Blog Portfolio

{ December 12, 2006 @ 11:22 pm } · { Blogroll, FSEM100J, Uncategorized }
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For my blog portfolio, I would like to include all of my blogs. I am doing this because I did not write nearly enough blogs as I should have. For me, writing blogs was a struggle. At first, I didn’t write any blogs because I honestly was scared of the new technology and was not comfortable with writing something that was not perfectly polished. Now I can confidently say that I know how to write and manage a blog, but I still feel apprehensive. I think that I just need more experience as well as a little more push and direction regarding blog topics.

Once I got a topic in mind, however, I had little trouble writing about it. Oftentimes, the idea would be sparked by class discussion or by some other class or experience. For the most part, all of my blogs are about something that I came across by accident that made me think about globalization.

One thing that I like to do in my blogs is to raise further questions that may or may not be answered. I did this with the hopes that someone else would read my blog and have a reaction just like I did. I hoped that I could get other people thinking about the same things I was and could discuss through comments or in class. Although this seemed like a good idea, it was difficult because few people commented on my postings.

I can’t complain though because I commented on very few people’s blogs, but it was not for lack of interest. I would look at the postings by my peers and was awed by their superiority to my postings. Honestly, some of the bloggers in the class intimidated me and that might be another reason why I backed away sheepishly from blogging.

I know there are really no good excuses to why I have few blog postings, however, I do feel that I have grown as a blogger and technology user from this class. Even though I definitely struggled I feel like it was a worthwhile class and that I am much better off as a student and a person.

Globalization’s effects on Pearl Earrings

{ December 12, 2006 @ 11:21 pm } · { Blogroll, FSEM100J }
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The final for my human geography class this semester was a paper that traced a product of choice through its different stages of manufacturing and selling. Pearl earrings from Kay Jewelers, a seemingly simple good, were the product that I chose. When I started to research for the paper I was so surprised how many places and people in the world had a hand in the making of the earrings. The Pearls were cultured in Japan, China, and Australia, the gold was made in Africa, South America, and the US, and the headquarters of the parent company was based in
London, England. All six populated continents had some influence on the making of this small luxury.

            Also in my research I came across many references to “dirty gold.” This meant that much of the world’s gold was being mined in poverty stricken areas and the mining was negatively affecting the people that lived on those lands.

            Globalization was the main theme of my paper as well as most everyone’s in my class. Below is the paper that I wrote for the class:

 

Pearl earrings are considered a beautiful accessory that creates a simple and elegant look for any woman of any nationality. Once very rare, pearls can now be found in many parts of the world naturally as well as artificially. The gold used in the backings can be found all on six populated continents. However, it takes a company to put all the resources found across the globe together to create this product. Kay Jewelers, a division of Sterling Jewelers Inc, produces quality jewelry through international resources that includes pearl earrings (“About Kay Jewelers”).Globalization has aided Kay Jewelers to become the “largest specialty retail jeweler in the world” (“About Kay Jewelers”). The process of gathering the components, putting the earrings together, marketing the product, and the earrings finally being consumed uses the expertise of people around the world in such a manner in that has a distinct international flavor.     

Although Kay Jewelers started as a family business in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1916 by two brothers, Sol and Edmund Kaufmann, it grew into a large corporation based in
Akron, Ohio (“Kay History”). Signet Group plc whose headquarters are in
London, England, is the parent company of Kay Jewelers (“About Kay Jewelers”). Since Signet Group plc is so large and has so much influence in the jewelry industry, it has many different suppliers of materials, especially gold. The most merchandise that any one supplier provided for Signet Group plc was ten percent during the 2005/2006 fiscal year (”Risk and Other Factors”). Mostly, Signet Group acquires their gold through the use of options, forwarding contracts, and commodity purchasing (“Risk and Other Factors”). However, due to the power and prestige of the corporation, there is no way of knowing exactly where all of the materials originate.

The gold that is used in Kay Jewelers’ jewelry could possibly come from any continent, excluding
Antarctica. Although, the country that supplies the highest percentage of gold is
South Africa which produces twelve percent of the world’s gold (“Mine Production”). Followed closely behind South Africa is the US and
Australia          who individually produce ten percent of the gold in the world (“Mine Production”).

Mining gold and refining it are a lengthy process. Once gold ore is found in an area, a huge pit is drilled and samples of the ore are collected and categorized into high grade and low grade ores (“How Gold is Produced”). The low grade ore is diluted in a cyanide solution while the high grade ore is treated in a recovery circuit and then leached in cyanide as well (“How Gold is Produced”). To get the gold from the solution, it is absorbed by carbon and placed in a container filled with other chemicals that separate the gold from the carbon and then precipitates through electrolysis (“How Gold is Produced”). Finally, the almost pure gold is melted into bars and sent to a refinery where any impurity is chemically forced out of the gold (“How Gold is Produced”). Although this process is used everywhere in the world, it contains many ingredients that can harm the environment such as the waste produced through the cyanide solution and the carbon solution.  

Even though many of the countries that mine gold follow regulations, gold is mined in many places that are remote and have few regulations. This causes an avalanche of environmental and humanitarian concerns. Poisoned waters, solid waste, polluted air, and threatened natural areas are all environmental concerns that are dealt with when mining gold (”Dirty Gold’s Impacts”). These environmental concerns have a large impact on the communities around the gold mines. Many mines are located in territories formerly occupied by indigenous people and by having a mine, there is a loss of the traditional way of life (”Endangered Communities”). The town is flooded with the influx of people looking for jobs in the mines and the indigenous culture suffers (”Endangered Communities”). In addition, the profession of mining is one of the most dangerous in the world and oftentimes the workers have few, if any, rights (”Dirty Gold’s Impacts”).

  Even though there are many places with unethical gold mining practices, there are places that follow national and international regulations. Signet Group plc is a founding member of a group called the Council for Responsible Jewelry Practices which works to “[promote] responsible business practices in a transparent and accountable manner throughout the industry from mine to retail” (”Risk and Other Factors”). Thus, it appears that Signet Group, and therefore Kay Jewelers, receives its gold from credible sources that do not harm people or the environment.

Not only are there concerns about the environmental impacts of gold mining, but there is worry over the production of pearls as well. Nowadays, it is very hard to find oysters in natural environments that produce pearls because the nesting beds are being ravished by people who need the oysters to artificially cultivate pearls and fragile oceanic ecosystems are being interrupted (“Pearls and Trade”). Even though most countries have laws regarding the removal of wildlife from their natural habitats, it is hard for countries to enforce the rules because oysters are found in water territories (“Pearls and Trade”). Once the oysters are removed and used for pearl cultivation, however, other elements of the environment affect their health. Since water characteristics are changing due to rising sea temperatures and nutrients in the ocean are becoming more scare, traditionally high producers of pearls such as Japan and Australia are producing less and less (“Pearls and Trade”).

Even though
Japan’s cultured pearl production is decreasing, they still manage to produce about eighty percent of the world’s marketable pearls (“Pearls and Trade”).
Japan is probably the forerunner in the cultured pearl business because Kokichi Mikimoto, a Japanese man, figured out the process of culturing in 1893 (“Pearls and Trade”). By inserting a small piece of a mother-of-pearl shell found in freshwater mussels as well as a minute piece of mantle tissue inside the pearl oyster’s gonad, the oyster will secrete nacre (the material the makes up a pearl) (McLaurin).

The seas around Japan, as well as the waters off the coast of the third country in which the most pearls are produced,
China, are where the pearls used by Kay Jewelers originate (“Cultured Pearls”). Mostly, freshwater pearls are produced from China and saltwater pearls, also known as akoya pearls, are produced by Japan (“
Pearl”). When receiving pearls, Kay Jewelers only accepts the top ten percent of the harvested cultured peals based on nacre, color, shape, and surface perfection (“Cultured Pearls”).

Once the highest quality gold and peals are produced, the products need to be assembled. However, due to the complex supply chains that Signet Group uses, it is impossible to trace where the products are manufactured (“Suppliers”). Another reason why the processed materials are so hard to trace is because Signet Group trades through commodity exchanges and through multiple brokers and traders (“Suppliers”). Also, the merchandise is purchased by Signet group from many different suppliers it is oftentimes cheaper to buy the finished product then resort to direct sourcing (“Operations”).

After the pearl earrings are in finished product form, they need to be marketed in order to be sold. The main way of selling this product, as is the same for any other product, is to increase name recognition for the company (“US Marketing and Advertising”). Kay Jewelers, with it catchy phrase “every kiss begins with Kay,” advertises through all types of mediums such as “television, radio, print, catalogues, direct mail, telephone marketing, customer relationship marketing, point of sale signage, in-store displays and the internet” (“US Marketing and Advertising”). These channels of advertising are used at seasonal times when people are more likely to purchase jewelry for themselves or as gifts (“US Marketing and Advertising”). Also, people of high socioeconomic status are usually targeted as customers. The location of the stores, mostly in suburban malls, is a factor that contributes to marketing to the sector of society that is most likely to purchase pearl earrings (“US Real Estate”).  

From the gold mines in Africa and the seas of
Japan to the store at the local mall, the journey of pearl earrings is one that encompasses the whole world. Many people play both small roles such as the gold miner and big roles such as the corporate executive in order to deliver a quality product to the average person. However, the hands that toil in the mines, the seas, at the desks, and in the stores are hands of people of many different nationalities. It is astounding how many lives such a small and simple, yet beautiful, product can affect.

 

 

     

 

Works Cited

“About Kay Jewelers.” Kay Jewelers. 2006. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.kay.com/lwp/wcm/connect/Kay/Customer+Service/About+Kay+Jewelers/>.

“Cultured Pearls.” Kay Jewelers. 2006. 2 Oct. 2006. <http://www.kay.com/lwp/wcm/connect/Kay/Education+Center/Cultured+Pearls+Guide/Cultured+Pearls+Detail/>.

“Dirty Gold’s Impacts.” Earthworks. 2004. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.nodirtygold.org/dirty_golds_impacts.cfm>.

“Endangered Communities.” Earthworks. 2004. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.nodirtygold.org/endangered_communities.cfm>.

“How Gold is Produced.” 2006. National Mining Association. 3 Nov. 2006 <http://www.nma.org/technology/gold_production.asp>.

“Kay History.” Kay Jewelers. 2006. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.kay.com/lwp/wcm/connect/Kay/Customer+Service/About+Kay+Jewelers/Kay+History/>.

McLaurin, Douglas. “How Pearls are Formed: the Pearl Sac Theory.”
Perlas Del Mar De Cortez. Feb. 2005. 2 Nov. 2006 <http://www.perlas.com.mx/english/pearlsac.html>

“Mine Production.” World Gold Council. 13 Apr. 2006. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.gold.org/value/markets/supply_demand/mine_production.html>.

“Operations.” Signet Group. 2006. 2 Oct. 2006. <http://www.signetgroupplc.com/pages/300/Operations.stm>

“Pearl.” Wikipedia. 6 Nov. 2006. 6 Nov. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearls>.

“Pearls and Trade.”

American
University. 6 Nov. 2006 <http://www.american.edu/ted/pearl.htm#r2>.

“Risk and Other Factors.” Signet Group Plc. 2006. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.signetgroupplc.com/pages/176/Risk+%26+Other+Factors.stm>.

“Suppliers.” Signet Group. 2006. 6 Nov. 2006 <http://www.signetgroupplc.com/pages/252/Suppliers.stm>.

“US Marketing and Advertising.” Signet Group. 2006. 6 Nov. 2006 <http://www.signetgroupplc.com/pages/199/US+Marketing+%26+Advertising.stm>.

“US Real Estate.” Signet Group Plc. 2006. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.signetgroupplc.com/pages/197/US+Real+Estate.stm>.

 

Online Job Searching

{ December 12, 2006 @ 11:20 pm } · { FSEM100J }
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So I decided that I needed to get a job over Christmas break. However, I didn’t go home over Thanksgiving break so I couldn’t look for jobs then. I heard through one of my friends that I could apply to Macy’s online. When I found the website I was amazed at all the different level of positions and how much of the application process could actually be done on the web.

            This got me thinking about globalization and how it now affects people who are looking for jobs as well as the job application process. What did people do before the internet let alone websites such as Monster? The process of finding and applying for a job is very streamlined now.

            Even though I could complete the application for a New York store sitting at my computer in
Virginia, I am still required to come to the store for an interview before I am hired. I guess this makes me feel better about the employees at Macy’s since I really wouldn’t want a person serving me who is incompetent at customer service. However, the way that I was assigned an interview was through the web. I was given a certain date and time but was able, through the use of a drop box, to pick a date and time that was good for me.

            If the Macy’s application isn’t a result of globalization, then I don’t know what is. How is it that a decade ago, people would never have even thought to look at the internet for a job and now people are spending all of their time searching online job recruiting sites? What are the implications of this? Will people be less inclined to be customer friendly? Or has that already occurred through outsourcing of jobs?

{ November 14, 2006 @ 9:30 pm } · { Blogroll, FSEM100J }
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So tonight as I was procrastinating doing all my work I was, of course, on Facebook. However, as I was looking on the newsfeed, I saw an interesting group that one of my friends joined called “I wish I were your derivative so I could lie tangent to your curves.” When I scrolled down to the wall postings, I saw this website that everyone kept posting and told people to join. I was curious so I went to the URL. When I got to the site, it explained this game called LOST. Basically, it is a project by a group of students who wanted to see if seven million people could be connected. In order to see if this was possible, a person has to be invited by seeing a certain URL for the game starting with www.lost.eu that is followed by a few characters like www.lost.eu/51f3. The only way to lose in this game is if by the seventh day that one has joined, they have received no points. To gain points, you must invite people. For every person that one invites, they receive one point and for every person that those people invite, one receives a half point. Whoever has the most points when the group has reached seven million is the winner and wins a certain monetary amount.

            Now what does all this have to do with globalization you ask? Well seven million people is quite a large number. This group originated in
Europe and is already all the way to the states. Imagine just how many people this will reach by the time seven million are contacted. Already in its third week of existence, people on all six populated continents have joined. According to one graph on the website, membership has increased exponentially, as it should. The real question is how fast will the group reach seven million people?

            The concept of the group has a lot to do with the theory of six degrees of separation. Meaning, that everyone in the world can be connected through six people. I certainly think that this is a plausible idea. Especially now that we have technology such as the internet that so many people have access to. However, there still are many places in the world that have limited or no internet access such as Africa and parts of
Asia. Yes, these places may be hard to reach, but they are coming closer and closer to becoming more developed countries.  

            Anyways, I think that this group serves an interesting purpose and I think it will be fascinating to follow the numbers. Also, I think it will be interesting to see if the group continues to grow exponentially or if it will hit a plateau before it reaches the coveted seven million members. So here is my cordial invitation to you all to join; all you have to do is click on this link www.lost.eu/51f3 and set up a username and password and you are set! Just don’t forget to invite other people and check occasionally to see how this globalization experiment is coming along.  

“Made in the USA”

{ November 1, 2006 @ 11:30 pm } · { FSEM100J, Uncategorized }
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All four of the companies mentioned in recent articles in the Wall Street Journal in their series “Made in the U.S.A.” are maintained in the US because each company fills a niche that is hard for foreigners to copy.

For example, the Bobcat Company finds that it is easier to stay in
North Dakota where its roots are very strong and the workers are very loyal. Also, the domestic location of the business enable it to ship replacement parts in a very short period of time that foreign companies could not even dream of.

The same concept is true for the Schantz Organ Co that uses manual labor to produce all of its products. It would certainly be difficult to transport large and cumbersome organs from countries abroad. Another reason why the Schantz Organ Co remains in the
US is its highly skilled work force. It takes many years for a person to become an expert worker in the different types of work that need to be accomplished to produce an organ. Not only are workers highly specialized, but they take on “responsibility for an entire chunk of production.” However, as with the Bobcat Company, deep community ties are a strong factor as to why the company stays in the
US.


Warsaw, IN sees the same type of influence in the orthopedic replacement field. This small town community buzzes with activity from the many companies that are congregated all in the name of artificial body parts. The power that the area generates over the field from the concentration of companies is another of the reasons that it remains in the
US. Another important reason is the amount of regulations that
America has on artificial parts and the reduced hassle of buying the parts from an American company that abides by the regulations.

This leads one to thinking of the quality of goods. A company that focuses on quality and stays in
America because of its reputation is Viking. The appliances that Viking produces are “cult object[s].” People will pay higher prices for products from Viking because of its name and therefore, Viking can afford to sell for more. Another way that Viking cuts costs in order to stay in business in
America is to custom make each product in order to eliminate any costs incurred by stocking warehouses.

 These four enterprises are all proof that globalization does not necessarily mean that all factory jobs in the
US will be eliminated. The companies mentioned provide hope for a desperate country that is rapidly loosing jobs overseas by providing examples of effective measures that will make their companies prosper. This all proves that it is possible to keep the jobs that many feared were lost.

{ October 24, 2006 @ 9:01 pm } · { FSEM100J }
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While searching for inspiration for my next blog, I came across this website: http://www.faceoftomorrow.com/home.asp. The concept that the site is trying to promote is that the “face of the future” can be previewed by combining a few faces from people that are currently living in a certain city. This idea seemed really interesting and very pertinent to our class. The website’s question that it is trying to answer is, “What might a typical inhabitant of this new metropolis look like in one or two hundred years if they were to become more integrated?” (Mike Mike).

            The originator, author, and photographer for the project is Mike Mike. He developed the idea of a “common face” throughout his travels. While he was in
Istanbul, he noticed the uniformity of looks that most people shared. “[Since Istanbul is] situated… at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, you can see how this process has been at work over the last thousand years as waves of humanity from Central Asia, Arabia, Greece and Rome have been absorbed. The resulting population is fairly uniform suggesting that if you could combine all the faces in a city right now you would be looking at the future face of that city” (Mike Mike). This led him to the conclusion that this was the future of other cities such as
London due to globalization.

            In order to create a face, or really two faces (one male and one female), for each city, Mike Mike uses overlaying photographic techniques. Also, to make sure the faces are fairly accurate, he stops people at random on the streets.           

              Right now, Mike Mike has photographed one hundred faces in each of sixteen cities that have spanned over four continents. He is also in the process of creating faces for cities in North America such as Washington, D.C. and
Austin, Texas. Once Mike Mike finishes photographing and creating all the cities that are announced to be “coming soon” on the website, there will be two faces each for thirty cities across six continents.

            My question for Mike Mike would be what about a world face? I would be curious if he thought that there could be a possibility that a there would be enough integration between people in all corners of the globe. I think that he should try to do an overlay of all thirty males and all thirty females once his project is complete for the ultimate sense of globalization. The only other question I have is how long would it take for everyone in the world to look the same? This is a very scary thought.      

Image of Globalization

{ September 18, 2006 @ 9:33 pm } · { FESM100J, Uncategorized }
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Globalization

Originally uploaded by Sharrie.

I’ve seen pictures like this before and I always thought they were a good symbol of globalization so I was excited when I found this. I really like the contrast between the new and the old. The great wall of China is such a powerful symbol but it seems almost ruined by the can of coke. This shows how Americanism can creep into a corner of the world that has so much of its own culture already.

Discussion in Geography Class

{ September 13, 2006 @ 2:59 pm } · { FSEM100J, Uncategorized }
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Yesterday in my human geography class, which just happens to be right after our FESM 100J class, we started to learn about Rostow’s five stages of development and modernization. After going into detail about each stage (traditional society, preconditions for “take-off”, “take-off”, drive to maturity, and high mass comsumption), our class had a provocative discussion that led me to think of globalization. The professor started out by asking us where we thought parts of the world were categorized and why.

            This led me to the conclusion that most of the world is now at the high mass consumption stage, but there are still many pockets in the world that have yet to be touched. After I just had this thought, our professor whipped out a graph demonstrating how the richest five percent of countries have gotten richer over the past few decades and the poorest have gotten poorer.

            Then our class started heading down the path of how richer countries are exploiting poorer countries. I realized at that point that at no point in time will the entire world be at the high mass consumption stage. This could not happen because the poor, agriculturally based countries depend on the richer countries to buy their goods and without the goods produced in the poor countries, there would be no cheap goods. The result of this would be for the price of goods to infinitely increase.

            Just curious, what do you guys think will happen to the world in the future if 1) everyone in the world were to be at the high mass consumption stage and/or 2) we were so polarized and only had traditional societies and high mass consumption?