenos hummus brand, it also runs such nutritionally questionable brands as Cheez Whiz and Kool Aid.

The Decision

While the issue was more complicated than others shed dealt with, Sally still had to make a decision. In fact, her boss was looking for a decision by the end of the day. Specifically, her boss wanted to know whether TAG should mobilize its resources to oppose the marketing effort to drive demand for hummus in the United States, to educate consumers on the issues, or to support the effort.

YOUR TASK

Assume the role of Sally. Review the readings in the file, and prepare a brief (no more than 500 words) response on your recommendations and rationale. Please, use one relevant framework (e.g., Porters Diamond, or CAGE, or weighted decision-making models) that we discussed in class to support your response.

PEPSICO BETS HUMMUS CAN BE THE NEXT SALSA

For most guys looking for a quick bite, salted snacks reign supreme. But Ronen Zohar wants man caves everywhere to give hummus a place of honour, right up there with salsa and beer.

The chief executive officer of PepsiCos Sabra Dipping venture recently launched its first national television commercials. One instructs consumers to dip life to the fullest by dunking all-American staplesthink chicken wings and potato chipsinto the mashed chickpea paste. And Sabra soon will kick off as the National Football Leagues official dips sponsor, putting the brand squarely in the sights of male fans for whom snacking is also a national pastime.

While the goal is to make the Middle Eastern dip accessible to Middle America, Zohar faces a lot of work to make it a fixture at Super Bowl parties. Annual U.S. salsa sales are about $1.1 billion, more than twice those of flavoured spreads like hummus. Still, the spreads are growing at a 14 percent pace as Sabra and its main rivals, Nestles part-owned Tribe and Kraft Foods Groups Athenos, appeal to Americans desire to eat healthier. Most of the people in the U.S. never tasted hummus, the Israeli-born Zohar says. You have to change their mind-set that even if the name is strange and the brown color of the hummus is not as appetizing, it tastes wonderful.

Hummus is made by blending steamed chickpeas with a paste called tahini made from shelled sesame seeds. The mixture is generally flavoured with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. New flavours such as roasted red pepper and wasabi edamame have helped drive demand, says Sarah Schmansky, director of...