.Globalization and Outsourcing Outsourcing is a common tactic used by multinational corporations (MNCs) that involves moving company operations overseas. The main motivation of this action is money. This brings up many controversial issues on the global market because, while many countries benefit, many others suffer. Their labourers receive poor treatment and low wages – and some of these are children – while MNCs obtain all the profit. Outsourcing is also a main impact of globalization, and it can severely hurt local cultures and businesses, while furthering inequalities. Overall, outsourcing is generally bad for developing countries while developed countries reap the rewards. Exemplar notes: This brief introduction to the issues gives a quick overview of what is presented in the paper. A strong introductory paragraph catches the reader’s interest, informs the reader about the topics addressed by the paper, and includes a thesis statement, which makes a claim or states a view that will be supported by evidence in the later paragraphs. Outsourcing to developing countries often includes an abuse of their relaxed labour laws. Many clothing companies such as Nike and H&M use developing countries, who have less strict laws governing their manufacturing hubs, so they can spend the least amount possible on production. Often they will do this through a third party production plant so that on paper they are unaffiliated with the treatment of the workers making their products. The laws of these countries often allow poor working conditions, unlivable wages, and harsh management. In the past, major companies have even been known to use child labour as a source of production. Although this is illegal in many of the developing countries that various MNCs use, it is less regulated and easier to get away with. This means that they are able to spend even less on production costs and labour. Not only are children working for many of these companies, but the working conditions are terrible. Reports of workers from various clothing companies show that it is common to get kicked, slapped, or verbally abused. The work is often done in factories that are hot, dusty, and improperly ventilated. These kind of conditions can various health issues that many workers have to live with. On top of all that, they are getting paid next to nothing and have to live in unspeakable conditions. Exemplar notes: In order to prove the thesis, the author states their point at the beginning of each paragraph, and then provides examples. They show how labourers are treated poorly, and then explain how corporations are able to get away with this. This is a good way to ensure that the information is well organized and progresses logically. Working and living poorly while the person in the head office is reeling in millions and millions of dollars a year is not right. The cheap labour allows for these MNCs to price their products however they want. It is often the reason we are able to buy relatively nice clothing for extremely cheap, which raises another issue. Many people in the developed world who do not have much money are still able to afford decent clothing most of the time. Without the outsourcing and cheap production costs, this would not be possible. However, many other companies and MNC’s price their products extremely high. They are spending the same amount as other companies on their production, but due to demand and popularity they are able to price their products so that they are just barely affordable for the average person. They profit off of the hard work of both the developing and developed world, then keep all the profits to themselves. This is one of the ways in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The CEOs of these big companies are the only ones that can raise so many people out of poverty. Sadly, however, it is likely that they will always be ruled by greed and complete disconnect. Exemplar notes: This section talks more about how MNCs are able to make all of the money they do, showing that developed countries reap the rewards of outsourcing. The author uses real world application to further their points, and thinks critically about the issue. As has been shown, outsourcing is mainly beneficial to the developed world. Products that would not be affordable for many people here are made affordable because of outsourcing to poor countries. By outsourcing, big companies undercut the prices of local businesses, however. This puts many people who work hard for a living out of business. This happens in developing and developed countries alike, and it is a huge problem with globalization, the phenomenon that has allowed for outsourcing in the first place. Globalization affects the cultures and markets of every country. This can be good as it brings a lot of new things into the developed world, such as foods, music, or culture. The problem with this, however, is that Western countries go into the developing world and spread their culture, causing ‘Americanization’ and a loss of other important cultures. In a CNBC article, a senior research scientist and associate professor at India’s Public Health Foundation was quoted criticising aggressive advertising in India that portrays American fast food restaurants as “the cool place to eat” (Bagri, 2014). Soon enough, chains such as McDonalds begin to dominate the domestic markets and push out traditional food providers, which can be very detrimental to the cultures of the countries that these companies relocate. A similar argument made by Ramzy Baroud (2009) in his article “Globalization: a culture killer” states that globalization benefits the cultures of some countries and is detrimental to many others. He states that “the unbridgeable disadvantage of the poorer countries, who lack the means to withstand the unmitigated takeover of their traditional ways of life by the dazzling, well-packaged and branded ‘culture’ imparted upon them around the clock.” Baroud believes poor countries are helpless when it comes to the influx of western culture, and that there is little these countries can do about it. Outsourcing does a lot to the cultures of developing countries while continuing to benefit the wealthy and developed countries both economically and culturally. Nina Pavcnik is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College, and Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg is a professor of economics at Yale University. They have both written extensively on the distributional effects of globalization in poorer countries and they argue that due to globalization, less skilled workers within these countries are less well off than expected. They refer to globalization and inequality as a “parallel” (Goldberg & Pavcnik, 39) meaning they coincide and are directly related to each other. In Nina Pavcnik’s second article on globalization's effects on the poor entitled “How has globalization benefited the poor?” she makes a similar argument. Pavcnik says, “It has been a bit trickier, especially with aggregate data, to pinpoint how exactly the poor have been benefited.” She explains that there isn’t very much data that supports the fact that the poor have benefited from globalization at all (2009). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) website provides many articles that focus on the effects of globalization on the economies of developing countries. In their article “Right Fiscal Policies Can Help Fight Income Inequality” the IMF reports on how the issues in the two previous articles can be improved such as income and tax inequality. The report states that “senior officials from the IMF said many countries face a double challenge: to ensure fiscal sustainability and reduce inequality,” referring to globalization which both improves the economies of these countries but also increases inequality (2011). Globalization and outsourcing raises the issue of inequality which is very prevalent. It is extremely hard not to find inequality when MNCs go into developing countries and abuse their cheap labour laws to make and extraneous amount of profit. Exemplar notes: These paragraphs examine how outsourcing is connected to globalization, and how these phenomena can impact developing countries. The author focuses mainly on the negative impacts and discusses how inequalities often increase, providing references and quotations from various sources to add reliability. In Canada, we benefit in almost every way possible from outsourcing. Our clothing is cheap, we reap the economic advantages, and we are able to experience other cultures. However there is a lot of controversy around outsourcing and Canadian jobs. One example of this is in the condiment industry, with the production of Ketchup by Heinz and French’s. Heinz used to use all Canadian produce and labour for their Ketchup production, but recently began outsourcing to make a bigger profit, meaning that factories closed and Canadian jobs were lost. This raised a huge controversy and made a lot of Canadian consumers extremely angry. In a smart move by French’s, they began to produce Ketchup locally using the same labour force and produce that Heinz had been using. This gave Canadian consumers an incentive to start buying French’s, which actually might really hurt Heinz in the long run. This is a common issue with outsourcing to countries where the labour and production costs are much cheaper. Local people often want to support other local people, so in this sense outsourcing does not necessarily benefit companies or workers. Outsourcing really hurts a lot of local businesses elsewhere. The global trade market is ever expanding, and through the seemingly hundreds of free trade agreements Canada is signing it raises a lot of controversy as well. Now more than ever, companies can go into the developing world and essentially destroy any local businesses in their path. They do this either through undercutting prices - because it doesn’t cost them anything to outsource to that country, so they can sell and produce for cheap - or through just taking over the land. Either way, corporate interests are ruining many industries. On paper, this may appear help the countries’ economies overall, but in reality only a small number of people are benefitting economically while many others suffer. This is why outsourcing can be extremely dangerous for the people and economies in the developing world. Exemplar notes: This section explains the positive and negative implications of outsourcing in Canada, providing a specific example. It also looks at how local businesses and economies suffer even when their country’s economy may appear to be benefitting. At this point in the paper, all of the main points outlined in the introduction have been touched on. This is crucial, as all the information in the body of your essay should connect back to the intro and thesis. With outsourcing becoming second nature for so many companies, there is a lot of turmoil and controversy. Overall, big economic powerhouses are bulldozing the ‘little guys’ who are helpless. Outsourcing exploits labour forces, swallows cultures and local business, and furthers inequalities. With outsourcing happening so casually and often, many of these developing countries are suffering while the developed countries are, for the most part, reaping the rewards. Exemplar notes: The conclusion ties together all the elements of the essay, and reiterates each of the arguments used. A good concluding paragraph should touch upon the major points of the paper and restate the thesis to show that it has been proven. You should not introduce any new information in the conclusion – it should leave the reader with a sense of finality. References Bagri, Neha Thirani. (2014, January 8). A growing taste for US fast food in India. CNBC. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/08/a-growing-taste-for-us-fast-food-in-india.html Baroud, R. (2009, November 21). Globalization: a culture killer | The Japan Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/11/21/commentary/world-commentary/globalization-a-culture-killer/#.Vth5C_k4Hcs Grada La Spaza, M. (2010). Globalization and Its Effects on Diversity: Some Economic Aspects. Global Challenges Series. International Monetary Fund. (2011, December 16). IMF Survey: Right Fiscal Policies Can Help Fight Income Inequality. IMF News. Retrieved from http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2011/POL121611A.htm Koujianou, P., & Pavcnik, N. (2007). Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries. Journal of Economic Literature, XLV, 39-82. Pagel, M. (2014, November 18). Does globalization mean we will become one culture? BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-one-world-order Pavcnick, N. (2009, April 28). How has globalization benefited the poor? Yale Insights. Retrieved from http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/how-has-globalization-benefited-poor Exemplar notes: The references page is properly completed according to APA format (non-bolded, centred title, alphabetized by last names, hanging indents, etc.). If you are not sure how to use the APA citation style, a brief overview can be found in the introduction to your course. Make sure you always pay attention to any instruction regarding citations, as this can vary based on the course, assignment, and/or instructor.