Dr. Md. Shamim Ahsan :
In early Mesopotamian mythology, the Earth has been portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean surrounded by a spherical sky, which is evident from the early world maps like those of Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus. The concept of a spherical Earth comes from the ancient Greek philosophers. After the claim from Greek philosophers Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC, and Parmenides, in the 5th, the spherical view of the Earth was spread rapidly across the whole world. Around 330 BC, Aristotle provided some physical theory and observational evidence in favor of spherical shape of the Earth. Christopher Columbus believed that, on a round globe it should be possible to reach India by sailing east or west from Spain. After the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, which he thought as India, the round shape of the earth was confirmed. Maupertuis, in the 18th century, first realized that, the Earth is more accurately described as an ellipsoid. The space scientists of current age also agreed with the elliptical shape of the globe. Although there is no debate about the round shape of the world, still I would like to raise several questions: does the earth really so round? Does the global competitive playing field being leveled? The answers of these questions are quite meaningful, when we consider the activities of the global world rather than focusing on the geometrical structure of the Earth. Due to globalization, the international communities come closer to make the world flat.
Globalization is nothing but international integration arising from the worldwide exchange of views, thoughts, products, culture, manpower, and ideas. Swedish journalist Thomas Larsson, in his book “The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization” states globalization as the process of world shrinkage, distances getting shorter, things moving closer. The advancement of transportation and telecommunications infrastructures, especially, the Internet are the key factors in globalization those increases further interdependence of economic and cultural activities. Thomas L Friedman in his book “The World is Flat” identifies three era of globalization: Globalization 1.0, lasted from 1492 to 1800; Globalization 2.0, lasted from 1800 to 2000; and Globalization 3.0, started from the year of 2000. During Globalization 1.0, the force behind globalization was the amount of muscle, horse-power, wind power, or steam power a country had and how creatively a country or community had utilized them. In this age, many countries as well as governments led the way of eliminating barriers among the nations and united the world together, causing global integration. Mostly, the inspiration of global integration came from religious and cultural commonness, and imperialism. During Globalization 2.0, the force behind the globalization was multinational companies. Due to industrial revolution, the multinational companies were expanded in the form of joint-stock companies to get access of the global markets and labors. Generally, the western companies of England, Netherlands,
France, Germany, and Italy leaded from the front. In the first part of this era, the driven force of globalization was the falling of transportation costs, and in the second part, globalization was driven by the reduction costs of telecommunications resulting from the telegraph, telephone, computer networks, Internet, and World Wide Web. The key issues during this era were: how does a company can fit with global economy? How does the company achieve the advantages and opportunities from global economy? How does a company collaborate with others to gain access of the global economy? In Globalization 3.0, scenario has completely changed. The primary force behind Globalization 3.0 is not only individuals but also individuals from all parts of the world. Globalization 3.0 is shrinking the size of the world and simultaneous flattening of the playing field so that individuals from all round the world can take part in the integration process of the global village. Friedman discovers ten influencing forces of Globalization 3.0: fall of the Berlin Wall and went up of windows, Netscape went public, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining, insourcing, informing, and the steroids such as computing, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), wireless technologies, and videoconferencing. To create a flat world successfully, these ten flattering features are needed to be converged. When they are converged, both business organizations and individuals will begin to adopt new skills and processes/techniques, and the new business practices will be fully aligned with the new playing field and consequently, the nation can move on the flat playing field. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) first identified the four basic aspects of globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people, and dissemination of knowledge. In addition, various environmental challenges such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, over-fishing of the ocean and socio-cultural activities are directly involved with globalization. Being a member of the global village, Bangladesh is not an isolated country, who is taking part in the global integration process and receiving the advantages of Globalization 3.0. That is the reason why, Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of readymade garment products in the world; individuals as well as companies from Bangladesh are involved with software development, data management, call centers, and other IT-based works outsourced from other countries; Dr. Muhammad Yunus becomes the role model for many young entrepreneurs of the world; Khan Academy is supporting quality knowledge to millions of learners across the global world. The individuals of Bangladesh become the part of Globalization 3.0 where more than 10 million people are serving in various countries. Due to globalization, people from different parts of the world become happy with the positive achievements of the Bangladesh; they become worried due to political unrest or natural disasters in Bangladesh.
In order to taste the best honey of Globalization 3.0, not only the individuals but also the government of Bangladesh have to identify their own strengths, resources, and lacking. In addition, to survive in the global world or become untouchable, we need to upgrade our own skills. Untouchables come in four broad categories: workers who are special, or specialized, or who are anchored or who are really adaptable. The number of skilled person, their ambition, and gap of knowledge/skill of any country will play the key role in the present world. Currently, more than 40% of the total population of Bangladesh is capable to engage themselves with economic activities. In order to take advantage from such situation, we should convert our people to manpower, as China has done. Our leaders should understand that, open and competitive markets are the only sustainable vehicle to get rid of poverty. Further, they should guarantee the flow of new ideas, technologies, and best practices in the country and should ensure that, the private enterprises and the government have the competitive incentives and flexibility to adopt those new ideas and turn them into jobs and products by utilizing the tools of Globalization 3.0.
We should also ensure quality education through an organized plan, free flow of information, democracy, and freedom of voice and ice (even for minorities and opposite groups) across the country. In addition to advantages of globalization, the drawbacks may also influence the proper functioning of the country. Due to the expansion of globalization, regional terrorism may be expanded in our country, which may hamper the development of the country unless the government and the people of Bangladesh are well aware of terrorism activities. With the help of our regional and development partners, we have to protect ourselves from such actions. The people of Bangladesh are waiting to take-off towards a prosperous nation. (Abridged)
(Dr. Md. Shamim Ahsan is Associate Professor, Electronics and Communication Engineering Discipline, Khulna University.)
In early Mesopotamian mythology, the Earth has been portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean surrounded by a spherical sky, which is evident from the early world maps like those of Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus. The concept of a spherical Earth comes from the ancient Greek philosophers. After the claim from Greek philosophers Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC, and Parmenides, in the 5th, the spherical view of the Earth was spread rapidly across the whole world. Around 330 BC, Aristotle provided some physical theory and observational evidence in favor of spherical shape of the Earth. Christopher Columbus believed that, on a round globe it should be possible to reach India by sailing east or west from Spain. After the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, which he thought as India, the round shape of the earth was confirmed. Maupertuis, in the 18th century, first realized that, the Earth is more accurately described as an ellipsoid. The space scientists of current age also agreed with the elliptical shape of the globe. Although there is no debate about the round shape of the world, still I would like to raise several questions: does the earth really so round? Does the global competitive playing field being leveled? The answers of these questions are quite meaningful, when we consider the activities of the global world rather than focusing on the geometrical structure of the Earth. Due to globalization, the international communities come closer to make the world flat.
Globalization is nothing but international integration arising from the worldwide exchange of views, thoughts, products, culture, manpower, and ideas. Swedish journalist Thomas Larsson, in his book “The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization” states globalization as the process of world shrinkage, distances getting shorter, things moving closer. The advancement of transportation and telecommunications infrastructures, especially, the Internet are the key factors in globalization those increases further interdependence of economic and cultural activities. Thomas L Friedman in his book “The World is Flat” identifies three era of globalization: Globalization 1.0, lasted from 1492 to 1800; Globalization 2.0, lasted from 1800 to 2000; and Globalization 3.0, started from the year of 2000. During Globalization 1.0, the force behind globalization was the amount of muscle, horse-power, wind power, or steam power a country had and how creatively a country or community had utilized them. In this age, many countries as well as governments led the way of eliminating barriers among the nations and united the world together, causing global integration. Mostly, the inspiration of global integration came from religious and cultural commonness, and imperialism. During Globalization 2.0, the force behind the globalization was multinational companies. Due to industrial revolution, the multinational companies were expanded in the form of joint-stock companies to get access of the global markets and labors. Generally, the western companies of England, Netherlands,
France, Germany, and Italy leaded from the front. In the first part of this era, the driven force of globalization was the falling of transportation costs, and in the second part, globalization was driven by the reduction costs of telecommunications resulting from the telegraph, telephone, computer networks, Internet, and World Wide Web. The key issues during this era were: how does a company can fit with global economy? How does the company achieve the advantages and opportunities from global economy? How does a company collaborate with others to gain access of the global economy? In Globalization 3.0, scenario has completely changed. The primary force behind Globalization 3.0 is not only individuals but also individuals from all parts of the world. Globalization 3.0 is shrinking the size of the world and simultaneous flattening of the playing field so that individuals from all round the world can take part in the integration process of the global village. Friedman discovers ten influencing forces of Globalization 3.0: fall of the Berlin Wall and went up of windows, Netscape went public, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining, insourcing, informing, and the steroids such as computing, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), wireless technologies, and videoconferencing. To create a flat world successfully, these ten flattering features are needed to be converged. When they are converged, both business organizations and individuals will begin to adopt new skills and processes/techniques, and the new business practices will be fully aligned with the new playing field and consequently, the nation can move on the flat playing field. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) first identified the four basic aspects of globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people, and dissemination of knowledge. In addition, various environmental challenges such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, over-fishing of the ocean and socio-cultural activities are directly involved with globalization. Being a member of the global village, Bangladesh is not an isolated country, who is taking part in the global integration process and receiving the advantages of Globalization 3.0. That is the reason why, Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of readymade garment products in the world; individuals as well as companies from Bangladesh are involved with software development, data management, call centers, and other IT-based works outsourced from other countries; Dr. Muhammad Yunus becomes the role model for many young entrepreneurs of the world; Khan Academy is supporting quality knowledge to millions of learners across the global world. The individuals of Bangladesh become the part of Globalization 3.0 where more than 10 million people are serving in various countries. Due to globalization, people from different parts of the world become happy with the positive achievements of the Bangladesh; they become worried due to political unrest or natural disasters in Bangladesh.
In order to taste the best honey of Globalization 3.0, not only the individuals but also the government of Bangladesh have to identify their own strengths, resources, and lacking. In addition, to survive in the global world or become untouchable, we need to upgrade our own skills. Untouchables come in four broad categories: workers who are special, or specialized, or who are anchored or who are really adaptable. The number of skilled person, their ambition, and gap of knowledge/skill of any country will play the key role in the present world. Currently, more than 40% of the total population of Bangladesh is capable to engage themselves with economic activities. In order to take advantage from such situation, we should convert our people to manpower, as China has done. Our leaders should understand that, open and competitive markets are the only sustainable vehicle to get rid of poverty. Further, they should guarantee the flow of new ideas, technologies, and best practices in the country and should ensure that, the private enterprises and the government have the competitive incentives and flexibility to adopt those new ideas and turn them into jobs and products by utilizing the tools of Globalization 3.0.
We should also ensure quality education through an organized plan, free flow of information, democracy, and freedom of voice and ice (even for minorities and opposite groups) across the country. In addition to advantages of globalization, the drawbacks may also influence the proper functioning of the country. Due to the expansion of globalization, regional terrorism may be expanded in our country, which may hamper the development of the country unless the government and the people of Bangladesh are well aware of terrorism activities. With the help of our regional and development partners, we have to protect ourselves from such actions. The people of Bangladesh are waiting to take-off towards a prosperous nation. (Abridged)
(Dr. Md. Shamim Ahsan is Associate Professor, Electronics and Communication Engineering Discipline, Khulna University.)
