Life in Globalization------My Evolving Understanding of Globalization(1)

6 years ago, being as a college student in China, Globalization was just one of the vacabularies I was memorizing without knowing too much about the profound impact it has brougt on the way many multinational companies do business, the increasingly inter-dependent economic relationship between China and U.S and even the daily life of ordinary people in both countries. I didn't realize I would become part of it before long.


3 and half years ago, Outsourcing become the most frequently mentioned when I was sitting in the classroom of my graduate school in U.S listening to the lecture of Manufacturing Trend in U.S in the Globalization Progress. It was from then that I started digging into what was really behind the Globalization. Of course, those multinational companies are the front-runners in this trend. They sensed the considerable financial benefit the Globalization would bring to them and the customers. The exponential growth of retailing giant Walmart is definitely a successful case of globalization. In 2006, the direct purchasing volume of Walmart in China solely reached $20 billion dollars, which was one of the most significant reaons why Walmart can keep its competitive edge of " Low Price Everyday". And according to the survey done by a famous consulting firm, such business mode of Walmart can save a U.S household $2300 dollars a year out of their living cost. Nike is another example of success in taking advantage of globalization. By sourcing all of their prodcuts in Asian countries, Nike is able to control the cost of goods under 10% of its sales so that it can spend more money marketing and promoting its brand value without jeopardizing its competitiveness in pricing. Up till now, most of the Fortune 500 companies have built up their global network in order to stay competitive or even survived. During this progress, those companies' Supply Chains are formed globally with the help of fast moving Information, Communication and Transportation technology. Global Supply Chain becomes another important arena for companies such as Dell, Walmart etc to get a upper hand over their competitors. Globalization is no longer simply a vacabulary to me, it was so real and close to me as I could see all kinds of goods on the shelves of Walmarts, Home depot, staples and products from other Fortunate 500 companies tagged "Made in China".



2 years ago, after my internship in G.E, I chose to work for a small company as a sourcing engineer, whose responsibilty is to develop new strategic suppliers in Asia,especially China, so that the company can improve its competitiveness in pricing and quality. My Objectives of joining this company at this position was clear 1)Get myself familiarize with the whole outsourcing procedures and hone the skills for outsourcing 2)Keep my eye open for potential opportunities. At that time, I had noticed that following those multinational companies, many medium and small U.S companies had got involved in the Globalization. And the advancement of Internet, together with the emergence of a lot B2B websites(namely, http://www.alibaba.com/, http://www.globalsources.com/ ), tremendously facilitated such trend among those companies. Some companies started to outsource their own products to Asian countries to make themselves more competitive in price while some companies developed a broad supplier base in their respective areas and become the intermediate for companies who would like to source their products in Asian countries but for various reasons can't/wouldn't like to do by themselves. The company I worked for was the latter. How excited I was being at such a position, especially as a Chinese, I was able to pile up my skills and experience dealing with supplier by fulfilling the responsibility of supplier selection&qualification, negotiation for favorable terms, bargaining for best price, diagnosis for problematic suppliers, formation of standard procedures for quality improvement etc. International conference calls and flights, hotels, have become so common to me. I, unconsciously, become a globalized person.