Globalization: does low cost = high opportunity?

Earth, Image by Reto Stöckli (NASA)

Salon hosts a blog dedicated to globalization — a necessary and serious consideration in all companies’ development and growth strategies. But it’s not a straightforward ‘go produce in China and India because it’s cheap’ decision, like many people may be led to believe by popular business media.

As an economy grows and develops, the wealth of the nation grows, quality of living grows (hopefully), and inflation grows — both price and wage inflation (for a fantastic graphical representation of these effects check out this really cool economic data tool, Gapminder). However global economic expansion is not always rosy, as highlighted with recent developments in China and exposed in this Salon blog. Similarly, job mobility is not necessarily a permanent trend, a great example being provided in this other Salon blog.

So if you’re in business or thinking of being in business, think carefully about all the factors affecting globalization decisions before jumping the pond. Sometimes home is where the high prices are.