Globalization has been called the new world order and the demise of democracy; the next step toward world peace, stability, and prosperity and the latest stage in the destruction of the earth and its inhabitants. In answer to our call for scholarly investigations and insights about the implications of globalization,

A leading UK based holiday and leisure group was considering outsourcing to help deliver operational efficiencies, and to detect and quickly respond to customer’s needs. Client Challenge Stabilize financial processes and improve financial controls Improve service levels and reduce cost of Finance and Accounting ( F&A), payroll and associated applications management Consider numerous outsourcing options and factors before making the decision. Because the firm’s ability to leverage a global service delivery model was limited, Alsbridge was chosen to guide them through the process.

As we move into the 21st century, our quest to improve the quality of leisure services continues. We are increasingly challenged to account for the use of organizational resources, to identify and define benefits, and to embrace newer, more cost-effective ways of delivering leisure services. Outsourcing has been found to be a particularly powerful management strategy that can help leisure services agencies use their resources more efficiently, increase their responsiveness and flexibility, and offer higher-quality services.

Globalization is the buzzword of the 21st century. If we live in a globalized world, what does this mean for our economies, our cultures, our work and leisure, even our sense of ourselves? Globalization: The Key Concepts presents an accessible and provocative guide to the way we live now.The causes and the effects of globalization are hotly disputed and the book aims to present the range of arguments in a clear and balanced way. However, arguing that variation is as characteristic of globalization as standardization, the book stresses the necessity for a bottom-up, comparative analysis. Distinguishing between the cultural, political, economic and ecological aspects of globalization, the book highlights the implications of globalization for people's everyday lives.

This article is concerned with the engagement of leisure studies as an academic field and as organized, professional intervention with the phenomenon of globalization, using the exemplificatory case of the World Leisure and Recreation Association’s (now World Leisure’s) Sao Paulo Declaration on Leisure and Globalization as a point of reference. Deploying a combination of globalization theory and ‘autoethnographic’ research in relation to instances of mediated leisure culture, it reflects on conceptual imprecision and potential contradictions in the Declaration as indicative of wider problems in the disciplinary field. Leisure studies researchers are enjoined to avoid complicity in promoting both dystopian and utopian versions of globalization theory, and sceptically to assess the complex interaction of globalizing and other macro/micro processes. The article concludes by arguing for a wide‐ranging, critically reflexive leisure studies research agenda supported by principled strategic interventions in leisure power relations.

What is globalization ? Globalization broadly refers to the expansion of global linkages, the organization of social life on a global scale, and the growth of a global consciousness, hence to the consolidation of world society. Such an ecumenical definition captures much of what the term commonly means, but its meaning is disputed. It encompasses several large processes; definitions differ in what they emphasize. Globalization is historically complex; definitions vary in the particular driving force they identify. The meaning of the term is itself a topic in global discussion; it may refer to "real" processes, to ideas that justify them, or to a way of thinking about them. The term is not neutral; definitions express different assessments of global change. Among critics of capitalism and global inequality, globalization now has an especially pejorative ring.

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Tens of thousands of American Airlines employees are on edge, waiting to find out if they will lose their jobs. The airline said Wednesday that it needs to cut 13,000 positions in order to survive, and the plan includes outsourcing some maintenance work. For years, American Airlines and its unions bragged that they were the only ones to still do most of their own maintenance. Nick Soldevere has been working as an aircraft maintenance crew chief at DFW International Airport. “We do pride ourselves on our maintenance work,” he said. But that pride has since turned to fear for Soldevere and thousands of his American Airlines co-workers. “Right now, the level of concern is very high.” After years of doing a majority of its jet maintenance in-house, American Airlines has proposed cutting 4,600 mechanics system-wide, including a complete closure of its heavy maintenance facility at Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport. The airline wants to outsource a portion of that work.

The benefits of global integration have been associated with unprecedented leaps in human development indicators. Technological innovation has accelerated integration both virtually, through the development of fiber optics, the internet and mobile telephony, as well as physically with vast improvements in transport and infrastructure. The spread of people, ideas, trade and the inspiring education revolution has and will continue to offer enormous potential for poverty alleviation and economic opportunity. Yet the downside to globalization is that of increased inequality between and within countries. And the second "side effect" is that the likelihood of increasing numbers of global shocks and crises is growing, as is our vulnerability to them. Little is understood about the risks associated with large-scale system interdependencies. Well beyond purely the financial arena, new systemic risks loom large in areas such as climate change, water and food insecurity, pandemics, resource scarcity, antibiotic resistance, bioterrorism, cybersecurity and supply chain vulnerability.

Advantages of Globalization Goods and people are transported with more easiness and speed the possibility of war between the developed countries decreases free trade between countries increases global mass media connects all the people in the world as the cultural barriers reduce, the global village dream becomes more realistic there is a propagation of democratic ideals the interdependence of the nation-states increases as the liquidity of capital increases, developed countries can invest in developing ones the flexibility of corporations to operate across borders increases the communication between the individuals and corporations in the world increases environmental protection in developed countries increases

Outsourcing is the act of one company contracting with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. Often the tasks that are outsourced could be performed by the company itself, but in many cases there are financial advantages that come from outsourcing. Many large companies now outsource jobs such as call center services, e-mail services, and payroll. These jobs are handled by separate companies that specialize in each service, and are often located overseas.Reasons to Outsource There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about. Depending on location, it may also be more affordable to outsource to companies located in different countries.

So, what is outsourcing? Outsourcing is contracting with another company or person to do a particular function. Almost every organization outsources in some way. Typically, the function being outsourced is considered non-core to the business. An insurance company, for example, might outsource its janitorial and landscaping operations to firms that specialize in those types of work since they are not related to insurance or strategic to the business. The outside firms that are providing the outsourcing services are third-party providers, or as they are more commonly called, service providers.Although outsourcing has been around as long as work specialization has existed, in recent history, companies began employing the outsourcing model to carry out narrow functions, such as payroll, billing and data entry. Those processes could be done more efficiently, and therefore more cost-effectively, by other companies with specialized tools and facilities and specially trained personnel.Currently, outsourcing takes many forms. Organizations still hire service providers to handle distinct business processes, such as benefits management. But some organizations outsource whole operations. The most common forms are information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO).

Prior to offshore outsourcing, U.S. employees were shielded against low-wage foreign labor. Americans worked with more capital and better technology, and their higher productivity protected their higher wages. Outsourcing forces Americans to “compete head-to-head with foreign workers” by “undermining U.S. workers’ primary competitive advantage over foreign workers: their physical presence in the U.S.” and “by providing those overseas workers with the same technologies.” The result is a lose-lose situation for American employees, American businesses and the U.S. government. Outsourcing has brought record unemployment in engineering fields and a major drop in university enrollments in technical and scientific disciplines. Even many of the remaining jobs are filled by lower-paid foreigners brought in on H-1b and L-1 visas. American employees are discharged after being forced to train their foreign replacements.

The present era is said to be an age of globalization. Globalization is a broad term and encompasses varied perspectives. It refers to the global outlook of different nations of the world coming closer and joining hands in terms of economy, education, society and politics. Globalization empowers a view for the entire world as a whole irrespective of the national identity and thus globalization has narrowed the world by bringing people of all nations closer (What is globalization?). Enabling people of one nation to communicate with those of the other nation(s) is the biggest achievement in terms of globalization and development. The culture, trade, business, ethics and conduct of one group in one part of the world can influence others may or may not be of same nation. It is irrespective of the time and space and language bindings as these communications are in terms of trade, social internet forums. The process of globalization is therefore, an amalgamation of interaction and integration among different groups of people, various organizations and governments of different nations. This communication is supported by information technology (What is globalization?). The interaction not only influences people and their welfare in terms of civilization, traditions, political structure, financial growth and affluences but also affects the environment as a whole (What is globalization?).

In order to cut down costs, many firms in developed nations have outsourced their manufacturing and white-collar jobs to Third-World countries like India and China, where the cost of labor is low. The most prominent among these have been jobs in the customer service field as many developing nations have a large English-speaking population - ready to work at one-fifth of what someone in developed world may call 'low-pay'. This has caused a lot of resentment among the people of developed countries, and companies have been accused of taking their jobs away. Another problem is that many Americans are not satisfied with the level of customer service that they are subjected to, and this has caused a lot of animosity among people and has added to the dissent that people already have against outsourcing.

Despite the orthodoxy that outsourcing produces financial savings, the outsourcing industry giants can offer little evidence to support their claims. The same is true of the Government departments who suggest outsourcing will generate savings but then can’t identify these supposed savings on any public accounts. We have had the scandal of re-financing in PFI deals and contractors seeking profits with supposed ‘contract variations’ but it is interesting that even in the area of insurance costs the public purse is left with hidden costs as contractors fail to take risks associated with public serviced delivery.

Globalization is nothing more than a trade war with production looking for a country cheaper to produce. And the war has expanded from trade to production, research, technology, techniques, jobs, payrolls -- the economy. Every nation struggles in the economy war to maintain and build its economy -- except the United States. In the Jan. 7 debate in New Hampshire, Gov. Jon Huntsman exclaimed: "We don't want to start a trade war." Japan started the trade war after World War II by closing its market, subsidizing its manufacture, selling its exports at cost, making up the profit in its closed market -- making Toyota No. 1 as General Motors went broke. In the same debate, Gov. Mitt Romney exclaimed: "We've got to stop China from stealing our jobs." China steals intellectual property -- not jobs. President Obama and Congress do the "stealing" by continuing the tax benefit to offshore jobs. Corporate America invests in China because there are no labor, safety or environmental concerns. If you make a profit, you pay no corporate tax unless profits are repatriated. Just reinvest for more profit. If not profitable, walk away with no legacy cost. Facing this kind of competition in globalization, the U.S. must develop an economy attractive to invest and protect the investment.