Internet And Its Impact On Globalisation Media Essay

The expansion of telecommunication or the Information and telecommunication technology (ICT) is the outcome of the microelectronic revolution which has created channels for the process of monitoring and processing of the information. It has become more pervasive than the radio and the television in today's globalised world. Incontestably now Internet has gained the position of the world's largest electronic network. The debate is still going on regarding the origin of the Internet as some says that its origin was way back in late 1960's by the United States Department of Defence which created Arpanet (which was invented for a nuclear blitz.) There are others who oppose its origin in the United States by the Department of Defence. "In 1984 Arpanet was expanded and opened to the scientific community when it was taken over by the National Science Foundation, transmogrifying into NSFNET, which linked five supercomputers by a variety of private access system." [1] As according to the Ex-Director General of WTO, Roberto Ruggiero, "Internet provided cheaper faster and easier method of communication, an alternative that has created, 'global audience'." According to Thomas Friedman, in his book 'The world is flat' states, "Earlier one has to go to the post offices to send mails and other things but now, it is just a game of seconds that we sent mails and it reaches there the more accurately and with speed. [2] " Internet is the major provider of information as what the various Internet companies like America Online (AOL), CompuServe etc allows individual to connect with the Internet with just modem to 'plug in'. The capabilities of the Internet are such that we can define it as 'bidirectional' mode of mass communication. It has created a kind of 'word of mouth networks' in which individuals share their opinions, views, expressions and the cyber world gives them enough space for this bidirectional means of communication. Internet which is so much blossomed into this globalised world is also the result of the telecommunication or "existing telephones, fiber-optics and satellite systems, was made possible by the technological innovation of packet switching, in which the individual messages are decomposed, transmitted by various channels, and then reassembled, virtually instantaneously, at their destination." [3] 

I, in this paper is taking up the issue of 'Internet and its impact on the globalisation' from the (global) business standpoint and also bring into the socio economic effect and also the cyber crime that is taking place into the cyber world. And also tries to bring into it the digital divide . The growth of Internet in last few years has flabbergasted the most exhausted or lacklustre economy. Before starting with the whole oratory I would like to give a brief explanation on how Internet has its importance in the field of business and also into other fields. I would emphasise onto the importance of Internet as a means of Information and communication technology and also as means by which the whole world is getting connected 24 hours a day. Much of the Internet is used for the private as well as for the commercial purposes many uses them for simple source of entertainment. Although the dominant ideologies sustained largely outside the Internet, the growing communities of the cybercitizens 'Netizens' brings the views and expressions of people together and cyberspace give them the opportunity to express. As "Hauben and Hauben (1997) refer to as Netizens: Net Citizens." It has created its own terminology in its own world such as search engines like google.com; Wikipedia .com etc. I would also like to include here that in the present world as we talk about 'Globalisation' which is a growing phenomenon and that can be described as 'a shift towards a more integrated and interdependent world economy'(Hill 1997) However, the history of the term globalisation is not very new. After the world war in 1980's the West claimed that there is an 'end of the history.' George. W. Bush the then, President of the United States said, "countries would cooperate peacefully as participants in one worldwide market, pursuing their interests while sharing commitments to basic human values." The debate into the globalisation is still going on as some some defined it as the 'Americanisation, of the world through mechanisms like WTO, IMF, and Mc Donald's all backed up by US power.' In simple terms it is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies and governments of different nations, a process driven by the international trade and aided by information technology"(Carnegie endowment) The term 'globalisation' is defined in simple terms as advance of human cooperation across national boundaries but can also be defined as for the self interest and also for the global cooperation. Fukuyama has defined 'globalisation as modernisation.' However there is still a debate which is going on about the different views of globalisation and are put forth that the globalisation is just a historical development or a myth? As David Held argues, "Globalisation helds to deepening, widening and speedening up of world in all aspects of contemporary social life." According to the American Heritage, 'Globalisation is the act, process or policy of making something worldwide in scope or application.' However if I talk about the 'Internet and its impact on Globalisation' from the global business point of view which is the topic of the paper then the first I would like to emphasise over the use of the Internet in global business under the regime of globalisation. "The Internet is growing at the rate of 30% per annum in number of users, and 100 % cent per annum in hosts on Internet. It is expected that by then of the year 2000, the user base will touch 200 million. It is estimated that there are 7000 ISPs worldwide, mostly in the US. In fact more than 60 percent of the users and ISPs in the Internet world are in the US (Sinha 1999). [4] " If I talk about ISPs in India then, 'India has the first dial-up e-mail network was set up between National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay) in 1986, followed by connections to the US and Europe. In 1994, a satellite communication network for the Education and Research Network (ERNET) was set up with the assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) opened the gates for Internet gates to software exporting companies and government agencies as well. And in August 1995, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) introduced commercial Internet access in India." [5] 

If I look into the impact of the Internet on globalisation from business standpoint then I must first see that how the globalisation has changed the face of the business and make it internalisation of the business or trade and bring it into lot of ways. "Leading market research firms have predicted that business-to- consumer retail commerce over the Internet, though amounting to almost nothing as late as 1995, will continue to grow at an astonishing pace and may exceed $100 billion by 2003" (McQuivey et.al., 1998) (I 1.pp1)* With the coming of Internet the new technology has grown up in the field of Information and technology is another accelerator for the mechanism of the Globalisation into the global business. And also if I look into it from the global economic perspective then can say that it also includes the WTO and the GATT agreements which includes the security of the data available at the Internet regarding the business and also for the other related issues. If I look into the trade in globalisation from the Information and communication point of view then before the internet the business was not on that exploring and expanding way as it is now after the introduction of Internet. There were just locals into the locals and the concept of global was there but not on large terms because the cost of making business was very high as the telecommunication charges were high as well as very few business opportunities were introduced, or I can say that the Internet has transformed the business from traditional supply chain to the electronic supply chain.

Traditional Supply Chain

Electronic Supply Chain

1.Electronic Data Exchange through telephone or fax

Internet made it easy.

2.Long term Relationship

Technology enabled relationships.

3. New Business opportunities were not there as the concept of on-line trading was not introduced.

However in electronic supply chain it is very easy to access to increase the global interaction with people through various means of telecommunication

4. Management cost is also very high as for the maintenance of the data.

Less Expensive.

With the introduction of Internet in Global Commerce the business activities becomes fast. Accessibility to the data is available at anywhere anytime in any part of the world. "Internet can be said as the fertile ground for the companies. During 1990's there has been an explosive increase in the presence of the company websites on the Internet, and an increasing sophistication in the ways that companies use the Internet for sales, public affairs, marketing and stakeholders relations." [6] Most of the dominant literature on the Internet is dominated by the prevalent discussion that puts Internet as a medium of business. Eg: A person in US wants to purchase a carpet from India, by giving order online on a website can easily purchase it. So Internet in one sense has made the global into local. As rightly defined by Mr.Clinton in 1997, "'new frontier' for business, and no less a figure than the US President has described the internet as 'the Wild West of the global economy ." [7] The companies made their corporate websites onto the Internet and retain the services of 'public relation firms' for the services of the customers. It plays a role of the vehicle for the running of trade on Internet and also it provides a wider space too. "The internet is 'no-space' or 'a headspace', in which physical movement from site to site 'can only be described in terms of difference of experience' (Mizrach 1997, italics in original)." [8] The construction of the cyberspace on Internet is another issue for the cyber discourse. Bell and Valentine argues that, "this may involve the appropriation of spatial concepts at scales ranging from the 'body' to the 'global'." [9] By this the companies target their consumers or their prejudices. Today the Internet industry has widened the scope of the business by providing its services a over the globe and at affordable and 24/7.

The changing demographics of the Global economy states about the world output as, "United States was the dominant industrial power in the early 1960's. It consists of 40% of the total world output in 1968 but 20% in 1997. [10] "

However the critique of the Internet into the global world is that while "Internet Backbone Providers (IBPs), also called core providers, exchanged traffic at NAPs under so- called public peering agreements, smaller companies, ISPs, accessed the Internet via backbones. With increasing utilisation of the Internet these public NAPs became susceptible to congestion, resulting in delays and dropped packets. In consequences, large backbones began to directly interconnect with each other through so called private peering arrangements and started to charge transit fees for providing interconnection to private providers. [11] " Downstream providers collect money at the edge of the Internet and buy connectivity from upstream ISPs or from backbones. However many authors has showed their concern about the "concentration and market power in the core network. The problem has its source in 1997 when, starting with UUNET, top-tired IBPs began to refuse to peer with smaller backbone providers and to exclusively peer among each other under so-called non-disclosure agreements which means that peering conditions are kept secret. However , Milgrom and Mitchell and Srinagesh counter these concerns by arguing that a hierarchichally built Internet with a smaller number of core providers is cost effective since it is minimise both the routing and transaction cost." [12] This is very much helpful in business as it is cost effective and is provided at the affordable prices and also at the cheaper rates. Internet has removed the physical distances by bringing the world together not only in commerce but also in every sphere. Though it removes the geographical boundaries, it can be used as a tool for gathering the information as it can be indeed used as type of "superhighway that connects a number of established networks with the individual system" [13] , and can be used as a resource of obtaining incredible amount of information.

With the Introduction of the Internet into the business a businessman can check the current position of the business anywhere and anytime around the world which was of course not possible earlier. As with the introduction of the various technological instruments like cellular phones, laptops etc and also with the innovative technologies like 3G and all in which the access of the information is just a click away. With chatting onto the internet Live or by emailing or by the current statics which is available online to the consumer s well as trade both can be benefitted. By using Internet as a tool it is easy to work all together as a wide network. As the information which is available on the internet can be trusted also but the debate is still going on this issue as some says that the information available can be trusted while the others say that it can be hacked over and the data can be misused and accessed for the private purposes. It has made the global business to become possible because for the smaller business it was not possible to go global before the internet but now it is possible by the way of online trading which leads to the internationalisation of the business. However the global digital divide has also expanded.

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As "the Internet developed unevenly throughout the world, creating what has become known as the 'global digital divide'. The number of Internet users is one of the most widely used indicatiors of development of this emerging medium of communication. Less than 10 %cent of the world's population uses the Internet, and the gap between the developed and the developing countries has continued to widen since the early 1990s.(Figure.)* Statistics compiled by the International Telecommunication Union as of the end 2002 indicates that the Internet use as a proportion of the population ranges from less than one percent in many underdeveloped African, Central American and South Asian countries to between 50 and 60 % cent in Iceland, the United states, Scandinavia, Singapore or South Korea. [14] " I would like to say that this is the major difference or demarcation which brings the digital divide into the world accessibility over the Internet. As the world which is underdeveloped cannot use the wide networks of the internet which brings commerce, communication and interaction with other parts of the world this still continues the topic for the debate into the globalised world. Global capalist forces generates profound inequalities between the developed "core," the developing "semi-periphery," and the underdeveloped "periphery." [15] 

The most replicated finding into the literature is the communication media is that it is been used by people of the higher socioeconomic status. "A long tradition of research in media studies conforms the so-called 'knowledge gap' hypothesis. [16] " It reflects that people of the higher status can use the internet at any cost however those who belong to the lower socio economic status cannot use it as frequently as can by the higher status. But statistics shows that it is increasing with the "variety of empirical studies of the global digital divide using aggeregate data have found evidence to the effect that the average standard of living and the average educational level in the country- arguably the analogs of socioeconomic status of the individual level- are strong predictor of Internet use. Using individual level data gatheref in 24 countries, Chen, Bose and Wellman (2002) also found a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and Internet use. [17] " This reflects the digital divide that is prevailing into the globalised world. With such global digital divide the global trade is not possible upto certain extent because with this only a certain part of a world which is globalised and developed can access the commerce as well as all the benefits of the Internet and use it on their own terms and conditions.

If I talk about the Global business through Internet then online trading is another fact that is taking place such as: amazon.com; reddiff.com; eBay. in etc. For online business, parties must be prepared to use the necessary technology. Organisation find themselves more easy to access the information about the consumers and contact them, and consumers can also access the information about their account online, many banks have also started online trading such as in India State Bank of India started the online trading through which a consumer can access the information about the transaction at any time and from anywhere. I would like to say that internet or the Information and communication technology has empowered the consumers to do everything and anything they need and want to know and to search for, they can compare the prices online and can bid over that. Internet also brings more transparency into the market and global customer will also increasing because of this and also their demands increases.

"Internet is a part of the institutionally complex, economically important, tightly regulated and highly politicised telecommunication sector. National telecommunication system and markets differs in their reach, quality and cost, which in turn are affected by the way in which regulation takes place, the ownership of companies active in the sector, and the intensity of competition. It is important to note that the competition can translate not only into lower prices (or costs of access and use to the user) but also in more service differentiation, choice and quality. Thus, policymaking in this area tends to have a large impact on the various dimensions of media access and use. [18] " I can say on that policies are been made and regulated by the telecommunication department and it depends upon the accessibility of the consumer which policy is been accessed by them and it absolutely depend upon the family income of the consumer which plan or the policy is been accessed by them. There are political conditions also which effects on the growth of the communication media, different social behaviour and the social relationships will leads to the different field of communication. It also depend upon their social circle as what various social networking sites like facebook.com; twitter.com; orkut.com do and tries to explore various new contacts which is beyond the existing. The growth of the internet worldwide is not just only because of the 'socio-economic status or its cost effectiveness but also the political and the sociological variables' and also resources through which it is available to the whole world but also results and data shows that the digital divide is also prevailing into the world through which the whole worlds accessibility to the internet is not possible. If I talk about the impact of the internet in globalisation which is the topic of this paper from business standpoint is like when the other part of the world is not able to access the internet and not able to get information regarding the online trading and commerce, it is another ongoing debate which is still prevailing into the global society.

The Impact of Internet onto the Globalisation with the business standpoint states the competitiveness that has emerged into the global trading as the markets are openly accessed by the consumers have the choices to demand more. As the access to the internet is made possible for the people of the highly socioeconomic background is more than the access of the socially poor people shows the divide into the internet world and also its cost efficiency doesn't work into the world which does not have access to the Internet e.g: the developing world, which have less access into the internet cannot avail these opportunities as these are only available to the people of the developed world such as United States and the European countries. However internet has impacted the way in which services were offered and delivered. The relationship between the customer and the firm becomes more insidious here. The impact of the internet on globalisation is such that it also brings the concept of plagiarism and various other cyber crimes such as, eg: a book or an article is been written by an author is available online and someone has copied it from the book and use it by his or her name without giving reference is a matter of plagiarism. Secondly the server access is although possible to each and everybody through computers and unique IP (Internet Protocol) address through which we can browse the internet but there are few who hack the servers and use it according to their individual purposes. For which various measures are been taken by the Government of various countries and various regulatory measures are also been made but not implemented in the way it should be it also a topic of debate in this globalised world. Though servers can also be used to deny the service that has to be delivered. The government in order to control the cyber crime that has increased and still increasing, according to the Statistics of the US FBI, "Incidents of the American Internet networks being broken into are rapidly increasing by 30% annually, making the US suffer tremendously. [19] " The impact of the internet into the globalisation is been discussed into this seminar paper on the fields of global business, digital divide, socio-economic status, security and also the cybercrime. All these need a regulatory measure and its implications.

"Hegemonic uses of the Net include commercial applications, (Weis 1992; Cronin 1996) particularly advertising and shopping but also purchasing and marketing, in addition to uses by public agencies that legitimate and sustain existing ideologies and politics as 'normal', 'necessary', or natural. [20] " However, the Internet also faces the counter hegemonic discourses, as all groups does not favour the use the use of the internet in all spheres of life. They refuse to accept the ideologies of those who believe to go with the opinion of the general public.

Conclusion:

In the entire oratory of Impact of Internet on Globalisation from a business standpoint, a global business is missing or been treated as business only through the developed part of the world. This crisis is constructed into the light of the digital divide especially when we are talking into the terms of e commerce or e trade or e business. However in my course of going through the reports and scholarly articles and books, I came to the conclusion that e business or e trade is possible only through the Internet but if this is not available to the developing countries and also because of the socio economic gap as only those can afford who have wealth and not to those who don't have. One more point can be added here as 'education or knowledge'. Computer literacy can also become important criteria for internet knowledge. As Young argued that, Internet is both complex as well as easy and through Internet crosses the geographical and political divides and also it brings separation between public and private social spaces and places. Once the Internet is opened it should be used as a tool through which information can be gathered and it should not used as an objective. And State should try to overcome with the challenges such as cyber literacy, and also to bridge the digital divide between the developed and the under developing world. Thus, we can conclude with the note that the impact of internet on the globalisation has both the negative as well as the positive impact as also the view of the critiques states the same, I through this paper would hope for the better policy and strategy by the idea and emergence of global village to tackle the problems which are prevailing into the world and must be isolated so that the entire world can access the Internet and business can help the developing countries also to come up from the state of under developed to the state of developed and also the hegemony of the e-trade must break from the hands of the developed countries.