“The Low Price” of the textile discounter KiK – consequences for labour conditions in textile factories in Bangladesh

General introduction on globalization

Globalization is more than a word for a worldwide phenomenon; it affects all of us in our today’s lives. It can have considerable, concrete negative effects like the loose of someone’s job or can rest rather unseen, which means without consideration of the consumers when for example parts of cars are built in Eastern Europe and the complete car is later sold in Germany and therefore considered as “German-Quality-Product”. Processes of globalization have direct impact on our consumption, like the availability of fresh tropic fruits, coffee and cheap clothes. Globalization has also touristic and migrational aspects that affect the cultural perspective of a country (Backhaus, N. 2009, 13-14). It is really complicated to define globalization in general, because different groups like globalization supporter and antagonists have a very unequal look on this issue. Another problem is that globalization creates winner and loser, so it is problematic to make a general judgement on if the globalization process is good or bad.

I really like the attempt of a general definition of globalization by Anthony Giddens (1996, 85) where he describes globalization as a process during which social interactions between human beings from our entire world are widening and an intensification happens. Caused by this process distant places get connected in a kind that actions at one place affect and are affected by others far away (Backhaus, N. 2009, 16).

Dimensions of globalization

An attempt to structure the theme of globalization will be made in the following paragraph. Because of the complexity of this theme globalization is divided into different dimensions. This divition is based on Giddens (1996, 92). The figure is adapted from Backhaus (2009, 24).

My focus lies on the capitalistic global economy, because it has a deep impact on the globalization and has a strong influence on our lives. The system of the world market is very powerful and can lead to negative consequences like the financial crisis in 2008/2009 in a very global form.

Outline of my case study

In my case study I like to concentrate on the economic side of globalization. As introduction I will focus on market economy and the allocation of world trade. Then I will highlight global crises that can be seen as consequences of a global economy. After that I like to focus on some detailed example like the textile industry as an example for changes in production and the labour conditions. I also like to do a short side track to the Global Compact and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the limit of such commitments. As possible future prospects I will finish with an overview about some models of employment for the future.