davos 2010 & technology

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The Effects of Technology on Globalisation

& Davos 2010 Contribution

Bangor University

MBA Banking and Finance

International Business Module


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Contents

PageIntroduction 2

The Effects of Technological advancements on Globalization Process 2

The World Economic Forum and Davos 2010 3

Davos 2010 and Technology 4

Recommendations 6

References 7


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Introduction:

The growth of Globalisation is affected by several forces. These forces include

Market forces, Production forces, Labour forces, Technology forces, Environment

forces and Regulation forces. The purpose of the assignment is to chose one of these

forces, analyse it, relate it to Davos 2010 and give recommendation to governments

and business on the importance of this force. The Technological force is used force

for this assignment as it had tremendous effect on the process of globalisation.

Therefore, the main body of this assignment starts with analysing the effect of

Technology on the process of globalisation. Then it will shed some light on the World

Economic Forum and its Davos 2010 meeting. Then, Davos 2010 contribution to this

force will be critically assessed. Finally, after having a general idea of the importance

of technology for globalisation and its effect on different economies,recommendations will be given to governments and businesses to improve their

efficiency and economy in general.

The Effects of Technological advancements on Globalization Process:

Rose (1993) describes the importance of technology to globalization as an important

one and they go hand in hand. Media If (2007) considers the developments in the

technology industries as the main driving force and facilitator of most of the

globalization processes.

Understanding what is meant by technology is very important to give a better

knowledge of why and how technology is affecting the process of globalization.

According to Media If (2007) Technology can be described by important elements:

production, instruments, possession and change.

In terms of production, technology is needed in productions as it improves the quality

and capacity of production whether producing goods or services.

Technology can be considered as instruments. Instruments are used as extensions ofthe human body to do or perform something. These technological Instruments can be

in physical form such as computers, factory machines and vehicles. In addition to that,

it could be in the immaterial form such as computer databases.

Technology has something to do with possession where it gives control to those who

possess it and such control usually has something to do with economics and politics.


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Finally, with regards to change, recent innovation in technology has changed the

world drastically. These technological innovations and advances have very important

effects on the lives of peoples and businesses all over the worlds.

With regards to businesses, recently globalization lead to the unleash of technology

which in turn drives business to plan and organize for production and sales on a large

global basis. New trends in Technology caused a lot of changes to the way business

work where new skills and equipments are required which in return increase business

production and efficiency (Ross, 1993).

According to Muroyama, J. & Stever, H. (1998) advances in technology made it

possible to combine the units of small-scale production with high productivity and

high quality efficiently at a comparatively low coast which is very important for

business competition.

One of the many different aspects of technology is the Information Technology (IT)

and there are many other. According to Opara, E. (2003) the IT industry has shown a

rapid growth in the last decades and is playing an ever-increasing role for business

strategies and transformation. Recent development in IT has major impacts on almost

all aspects of the workplace and most of everyday life. Information technology plays a

major part in the global economy and such part will be increasing over next decades

which makes it an opportunity business to improve and be a threat to other

competitors who are falling behind (The World Economic Forum, 2010).

The World Economic Forum and Davos 2010:

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-profit making independent international

organization based in Switzerland. It is dedicated to improve the state of the glob by

engaging leaders in partnerships in order to shape global, regional and industryagendas. The WEF aim is to create a system of world-class corporate governance

where values are in the core of the system and considered as rules. The WEF believes

that social development is an important aspect for economic growth to sustain.

The WEF has created several communities with the aim of interacting together in

order to improve a specific sector of the globalization process and meet the overall


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goal of the forum. An example, is The World Economic Forums Community of

Global Growth Companies (GGC) which was formed to engage several dynamic

firms, with the potential to be leaders of their future industries, in order to become a

driving force of economic and social change. Such communities facilitate opportunity

for its members to create networks with world leading businesses and policy maker

where collaboration and experiences are exchanged cross industries. The WEForganizes several annual meetings such as Davos annual meeting. Davos 2010 is

latest meeting which took place between January 27th

and 31st

2010 under the theme

" Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild". During this meeting

more than 2,500 leaders, from many different countries representing business,

government, civil society, academia and cultures worked together under that theme

(The World Economic Forum, 2010)

Davos 2010 and Technology:

With regards to Technology, the Technology Pioneers Community is one of the

different communities under the WEF. It is considered as one of the WEF most

recognized initiatives. This community is the designated community to integrate in

activities to identify and address future-oriented technological issues on the global

agenda in innovative and proactive ways to achieve the main goal of improving the

state of the world by gathering executives together with scientists, academics, policy-

makers, NGOs and Forum Members and Partners. In addition this community might

be engaged in discussions on essential global issues and turn these issues into

initiatives such as the task forces on climate change. (The World Economic Forum,

2010).

The Technology pioneer community has a program that identifies and integrates

companies that are involved in the design and development of new technologies

regardless of their location. These companies innovations mirror societys efforts to

harness, adapt and use technology in a way to improve how business and society

operate. Each year, the program recognized as Technology Pioneers several

companies as Technology Pioneers. In 2010 the Technology Pioneer community

recognized 26 Pioneers who were invited to Davos 2010 annual meeting and

participated in different activities with regards to technology as a force of improving

the state of the world and benefited from being integrated into the Forum's on-line


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community "WELCOM" that is designed to locating and accessing expertise, sharing

knowledge, and meeting and functioning with peers. (The World Economic Forum,

2010).

The Technology pioneer community published a brochure titled Embracing

Disrubtion: Redesigning the Future. This brochure listed the 26 Technology Pioneers

and indicated the reason why they were selected. In this report, the community

observed that "a remarkable rise in the number and quality of candidate companies,

especially in the case of cleantech-related ventures, suggesting that concern

surrounding the environment and climate change coupled with the green stimulus

package are driving resources and top innovation to this area" as stated by The

World Economic Forum (2010).

According to Bennhold, K. (2010) Clean Technology is becoming the great game of

this century as it was topic A for the top officials and business executives during

Davos 2010. The Clean Technology is a critical factor in reshaping the world

economy and senior officials from Europe and the US showed concerns that china

might be ahead of their states with regards to clean and renewable energy. Senator

Lindsay Graham who has been involved in climate change issues said that my

concern is that every day that we delay trying to find a price for carbon is a day that

China uses to dominate the green economy" and, at the same time, Christine Lagarde,

the French finance minister said that Its a race and whoever wins that race will

dominate economic development, as stated by Bennhold, K. (2010).

In addition to the clean technology, other technologies that can improve the state of

the word were presented and discussed. An example of that, is the technology of

reusing rubber wheels by changing it to low price applications to be used as in fillings

for sports fields, new tires, insulation materials for buildings cooling systems and

many other uses as presented by Barton, A. (2010) during Davos 2010 meeting.

Such technologies can make the world better place and open opportunities for

governments and businesses to compete and, at the same time, these technologies

could be threat to the falling behind nations and businesses.


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Recommendations:

As, current development in the technology and word economy drive governments and

firms to look for new business models that can meet the demand of higher efficiency,

competitiveness and long term growth (The Strategy group, 2010). Also, as it has

been very obvious that economies are getting better due to advancement of

technology and resulting in growth of countries growth, it is important for both

governments and businesses to invest in the development of new technologies and

improving current technologies to the competitive edge on other countries and

businesses. Such investments could be focused technological institutions, including

Universities and other types of research institutions in all aspects of technology.

Governments should as well, provide guidance to these institutions and assist in

facilitating required services.

Governments and businesses should compete with each other to ensure their own

success, but at the same time collaboration is another way of increasing the chance of

achieving things that are difficult to achieve. For example, it the US and collaborate

and unite their competitive advantages would increase and could accomplish

achievements that are not easy to achieve without such collaboration and unity.

Finally, as the Technology Pioneer Community has shown a lot of benefits to the

improvement of technology, governments and businesses could form many similar

communities and programs to share their expertise and knowledge and cause a rapid

improvement in the technological sector which in turn would improve their state of

economy.


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References:-

Barton, A. (2010) Revolutionary solutions in green technologies (Presentation).

Available from: http://www.22frames.com/video.aspx?id=189540 (Accessed 07 Mar

2010)

Bennhold, K. (2010) DAVOS 2010:Race Is on to Develop Green, Clean Technology

(Online). Available from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/business/global/30davos.html?partner=rss&emc

=rss (Accessed 15 Mar 2010)

Media If (2007) Effects of Technological Developments on Globalization Process.Available from: http://mediaif.emu.edu.tr/pages/atabek/GCS7.html (Accessed 01 Mar

2010)

Muroyama, J. & Stever, H. (1998) GLOBALIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY:

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES. Available from:

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1101&page=R1 (Accessed 07 Mar2010)

Opara, E. (2003) The effect of information technology on global business. Journal for

International Business and Entrepreneurship Development (Online), 1(2) pp 45-49.

Available from:http://inderscience.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto

=issue,6,13;journal,7,8;linkingpublicationresults,1:119856,1 (Accessed 07 Mar 2010)

Ross (1993) Innovations in Technology and Globalization. Available from:http://workinfonet.bc.ca/lmisi/making/CHAPTER2/TANDG1.HTM (Accessed 27 Feb

2010)

The Strategy group (2010) New Accenture Study on Globalization released at WorldEconomic Forum (Online). Available from:

http://tobiaslist.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/new-accenture-study-on-globalization-

released-at-world-economic-forum/ (Accessed 10 Mar 2010)

The World Economic Forum (2010) Available from:

http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm (Accessed 27 Feb 2010)

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