This paper is about Canada and globalization. It is, more or less, a literature review of four articles. Then, these articles are tied together with a one page paper about the complex and multifaceted nature of globalization, and how these interconnected outcomes are all related to Canada's role in a globalized world.
Social Unit
My social unit is Canada, which is a sovereign nation. I'm not sure how to redefine it, unless Canada expanded its borders or something. Perhaps by expanding the definition from strict geographic borders to incorporate all Canadians, living anywhere in the world. Canada is one of the most globalized nations in the world. As an immigrant nation, it features cities with some of the highest percentages of foreign-born people. Furthermore, with a large and globalized economy, Canada scores highly on many globalized indexes, and would score higher if those indexes took into account having immigrants from all over the world.
The first article is Zhang & Smith (2012). This article outlines the effects of globalization on workplace performance in Canada. There are a few different dimensions to this paper. The authors make several findings. First, they find that productivity is higher at foreign-owned firms, and productivity is also higher at firms with an export orientation. This hints that globalization as a force serves to bring companies into more global competition. With global competition and a global mindset, firms are forced to be more productive than domestic firms that mainly operate in a domestic context.
The second is MacDonald (2013). This work discusses the role of controversy in education. One of the challenges of globalization is working together, where people of different cultures struggle to maintain open dialogue while being respectful of their respective traditions. This is an interesting question the author poses here. Openness and honesty in dialogue is a dominant Canadian trait, but many newcomers lack cultural context for open dialogue -- and many conservative multi-generation Canadians struggle with other worldviews as well. Yet, as MacDonald notes, controversy is a key component of education, because it stimulates thought, debate and the transfer of ideas. She finds that education needs to uphold Canadian values of openness in dialogue, not shy away from them to accommodate sensitivities. She posts several recommendations for improving educational pedagogy specifically relating to a response to globalization in Canadian classrooms.
Laroche (2011) compiled a series of articles discussing how globalization relates to the international marketing context. Globalization affects marketing significantly, because there is a strong need for companies to reach as many consumers as possible, but consumers respond to a wide range of messages. Marketers and marketing academics have long struggled to understand the different ways that globalization opens up markets, and the global class of consumers that has emerged in highly globalized nations -- ones aware of the world in a broader context.
The fourth article, from Slaymaker & French (2012), discusses some of the environmental outcomes of globalization. There have been major changes to the Canadian cryosphere, and the result is that substantial environmental changes are occurring in the Canadian Arctic. This has a wide range of economic, environmental and geopolitical effects on the country, something that is of considerable interest to the Canadian government in particular. The adaptive capacity of Canadian northern and mountain residents is something that is also discussed in this article, because these people will be affected by the changes to their environment that are occurring as the result of the global fossil fuel revolution.
Relation to Globalization
The most important thing one should know about globalization is that it is not related to one specific thing (i.e. population, environment, economy). Globalization is the result of the confluence of many forces. These forces are not discrete and distinctive, but rather they are interlinked. The globalization of trade and transportation has effects on Canada's Arctic, which in turn will affect migration patterns of humans and animals, Canada's economic role in the world and may represent a shift in Canadian culture as well. Understanding that there are such strong linkages, and understanding how these linkages work, is critical to understanding the concept of globalization.
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