The term "globalisation" was first coined in the
1980s, but the concept stretches back decades, even centuries, if
you count the trading empires built by Spain, Portugal, Britain,
and Holland.
Some would say the world was as globalised 100
years ago as it is today, with international trade and
migration.
But the 1930s depression put paid to that. Nation
states drew back into their shell on realising that international
markets could deliver untold misery in the form of poverty and
unemployment.
The resolve of Western states to build and
strengthen international ties in the aftermath of World War II laid
the groundwork for today's globalisation.
It has brought diminishing national borders and
the fusing of individual national markets. The fall of
protectionist barriers has stimulated free movement of capital and
paved the way for companies to set up several bases around the
world.
The rise of the internet and recent advances in
telecommunications have boosted the already surging train.
For consumers and avowed capitalists, this is
largely a good thing. Vigorous trade has made for more choice in
the High Street, greater spending, rising living standards and a
growth in international travel.
Asia has a ready supply of cheap labour
And that's just the tip of it. Supporters of
globalisation say it has promoted information exchange, led to a
greater understanding of other cultures and allowed democracy to
triumph over autocracy.
But as the street protests against last
November's World Trade Organisation conference in Seattle proved,
there is a growing opposition to the forces of globalisation.
Critics say the West's gain has been at the
expense of developing countries. The already meagre share of the
global income of the poorest people in the world has dropped from
2.3% to 1.4% in the last decade.
But even in the developed world, not everyone has
been a winner. The freedoms granted by globalisation are leading to
increased insecurity in the workplace.
Manual workers in particular are under threat as
companies shift their production lines overseas to low-wage
economies.
National cultures and identities are also under
threat thanks to the spread of satellite TV, international media
networks and increased personal travel. In French cinemas, around
70% of filmgoers watch Hollywood movies.
At the heart of their concerns is the fact that
huge trans- national companies are becoming more powerful and
influential than democratically-elected governments, putting
shareholder interests above those of communities and even
customers.
Ecological campaigners say corporations are
disregarding the environment in the stampede for mega-profits and
marketplace supremacy. Human rights groups say corporate power is
restricting individual freedom.
Even business folk behind small firms have
sympathy for the movement, afraid as they are that global economies
of scale will put them out of work.
But the mere fact the debate can take place
simultaneously across countries and continents may well show that
celebrated academic Marshall McLuhan's global village is already
here.
Silicon: one thousand times more valuable than
steel.
Probably the stepper industry's nearest rival as
a fundamental enabler of the electronic revolution is the silicon
industry, which is also much overlooked in public discussions of
the electronic age.
The truth is that only a handful of sophisticated
companies are capable of making silicon to the standards required
in the semiconductor industry. And just the top three of these
companies- Tokyo-based Shin-Etsu Chemical, St. Louis-based MEMC
Electronic Materials, and Munich-based Wacker- Chemie- account for
over half the world market.
But there is a big difference between raw silicon
found in nature and the highly refined silicon used in the
semiconductor industry. In fact, the semiconductor-grade silicon is
produced in only tiny volumes, and in the epitaxial form used for
high performance computer chips, it costs more then $80 an ounce.
That is the equivalent of nearly $2.9 million per metric ton- or
nearly one thousand times the price of steel.
The silicon production process begins with quartz
sand, which is reduced and refined to produce a material known as
polysilicon. This looks like irregularly shaped gray rocks but
boasts an almost incredible level of purity- just one foreign atom
per one billion.
The polysilicon is then melted in combination
with minute amounts of "dopant" elements such as boron and
phosphorus and converted into cylindrical ingots of monocrystalline
silicon. The dopant elements are special impurities that determine
the precise electrical properties of the final silicon wafer.
Ingot- a mass of metal cast in a shape for
convenient storage or shipment.
As with most manufacturing industries, the
silicon business has been highly successful in creating excellent
jobs for normal blue- collar workers. In fact, more then 80% of
Wacker's silicon workers are mere high-school graduates.
The silicon industry is also notably knowledge
intensive. The crystal growing process in particular in highly
complex, and by dint of trial and error over the years the main
producers have accumulated a huge stock of proprietary
know-how.
The incumbents in the industry also enjoy a huge
edge in productivity over would be entrants by dint of a large
reserve of trade secrets.
The level of proprietary knowledge required is
constantly rising as the industry moves rapidly to ever more
sophisticated and varied products. Much of the variation comes from
the "doping" process, which cab produce many different grades
tailored to the precise needs of individual semiconductor makers.
As reported by Barnaby Feder, MEMC, an affiliate of the German
conglomerate Veba, now makes more then a thousand different types
of wafers, each with its own exacting specifications for silicon
purity, electrical properties, thickness, surface coatings, and
many other characteristics.
Given the level of capital and knowledge needed,
virtually all the key processes in the semiconductor-grade silicon
industry are conducted by high-wage workers in First World
factories.
Another key reason for locating in an advanced
nation is that the silicon business requires notably high-quality
labour.