Globalisation Case Studies

Question 1

When was Easy Jet founded?

Answer 1

1995

Question 2

How many passengers was Easy Jet carrying by 2020?

Answer 2

96 million

Question 3

How many airplanes did Easy Jet have to start with?

Answer 3

Just 2

Question 4

How many airplanes did Easy Jet have in 2020 and what was their revenues?

Answer 4

337 and nearly £6.4 billion

Question 5

What had happened in China before 1978?

Answer 5

The country was poor and politically isolated and ‘switched-off’ from the global economy

Question 6

What are China’s ‘open door’ approaches to global flows?

Answer 6

• FDI from China and its TNCs is predicted to total US$1.25 trillion between 2015 and 2025.
• China agreed to export more ‘rare earth’ minerals to other countries, in line with WTO ruling.
• Foreign TNCs are now allowed to invest in some of China’s domestic markets, including its rail freight and chemical industries.

Question 7

What are China’s ‘close door’ approaches to global flows?

Answer 7

• Google and Facebook have little or no access to China’s market (instead, Chinese companies like Youku provide social network services).
• China’s government set up a strict quota of only 34 foreign films to be screened in cinemas each year.
• There are strict controls on foreign TNCs in some sectors. China’s government blocked Coca-Cola’s acquisition of Huiyan Juice in 2008.

Question 8

What happened in 1978 in China?

Answer 8

Radical ‘open door’ reforms began, which allowed China to embrace globalisation while remaining under one-party authoritarian rule.

Question 9

Glocalisation: Stats about McDonald’s?

Answer 9

Had 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries in 2018

Question 10

Glocalisation: Where has McDonald’s been challenged?

Answer 10

In Indian, to cater for Hindus and Sikhs, who are traditionally vegetarian and also Muslims who do not eat pork.

Question 11

Glocalisation: How has McDonald’s addressed the challenges in Indian?

Answer 11

Chicken burgers are served alongside the McVeggie and McSpicy Paneer (an Indian cheese patty). In 2012, McDonald’s opened a vegetarian restaurant for Sikh pilgrims visiting Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple.

Question 12

What are the costs of global outsourcing of services to India- call centres?

Answer 12

• Some business process wokers report they are being exploited.
• Their work can be highly repetitive. Business is often conducted at night- due to time zone differences between India and customer locations in the USA or UK- sometime in ten-hour shifts, six days a week.
• Despite overall growth, the gap between the rich and poor has widened sharply. India has more billionaires than the UK, yet it also has 86.8 million people living in poverty (around 6% of its total population). In 2018 only 65% of households had access to a toilet.

Question 13

What are the benefits of global outsourcing of services to India- call centres?

Answer 13

• India’s calls centre workers earn good middle-class wages by Indian standards. Nightclubs and 24 shopping malls in Bangalore testify to relatively high purchasing power of a new Indian ‘techno-elite’ typically earning 3500 rupees (£40) a week.
• Indian outsourcing companies have become extremely profitable. Founded in 1981, Infosys had revenues of US$9 billion in 2015. It is one of the top 20 global companies for innovation.

Question 14

What are the costs of global outsourcing of manufacturing to China?

Answer 14

• In early years, many workers were exploited in sweatshops. Around 2500 metal-workers in Yongkang lost a limb or finger each year due to dangerous factory conditions. Since then, the conditions have improved for many Chinese workers, although there are still workers who continue to be exploited.
• The environment continues to suffer greatly. Air pollution in cities reduces Chinese life expectancy by 5 years. The WHO is concerned with high levels of small particulate matter known as PM2.5. These deadly participles settle deep in the lungs, causing cancer and strokes.

Question 15

What are the benefits of global outsourcing of manufacturing to China?

Answer 15

• As improvements improve, people are enjoying large income gains. More people can afford smartphones and fridges. Car ownership has risen from 1 in 100 families to 1 in 5 since 2000. This increase in domestic consumption has also driven China’s economic growth.
• Local companies have adopted technologies and management techniques brought to China by TNCs. Increasingly, Chinese companies are developing their own prices e.g. smartphone maker Huawei.

Question 16

What has the global shift in manufacturing played an important role in?

Answer 16

In reducing extreme poverty in China from 88% of the population in 1981 to only 0.7% of the population in 2018

Question 17

Switched off place: Who is North Korea ruled by and since when?

Answer 17

Since 1948, North Korea has been ruled as an autocracy by a single family (Kim Jong-un is its current leader).

Question 18

Switched off place: What have North Korea choosen to do?

Answer 18

Deliberately politically isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

Question 19

Switched off place: How has North Korea isolated itself?

Answer 19

• Ordinary citizens do not have access to the internet or social media
• There are no undersea data cables connecting North Korea with anywhere else
• A visiting journalist observed that it was the only country he had ever travelled to where nobody knew the song ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles.

Question 20

Switched off place: What is the differnece between North and South Korea?

Answer 20

Since they divided in 1948, South Korea has since become a developed country which is home to Samsung and other global brands. A comparsion of the two countries, and the policies of their governments illustrates clearly how political decision-making affects globalisation.

Question 21

Growth in megacities: Lagos: What was the population in 1970 and 2018?

Answer 21

Population of just over 1 million in 1970, but by 2018 estimated between 13 and 21 million (depending on where the city boundary was drawn).

Question 22

Growth in megacities: Lagos: How much does the population increase by each year and who are they?

Answer 22

Population increases by 300,000 people, many of them rural-urban migrants escaping poverty in rural Nigeria and the Boko Haram conflict in the north of the country.

Question 23

Growth in megacities: Lagos: What is the age of the city?

Answer 23

A city of the young, with over 40% of its population being aged 0-14 years old.

Question 24

Growth in megacities: Lagos: What is the importance of Lagos?

Answer 24

It is crucial to Nigeria’s economy, as the country major port, and is a crucial telecommunication hub for West Africa.

Question 25

Growth in megacities: Lagos: What percentage of people live in slums?

Answer 25

60%, with no reliable access to clean water or sanitation

Question 26

Growth in megacities: Lagos: What is the equality there like?

Answer 26

Like many rapidly growing, developing megacities, it is a stark of inequalities; there is endemic poverty in its swampy, coastal slums, but huge wealth in rich enclaves like Banana Island.

Question 27

Growth in megacities: Lagos: What are the problems?

Answer 27

Waste disposal, transport infrastructure and water supply are all critical problems in Africa’s biggest city.

Question 28

Low-wage international migration: Indian workers to the UAE: What percentage of the population?

Answer 28

About 45% of the population of the UAE are migrants from India, Pakistan and Bangledesh- about 4 million people in 2018.

Question 29

Low-wage international migration: Indian workers to the UAE: How much money is returned to India as remittances?

Answer 29

Estimated US$15 billion annually

Question 30

Low-wage international migration: Indian workers to the UAE: What jobs do they do?

Answer 30

Most migrants work in transport, construction and manufactoring industries. Around 1/5 are professionals working in service industries.

Question 31

Low-wage international migration: Indian workers to the UAE: What is it like for migrants?

Answer 31

These migrants are often abused and exploited by their employers.

Question 32

Russian oligarchs: How can they face little obstacles when trying to work in the UK?

Answer 32

Most governments welcome highly skilled and extremely wealthy migrants.

Question 33

Changing diets in Asia: What are traditional Asian diets?

Answer 33

Often low meat and high in vegetables

Question 34

Changing diets in Asia: How are Asian diets changing?

Answer 34

More meat and fast food among emerging middle classes, especially China.

Question 35

Changing diets in Asia: Changes in China?

Answer 35

China’s annual meat consumption per capita increased ten-fold from 5 to 50kg. By 2015, China had also become the world’s biggest market for processed food.

Question 36

Changing diets in Asia: Enviornmental effects?

Answer 36

• New focus on livestock farming in Asia, bring a steep rise in emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
• Vast tracks of pristine rainforest have been cleared during the last decade to make space for soya cultivation to feed Chinese cattle.

Question 37

Changing diets in Asia: Chnages to people?

Answer 37

• AS more people escape poverty food demands will only continue to grow in China.
• Rising affluence puts pressure on particular plant and animal species if their use or consumption is linked with social prestige.

Question 38

Changing diets in Asia: What is happening to sharks?

Answer 38

Shark fin soup is an important but expensive dish traditionally consumed at Chinese weddings by those who could afford it. As incomes have risen, the number of sharks killed worldwide to meet demands has doubled.