why is the asian economy so special when talking about globalization?

Question

i just want someone to briefly explain this to me because there so much info i dont know where to start!

Answer 1

The asian economy has two major forces behind it:

Cheap labor.

An enourmous amount of Ph. D. graduates.

We have, on one side, a multitude of professionals who, even when they're sometimes better prepared than their American counterparts, are paid only a small fraction of what Americans make per year.

And we have a massive cheap labor force.

If you want to see how Cheap Cost forces shape out businesses (the example is WalMart), go and check this series of videos...

Good luck

Answer 2

Asia is so diverse...

Broadly there are say 4 buckets:
1 Current Developed Nations: for example Japan and may be South Korea
2 Huge Market Potential and Huge Development: for example China, India
3 Tigers: for example Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand
4 Rapidly Developing from Small Base: for example Vietnam

Why are these special when talking about globalisation?

1 Current Developed Nations:
These build stuff people use in the Developed world, such as cars (Toyota, Honda, Hyundai), electronics (Panasonic, LG, Sony .. ... ...)... They rely heavily on trade for their development and have quite mature markets, and therefore consume similar things to the Western developed nations: latest electronic gadgets, cars.

Globalisation is important because trade is crucial for them to make money and they also buy stuff the Western world produces.

Another aspect is that they have their own conglomerates, and these compete with Western conglomerates as the expansion into new markets and lower cost labour sources accelerates.

2 Huge Market Potential Huge Development

These are huge countries in terms of population. Their labour costs are quite low, but they have a pool of highly qualified labour that can compete with their Western counterparts but at much lower cost.

These countries are growing fast, and in some sectors doing things at least as well as the western economies at a lower cost. They are directly competing. On the other hand they also have huge pool of labour which can develop 'at the lower end' of the technology spectrum. They are powerhouses.

But on the other hand, their appetite for goods and services just keeps on growing, hence the potential for huge markets and the reason for western conglomerates trying to serve this market. These countries their source of future growth in sales as their own domestic markets are mature.

In sum: Globalisation is important because they need to export their range of products, but are also huge potential markets.

3 Tigers

The tigers are countries that have relatively high income but have been on the path of development longer. The markets are more mature than say India or China in the sense that the growth they offer is slower and their markets more mature. They are in the process of moving up the production chain as their labour increases in experience but loses in terms of costs to the countries rapidly developing from a small base.

Globalisation is important as their infrastructure allows them to play the role of stepping stone and their living standards encourage set up of conglomerates Asian HQs. They are moving towards the service industry just like the west.

4 Rapidly Developing from Small Base

These countries provide the lower skill, lower cost labour to undertake the lower tech type of production. Just check out where your sneakers were made; Vietnam is not an unlikely candidate today; ten years ago it was nowhere.

Globalisation is critical to these countries as they will use exports as the engine of growth, just as the tigers did years ago.


Hope this is a starting point for you.

Answer 3

Unlike Africa that just has a lot of inhabitants, Asia offers numerous well educated, hard working people whose immediate remuneration goals are much lower than their Western equivalents. Having at last been released from the chains of Communist dogma and economic mis-management, the Chinese eagerness to succeed is now free to dominate the world.

Answer 4

population