How is globalization affecting marketplaces in remote areas of the world? Essay

Quality of life for the poor is increased at an accelerated rate. The poor are better able to earn money and afford to buy the things they need. The International Monetary Fund talks about a study of the subject that was carried out by World Bank economists David Dollar and Aart Kraay: They concluded that since 1980, globalization has contributed to a reduction in poverty as well as a reduction in global income inequality. They found that in â€Å"globalizing† countries in the developing world, income per person grew three-and-a-half times faster than in â€Å"non-globalizing† countries, during the 1990s. In general, they noted, â€Å"higher growth rates in globalizing developing countries have translated into higher incomes for the poor.† Dollar and Kraay also found that in virtually all events in which a country experienced growth at a rate of two percent or more, the income of the poor rose. (IMF Staff, 2008) Information sharing capabilities are provided through the introduction of technology infrastructure introduced into remote areas. Farmers are able to research and share best practice techniques. Crop yields would likely rise. A paper by Dr. Alka Dhameja and Dr. Uma Medury discusses the Warna Wired Village Project in India: The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in the accelerated socio-economic development of villages around Warna Nagar in the Kolhapur and Sangli districts of the state of Maharashtra. The project area has a cluster of 70 villages, consisting of 46 villages from Kolhapur and 24 villages from Sangli district. It has been jointly implemented by the Government of India through the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the Government of Maharashtra, and the Warna Cooperative Society. This project was initiated to serve the information needs of the farmers for different crop cultivation practices of major crops such as sugarcane, pest and disease control; marketing and processing information etc., right up to the village level through networked facilitation booths in the villages. The  existing cooperative structure has been used along with the state of the art infrastructure to allow Internet access to the existing cooperative societies. Issues in remote areas have opened new markets for some companies. Blandine Laperche and Gilliane Lefebvre describe the â€Å"reverse innovation† approach by GE HealthCare who locates the research design centers for products in the developing country itself: The first ultra-portable electrocardiogram (ECG) was fully designed, worked out and produced in India to meet the needs of a large number of remote rural inhabitants who had to be visited by fully equipped doctors. To face the frequent mains failures that occurred in many Indian regions as well as a serious shortage of healthcare professionals, the Mac i had batteries and was designed for an easy use. It was portable and light so that doctors could get to the patients who lived in remote areas. GE HealthCare brought some of the technological advantages of developed countries to remote areas of the globe. One of the greatest things about it was that even though the performance features may be half of the original product, the cost for the new portable units were 85 percent lower.(Laperche & Lefebvre, 2012) References Dhameja, D., & Medury, D. (n.d.). Information and Communication Technology in the Globalization Era: The Socio-economic Concerns. Retrieved January 16, 2015, from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/eropa/unpan014261.pdf IMF Staff. (2008, May 2). Issues Brief – Globalization: A Brief Overview. Retrieved January 16, 2015, from https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2008/053008.htm Laperche, B., & Lefebvre, G. (2012). The globalization of Research & Development in industrial corporations: Towards â€Å"reverse innovation†? Retrieved January 17, 2015, from http://www.cairn.info/zen.php?ID_ARTICLE=JIE_010_0053