Mind mapping the knowledge structure of globalization
Joseph Kim-keung Ho
Independent Trainer
Hong Kong, China
Abstract:
The topic
of globalization is a main one in Social Sciences and public media worldwide.
This article makes use of the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR)
approach to render an image on the knowledge structure of globalization. The
finding of the review exercise is that its knowledge structure comprises four
main themes, i.e., (a) Definitions
and underlying perspectives of globalizations, (b) External contexts and
impacts of globalizations, (c) Specialized topics in globalization and (d) Business management considerations. The article offers some academic and
pedagogical values on the topics of globalization, literature review and the
mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach.
Key
words: Globalization, literature
review, mind map, the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach
Please cite the article as: Ho, J.K.K. 2016. “Mind mapping the knowledge
structure of globalization” Joseph KK Ho
e-resources blog November 5 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2016/11/mind-mapping-knowledge-structure-of.html).
Introduction
Globalization has long been a main topic in both Social
Sciences and public media worldwide. It is of academic and pedagogical interest
to the writer who has been a lecturer on global business management for some
tertiary education centres in Hong Kong. In this article, the writer presents
his literature review findings on globalization using the mind mapping-based
literature review (MMBLR) approach. This approach was proposed by this writer
this year and has been employed to review the literature on a number of topics,
such as supply chain management, strategic management accounting and customer
relationship management (Ho, 2016). The MMBLR approach itself is not
particularly novel since mind mapping has been employed in literature review
since its inception. The overall aims of this exercise are to:
1. Render an image of the knowledge structure of
globalization via the application of the MMBLR approach;
2. Illustrate how the MMBLR approach can be
applied in literature review on an academic topic, such as globalization.
The findings from this
literature review exercise offer academic and pedagogical values to those who
are interested in the topics of globalization, literature review and the MMBLR
approach. Other than that, this exercise facilitates this writer’s intellectual
learning on these three topics. The next section makes a brief introduction on
the MMBLR approach. After that, an account of how it is applied to study globalization
is presented.
On mind mapping-based literature review
The mind mapping-based
literature review (MMBLR) approach was developed by this writer this year (Ho,
2016). It makes use of mind mapping as a complementary literature review
exercise (see the Literature on mind
mapping Facebook page and the Literature
on literature review Facebook page). The approach is made up of two steps.
Step 1 is a thematic analysis on the literature of the topic chosen for study.
Step 2 makes use of the findings from step 1 to produce a complementary mind map.
The MMBLR approach is a relatively straightforward and brief exercise. The
approach is not particularly original since the idea of using mind maps in
literature review has been well recognized in the mind mapping literature. The
MMBLR approach is also an interpretive exercise in the sense that different
reviewers with different research interest and intellectual background
inevitably will select different ideas, facts and findings in their thematic
analysis (i.e., step 1 of the MMBLR approach). Also, to conduct the approach,
the reviewer needs to perform a literature search beforehand. Apparently, what
a reviewer gathers from a literature search depends on what library facility,
including e-library, is available to the reviewer. The next section presents
the findings from the MMBLR approach step 1; afterward, a companion mind map is
provided based on the MMBLR approach step 1 findings.
Mind mapping-based literature review on globalization:
step 1 findings
Step 1of the MMBLR approach is
a thematic analysis on the literature of the topic under investigation (Ho,
2016). In our case, this is the globalization topic. The writer gathers some
academic articles from some universities’ e-libraries, books on globalization
as well as via the Google Scholar. With the academic articles collected, the
writer conducted a literature review on them to assemble a set of ideas,
viewpoints, concepts and findings (called points here). These points from the globalization
literature are then grouped into four themes here.
Theme 1: Definitions and underlying
perspectives of globalizations
Theme 1.1 – related to
definitions
Point 1.1.1. “For the English sociologist Anthony Giddens, globalization designates
the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities
in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles
away and vice versa” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.1.2.
“As for the more recent developments of
globalization, …. the term ‘globalisation’ is used to indicate the social
process, highly influenced by technological development, increasingly rapid
means of transport and the ‘information revolution’, which has created a truly
world-wide web of spatial connections and functional interdependence” (Zolo,
2007);
Point 1.1.3.
“For some it [globalization]
is primarily an economic process (Globalization One), and of fairly recent
origin. For others, it is a huge evolutionary unfolding (Globalization Two)
which has been underway for centuries if not millennia and which involves not
only economic but also political, cultural and biologicaltransformations—and
not only the processes, but also consciousness of globalization…” (Anderson,
1999);
Point 1.1.4.
“Globalization
is more or less elegantly equated with growing Mobility” (Bude and Dürrschmidt, 2010);
Point 1.1.5. “…globalization
as a process need not apply solely to the world. In a single act, such as an
act of recycling, an individual can exhibit globality, because in that act she
is engaging directly with the world as a single place. A corporation can do the
same through its marketing campaign, if that campaign is specifically designed
to reach out to the world regardless of borders as its audience..” (Bond and
O’Byrne, 2014);
Point 1.1.6.
“The
Italian sociologist Luciano Gallino has put forward a concise, selective
definition of globalization as the acceleration and intensification of the
process of formation of a world economy which is emerging as a single system
operating in real time…” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.1.7.
“The term ‘globalisation’….became current
in the West in the domains of economics, politics, sociology and the mass media
during the 1990s. It refers to the process by which the social relations
between human beings have tended to extend ‘globally’, to cover the territorial
and demographic space of the entire planet..” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.1.8. “Globalisation is essentially the expansion of modernity outwards from
the sphere of Western Europe to the world at large.” (Zolo, 2007);
Theme 1.2 – related to underlying
perspectives
Point 1.2.1. “…there are the apologists of globalization. They view globalization as
a coherent extension of the Industrial Revolution and the ensuing
‘modernisation’ in Europe” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.2.2.
“According to the
mainstream ‘globalist’ position, ….The economy in its present state is indeed a
‘global economy’: the main production factors are characterized by a degree of
interdependence, integration and openness without precedent in the history of
humankind” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.2.3.
“..the debate [on
globalization] should center on how best to manage the process of globalization
– at the national and international levels – so that the benefits are widely
shared and the costs kept to a minimum.” (Aninat, 2002);
Point 1.2.4.
In the middle ground
between these opposing camps we can identify two other positions. One, … ……is
skeptical about the ‘strong versions’ of globalization and questions both the
novelty and the importance of its economic effects… … The other intermediate
position … sees globalization as a new and highly significant process,
producing both positive and negative effects” (Zolo, 2007);
Point
1.2.5.
“One constant focus of AGM
[antiglobalization movement] critique ….is the cluster of organizations such as
the WTO and the World Bank, whom they accuse of being unwilling to address
environmental problems and other detrimental effects of economic
globalization..” (Wissenburg, 2004);
Point 1.2.6.
“Other authors ….. trace the dawn of
globalization back to the great geographical discoveries that marked the
Renaissance in Europe and the development of trade between continents” (Zolo,
2007);
Point 1.2.7.
“For Gallino,
globalization …. Is the product of policies adopted by the world’s superpowers
and the international institutions they sponsor. The criteria for these
policies include the liberalization of capital transfer, deregulation of the
labour market and reduction of public funding in numerous sectors including
health, social security and education…” (Zolo, 2007);
Point
1.2.8.
“The antiglobalization movement (AGM) focuses on
action directed against neoliberal economic globalization..” (Wissenburg,
2004);
Point 1.2.9. “The
extent to which anything “becomes global” is measurable by the extent to which
it exhibits globality, i.e. the extent to which it engages directly with the
globe. Globalization thus involves the erosion of mediating layers, such as
that of the nation-state, and the emergence of the world itself as a meaningful
unit of analysis” (Bond and O’Byrne, 2014);
Point 1.2.10.
“the rhetoric of
globalization tends to gloss over the fact that the increasing standardization
of a range of social factors – lifestyles, linguistic and cultural forms,
political ideologies, models of production and consumption – does not
necessarily produce order and social integration..” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.2.11.
“The
very “global” activities that enrich the experience of people in different
countries, regardless of nationality, are treated as “domestic” possessions and
sources of “national” pride…” (Toulmin, 1999);
Point 1.2.12.
“..there
is a great tendency among the anti-globalists to …. to persuade themselves that
anything describable as globalization is an evil conspiracy of power that they
can and should bring to a halt..” (Anderson, 1999);
Point 1.2.13.
“Bourdieu considers globalization a ‘pseudo-concept’ because it is
both descriptive and prescriptive. On one hand it describes the unification of
the global economy as an objective reality, while on the other it has a
performative role, designating an economic policy comprising a wide range of
legal and political measures designed to unify the world’s economy..” (Zolo,
2007);
Point 1.2.14.
“…the radical critics
of globalization…… denounce the increasing polarization of wealth distribution,
the persistent instability of financial markets dominated by massive and
ungovernable speculative operations, the irrational use of resources –
including water and the ‘Westernisation’ of lifestyles and consumer habits
which is destroying the pluralism of cultures and symbolic systems” (Zolo,
2007);
Point 1.2.15.
“Bourdieu views
globalization as an ideological construct that uses the tools of rhetoric to
legitimize the global neo-liberal project and undermine the European
social-democratic model…” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 1.2.16.
“Globalization has been framed in terms of a gravitational
field emanating from a core source (Wallerstein, 1979). Those stakeholders
closest to the center of the field are ever more tightly integrated
economically, politically, and culturally. Yet, those further out in the
“system” are increasingly left behind…” (Jones and Fleming, 2003);
Point 1.2.17.
“Proponents of convergence focus on the increasing tendency
for economic and social activity to fall within a range defined by Anglo-Saxon
and Western European capitalist systems, a range including the form of
government macroeconomic policy; general business practices; organizational
strategies, structures, and processes; and cultural orientation, particularly
with respect to work and consumption (Hardt & Negri, 2000)…” (Jones
and Fleming, 2003);
Theme 2: External contexts and
impacts of globalizations
Theme 2.1: related to external contexts
Point 2.1.1.
“..The image of the ‘globe’ provides us with a powerful visual bridge
to an intuitive grasping of a shared ‘global environment’ that is otherwise
hidden behind scientific formula and contradictory scientific claims..” (Bude and Dürrschmidt, 2010);
Point 2.1.2.
“..more
recent tendencies of deglobalization such as the recent fuel crisis and a
general tendency towards feelings of insecurity against everything considered
‘foreign’ in the aftermath of 9/11 and related events, that have led to an
‘apparent flight from mobility’ (Urry, 2002: 67) and have simultaneously reinforced
‘immobility regimes’ in an emerging ‘enclave society’ (Turner, 2007)..” (Bude and Dürrschmidt, 2010);
Point 2.1.3.
“Following the
failure of the planned economy in the countries which practiced state
socialism, there do not seem to be any theoretical or practical alternatives to
a free, globalised market economy” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 2.1.4. “The increasing complexity of our
global society means that sustainable development cannot be addressed from a
single perspective or scientific discipline” (Martens
and Rotmans, 2005);
Theme 2.2: related to impacts
Point 2.2.1.
“There is little doubt that globalisation has produced
significant gains at the global level. On a worldwide level, globalisation has
facilitated the growth of foreign trade. Goods and services, capital,
technology and labour all move more freely across borders. In addition to
economic gains, there have been significant benefits in the areas of culture
and governance [Falk, 2000]…” (Martens
and Rotmans, 2005);
Point 2.2.2. “Globalization
– the process through which an increasingly free flow of ideas, people, goods,
services, and capital leads to the integration of economies and societies – has
brought rising prosperity to the countries that have participated.” (Aninat,
2002);
Point 2.2.3.
“Some sociologists of globalization…
maintain that the compression of the world produces frames of cultural
reference which cannot properly be referred as ‘global culture’. Such frames
lack the features of ‘culture’ as understood in modern Europe: a vision of the
world comprising foundation myths, legends, symbols, heroes and stories
narrating episodes from a common past which are jointly re-lived, together a
community with a sense of identity and self-awareness..” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 2.2.4.
“Globalization is not a zero-sum
game, according to trade theory. And why should it be? Why should economic
growth in one country hurt another?” (Walker, 1999);
Point 2.2.5.
“…while the
benefits of trade globalization are relatively clear, developing countries need
to have a set of preconditions in place to benefit from financial globalization
and not to succumb to an increased probability of a currency or banking crisis
occurring..” (Aninat, 2002);
Point 2.2.6.
“on the global scale, the market economy proves to be incapable of
self-regulation through a normative compensation for its inherent tendency to
distribute wealth unequally and therefore to cause economic instability and
social conflict..” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 2.2.7.
“…the contraction of spatial and temporal
dimensions is seen as being one of the most intensively perceived ‘human
consequences’ of globalization” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 2.2.8.
“..globalization is not an irreversible
phenomenon, imposed by the inexorable logic of technological development and
market forces and immune to political control” (Zolo, 2007);
Point
2.2.9.
“Critics of globalization
contend that, even if increased trade promotes material prosperity, it comes
with a high spiritual and cultural cost, running roughshod over the world’s
distinctive cultures and threatening to turn the globe into one big, tawdry
strip mall..” (Anon, 2003);
Point
2.2.10. “Clark [Ian Clark] sees globalization as
being in constant tension with the parallel phenomenon of ‘fragmentation’
(or’localisation’), which tends towards disaggregation, autarchy and isolation
as well as ethnic or nationalistic separatism and regional integration.” (Zolo,
2007);
Point 2.2.11.
“Within
globalization, there are both centrifugal and centripetal cultural pressures.
This was neatly encapsulated by Roland Robertson in the strikingly successful
term ‘glocalization’..” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 2.2.12.
“…the effects of globalization are best understood in terms of
the following three sets of simultaneous contradictions: convergence and
divergence, inclusion and exclusion, and centralization and decentralization.
These contradictions can be fruitfully “unpacked” and examined through critical
stakeholder analysis (CSA)…” (Jones and Fleming, 2003);
Point 2.2.13.
“globalization theory is aligned with
post-modern thinking in suggesting a networked world of simultaneity and
juxtaposition of difference instead of a linear progression in time..” (Bude and Dürrschmidt, 2010);
Theme 3: Specialized topics in
globalization
Point 3.1.
“..the new warfare
can be called ‘global’ in the systemic sense, inasmuch as it is a hegemonic
war…. ‘Global wars’ are fought to decide who is to assume the function of
leadership in the world system of international relations, who will dictate the
systemic rules, who will have the political power to control the allocation of
resources of wealth and power, and who will succeed in imposing his own world
view and concept of order..” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 3.2.
“The processes of
globalization are accompanied by a gradual transformation not only of political
structures but also of legal institutions, above all in the domain of
international law” (Zolo, 2007);
Point 3.3.
“The philosophical
premise of legal globalism is the moral unity of the human species” (Zolo,
2007);
Point 3.4.
“Castles and
Miller (…2003) have paradigmatically declared the global age to be the ‘age of
migration’…” (Bude and
Dürrschmidt, 2010);
Point 3.5.
“Globalization has certainly changed our sense of belonging in that
it allows nested identities and loyalties, as well as multiple homes..” (Bude and Dürrschmidt, 2010);
Point 3.6.
“A
pressing question of our time is the fate of labor and the working people of
the world in the face of the rampant globalization of capitalism.” (Walker,
1999);
Theme 4: Business management
considerations
Point
4.1.
“…corporations
operating in a pure free market environment are no guarantee for
environmentally friendly production. Under free market rules, there is no
principled protection of the environment..” (Wissenburg,
2004);
Point 4.2.
“Over the last decade there has been
an increasing interest in exploring the processes and challenges of
globalization in business and management literature. Much of the literature
within this field examines both the concept and processes of globalization from
a single perspective. Key literature within the field has considered
globalization as processes of: economic integration …; convergence of markets
….; application of cross-cultural management practices …; and the role,
relationship and effects of globalization and technology ….. There has also
been an interest in the effects of globalization on strategic choice” (Bond and
O’Byrne, 2014);
Point 4.3.
“We consider
globalization to be an important discourse for corporate executives because it
is frequently presented by consultants, gurus, business schools and the
business press as a sensemaking response to emerging opportunities and threats
in the world economy” (Cooper and
Ezzamel, 2013);
Point 4.4.
“Ben
Verwaayen, the former BT chief executive who is now CEO at Alcatel-Lucent,
adds: “When people talk about globalization and emerging market and doing a
joint venture in China in a product-type environment, that’s not globalization.
I think it is export-oriented internationalization….”…” (Tappin and Cave,
2009);
Point 4.5.
“..most
CEOs see coping with globalization as the single most important reality for the
next decade. This may seem surprising, given that globalization has been talked
about for years..” (Tappin and Cave, 2009);
Point 4.6.
“Even if various forces dictate a global strategic imperative,
implementation and thus the attainment of that organizational strategy may be
constrained – even prevented by – internal factors. One potential impediment is
the corporation’s inability to develop the international team of managers which
forms the backbone of a global organization...” (Welch, 1994);
Point 4.7.
“…in order to achieve
global integration yet maintain local flexibility, it is necessary to have an
appreciation of the entire global network of affiliates as well as headquarter
operations.… one effective way of ensuring such a global appreciation is to
transfer staff throughout the global network…” (Welch, 1994);
Point 4.8.
“High-skill workers (so-called symbolic analysts; Reich,
1991) face greater opportunities as employers compete for their services,
whereas low-skill workers are increasingly threatened by automated systems,
relocation of their jobs to offshore sites where labor costs are lower, a lack
of union protection, and a general lowering of the social wage (Bailey,
Parisotto and Renshaw, 1993)…” (Jones and Fleming, 2003);
Each of them has a set of
associated points (i.e., idea, viewpoints, concepts and findings). Two themes
have subthemes; they are theme 1 (Definitions and underlying perspectives of globalizations) and theme 2 (External contexts and impacts of globalizations). Together they provide an organized way to
comprehend the knowledge structure of the globalization topic. The referencing
indicated on the points identified informs the readers where to find the
academic articles to learn more about the details on these points. The process
of conducting the thematic analysis is an exploratory as well as synthetic
learning endeavour on the topic’s literature. Once the structure of the themes,
sub-themes and their associated points are finalized, the reviewer is in a
position to move forward to step 2 of the MMBLR approach. The MMBLR approach
step 2 finding, i.e., a companion mind map on globalization, is presented in
the next section.
Mind mapping-based literature review on globalization:
step 2 (mind mapping) output
By adopting the findings from
the MMBLR approach step 1 on globalization, the writer constructs a companion
mind map shown as Figure 1.
Referring to the mind map on globalization,
the topic label is shown right at the centre of the map as a large blob. Four
main branches are attached to it, corresponding to the four themes identified
in the thematic analysis. In the same vein, two branches have sub-branches,
which represent the sub-themes recognized in the thematic analysis findings
(i.e., the MMBLR approach step 1). These sub-themes are themes 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 and
2.2. The links and ending nodes with key phrases represent the points from the
thematic analysis. As a whole, the mind map renders an image of the knowledge
structure on globalization based on the thematic analysis findings, see also
the Literature on globalization &
internationalization Facebook page for additional information on globalization.
Constructing the mind map is part of the learning process on literature review.
The mind mapping process is speedy and entertaining. The resultant mind map
also serves as a useful presentation and teaching material. This mind mapping
experience confirms the writer’s previous experience using on the MMBLR
approach (Ho, 2016). Readers are also referred to the Literature on literature review Facebook page and the Literature on mind mapping Facebook page
for additional information on these two topics.
Concluding remarks
The MMBLR approach to study globalization
provided here is mainly for its practice illustration as its procedures have
been refined via a number of its employment on an array of topics (Ho, 2016).
No additional MMBLR steps nor notions have been introduced in this article. In
this respect, the exercise reported here primarily offers some pedagogical
value as well as some systematic and stimulated learning on globalization.
Nevertheless, the thematic findings and the image of the knowledge structure on
globalization in the form of a mind map should also be of academic value to
those who research on this topic.
Bibliography
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Pdf version at: https://www.academia.edu/29687841/Mind_mapping_the_knowledge_structure_of_globalization
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