Introduction

Extract: Globalization is very much part of the modern vernacular. Arguably, it was first used by McLuhan and Fiore (1968) when they introduced the concept of the ‘global village’. Globalization is characterized by the growth of the international trade of goods and services, the growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as the political and social linkages that accompany growing economic integration. Outwardly, the driving forces seem to be the decline in administrative barriers to trade, sharp falls in the costs of transportation and communication, fragmentation of production processes and the development in information and communication technologies (ICT). Arguably, the perceived neo-liberal shift to greater market orientation in domestic economies has been accelerated by financial sector liberalization. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the backlash to globalization now seems to be in full swing.