Introduction
Globalization is a multidimensional phenomenon concurrent with humankind’s
development over the last few decades, or even centuries, as some authors believe.
Nowadays, no area of our lives escapes the influence of globalization. The
introduction of the term ‘globalization’ in the economic domain is attributed to
T. Levitt, who conducted deliberations about the impact of new technologies on the
foundation of global markets of standardized goods, and the role of transnational
corporations in these processes. Levitt’s insights were presented in the article entitled
The Globalization of Markets1 published in 1983. Since then ‘globalization’ has become
one of the most frequently used terms in scientific literature and journalism.
This monograph – developed by Japanese and Polish researchers – primarily
focuses on the economic and cultural aspects of globalization, as these factors,
together with technological changes, constitute the basis for this process. It is worth
underlining that modern technologies were the inducement for creating new
foundations and additional incentives to explore the previously known motives for
the development of economic activity. Such technologies involve the production
technologies, the supply of services, and the various aspects, for instance those
related to transportation, communication, and data processing.
At the same time, it turned out that the permanent pursuit of profit maximization
carried out by numerous economic actors, including enterprises and individuals,
causes multiple distortions associated with globalization. This observation indicates
the necessity of some coordination of action rules on an international scale, lacking
in the current stage of the development of globalization.
However, in this author’s view, the development of globalization, despite the
disadvantages and distortions that it causes, is inevitable unless the world is
unexpectedly devastated by some contingency. Technological progress, together
with knowledge, gives us the following tools to overcome future obstacles and
accomplish new findings, even though the world economy may be temporarily
experiencing periods of the curtailment global integration curtailment, ‘black swans’
such as COVID-19.
This monograph aims to study and present selected challenges that arise from
globalization and discuss the above-mentioned issues from the macroeconomic or
mesoeconomic perspective and also considers the cultural aspects of the global
economic phenomena.
1 T. Levitt (1983), The globalization of markets, “Harvard Business Review” (May-June), pp. 92-102.
