INTRODUCTION
Currently, the dominant view is that China has immensely benefitted from globalization. This is generally evident in the country’s high GDP. Chinese companies have increasingly getting bigger and stronger, given the expanding market for their products and services. Globalization has enabled China to industrialize itself rapidly, making it one of the promising economic superpowers in the world. However, this popular view can actually be challenged from different fronts. For instance, globalization has greatly stimulated an export driven high GDP by exploiting the country’s comparative advantage in terms of cheap labor. As such, the Chinese people are increasingly exploited by the firms that utilize their services (Beeson, 2014). Additionally, globalization has impeded China’s industrialization considerably by locking the local enterprises at the low-end of the global value chain. This has prevented Chinese businesses from upgrading in terms of technological advancement. The influx of multinational companies has also had both advantages and disadvantages on the country’s economy. While they have facilitated economic growth, they have also impeded the growth and expansion of local firms.
Thesis Statement: Although the economic globalization in China has led to immense economic growth, it has intensified competition, as well as an elevated degree of interdependence. Globalization has facilitated the growth of China’s GDP, making the country one of the world’s economic superpowers. However, the resulting competition has impeded the growth and expansion of Chinese enterprises. Globalization has also heightened the degree of interdependence in the economy, affecting the country’s cultural balance negatively.
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BODY
Economic Growth
Since its ascension to the WTO, China has focused on increasing its openness to trade and foreign investment with other countries around the world. The country has adopted strategies necessary for promoting economic growth and development. This has made China a significant global player in terms of trade and industry. As a result, China has become prosperous and successful in the global economy. For instance, the standard of living of the Chinese population has increased significantly. Prior to globalization, the country had no sources of luxurious items. However, the people can now enjoy all the resources due to the immense benefits of globalization in the economy. The country has also benefitted from increased investments in industrialization and infrastructure. These important elements have fuelled the growth of businesses in the country. Additionally, the entry of new businesses and expansion of existing businesses have significantly increased employment opportunities for Chinese people (Teets & Hurst, 2014). This means that the people have more disposable income that creates considerable demand for products and services. It is also important to note that the economic growth has attracted western expansion market. The influx of foreign companies has also served to spur economic growth through foreign direct investment. Essentially, globalization has enabled China to make better use of foreign direct investment in promoting industrial development.
Negative Impact on Chinese Enterprises
The investment boom in China, which was driven by an influx of multinational companies, had negative impacts on the Chinese enterprises. The wider market, along with the cheap labor made the country one of the best production sites for multinational companies, largely drawn from Western economies like United States and United Kingdom. The multinational companies grew to become market leaders in China. As such, they became more competitive, and they ended up dominating the country’s high-tech sectors, as well as international trade (Wu, 2006). The multinational companies eventually possessed the global market, global procurement systems, and global brand, rendering indigenous firms unable to effectively compete on the global level playing field that had been established on the country’s home market. The indigenous firms were limited to the importation of designs, manufacturing equipment and critical components. As a result, the indigenous firms reaped a small portion of the value-added at the final stage of the labor intensive assembling (Wan et al., 2007). Thus, the Chinese enterprises are rendered losers even if they specialized in importing cutting edge manufacturing equipment.
Negative Impact on Chinese Culture
Globalization has introduced significant elements of the Western culture to China. The influence of western culture has a negative impact on the Chinese culture. This is because the western lifestyles have infiltrated into the local people’s lifestyle through mediums such as media (Bucker et al., 2014). As such, the western culture has significantly impacted the Chinese society. The cultures and traditions of China are seen to change as they gradually try to adapt to the new lifestyles of foreigners. Additionally, a lot of ambiguous information is spread through the internet, and are spread at a fast rate across the Chinese communities. Such external influences have resulted in some of undesirable vices such as human trafficking. The health of the Chinese people has also been significantly affected by the new foreign lifestyles. Unhealthy diets consisting of junk foods are easily available at fast food restaurants like KFC and McDonalds. This is because a significant proportion of the Chinese population tends to eat outside in restaurants.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, globalization has had both advantages and disadvantages in China. Globalization has benefited China in terms of economic growth, shown in the immense growth in the country’s GDP. Internati0nal trade and foreign investments have fuelled economic growth. However, the increased competition caused by MNCs has impacted indigenous businesses negatively, as the foreign businesses dominate the economy. Foreign cultures have also infiltrated the Chinese culture, leading to undesirable outcomes.
References
Beeson, M. (2014). Regionalism and globalization in East Asia: politics, security and economic development . Palgrave macmillan.
Bücker, J. J., Furrer, O., Poutsma, E., & Buyens, D. (2014). The impact of cultural intelligence on communication effectiveness, job satisfaction and anxiety for Chinese host country managers working for foreign multinationals. The International Journal of Human Resource Management , 25 (14), 2068-2087.
Teets, J. C., & Hurst, W. (Eds.). (2014). Local governance innovation in China: Experimentation, diffusion, and defiance . Routledge.
Wan, G., Lu, M., & Chen, Z. (2007). Globalization and regional income inequality: empirical evidence from within China. Review of Income and Wealth , 53 (1), 35-59.
Wu, Y. (Ed.). (2006). Economic Growth, Transition, and Globalization in China . Edward Elgar Publishing.
