and Foreign Direct Investment
Cross Border Transaction
Comparative Advantage
Business geography involves the application of geographic knowledge and information as well as geospatial techniques in making businesses decisions. Besides the demand, supply and profit equations, it concentrates more on the intangible aspects such as VALUES, CULTURES, DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATION and the aspect of SUSTAINABILITY to make a futuristic business decision. It requires deep understanding of the concept of globalization.
Globalization can be defined as –
“The growing interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross border transactions in goods and services and of international capital flows, and through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology” (source: IMF). It is a process that erodes national boundaries, integrates national economies, culture, technologies and governance, and produces complex relations of mutual interdependence.
Global Village: The modern concept of globalization was born academically with the concept of global village. The term global village was popularised by Marshall McLuhan, in his books The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962). He pointed out the role of electronic media to create unified communities. He visualized the world as a global village, empowered by electric technology and the instantaneous movement of information. and predicted the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented.
What is development?
- Development is about improving people’s lives to ensure quality of life while promoting human dignity and respect. It means positive change for betterment.
- It means more equal society, justice for everyone, chance to earn a good living and ability to meet the basic needs of life in terms of access to food, water, sanitation, quality education, health services.
- Development is about finding ways to live sustainably
- Development is not purely an economic phenomenon but a multi-dimensional process involving reorganization and reorientation of the entire economic and social system
- Expansion of human freedom should both be viewed as the primary end and the principle means of development (views of Prof. Amartya Sen in his book Development as Freedom. Sen received Nobel prize in Economics for his contribution in developmental studies).
Developmental Approaches : How to stimulate development in a country
Top down development: Require large scale State (public) investmentÂ
- This is usually large scale development, carried out by government or international organization
- It is done by people from outside area/ it is imposed upon the area or people by outside organization
- It is often well funded and can respond quickly to disaster eg. Aswan Dam, or emergency relief
- The local people are hardly involved in the decision making process
Bottom-up development: Social entrepreneurship approach
- It is small scale and mostly labour intensive
- It involves local communities and local people eg. building earth dam, cottage industries
- The local people are involved in decision making process
- Run by the local communities for the local people eg. Grameen bank of Bangladesh
Sustainable development: Environmental, economic and social well-being for today and tomorrow
Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland commission Report, 1987 (Geo Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, Headed the commission) to the World Commission on environment and development.
“Sustainable development.. is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. (Brundtland commission Report, 1987)
Muhamad Yunus received Nobel Price Prize in 2006 for his profound contribution to the development of the rural areas of Bangladesh through Grameen Bank efforts. Here is the link of the Nobel Prize Committee on the facts of the Grameen Bank effort. Â Â