Webinar draws attention to faces of globalisation

Prof Yeah (top row, centre) with participants

The Institute of Management and Leadership Development (IMLD) and Belt and Road Strategic Research Centre (BRSRC) jointly organised a webinar titled The Changing Faces of Globalisation: Implications for Malaysia and Coping Strategies on 12 July 2022 via Microsoft Teams. 

The invited speaker was Prof Dr Yeah Kim Leng, the professor of Economics and director of Economic Studies Programme at Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University. He is also the deputy president of the Malaysian Economic Association. He has previously served as an external member of the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee and in various government task forces and committees. 

Prof Yeah during the talk

In the talk, Prof Yeah explained that there is no consensus to define globalisation. People normally define globalisation in terms of the economic aspect. “We can take the definition of globalisation as a dynamic process as well as multidimensional because there are so many aspects of economic integration,” he said. He added that the book ‘Globalisation and Its Discontents’ by the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz showed that globalisation does not benefit everybody equally. 

He shared the different dimensions and key drivers of globalisation. “There are a lot of globalising forces. For example, one of the important forces is the technological revolutions from the first industrial revolution to the 4th industrial revolution which coincides with the wave of globalisation. If trade between countries does not benefit at all, it does not benefit the participating countries. When countries specialise in those activities or in the production of goods and services, they exchange them with other countries, hence it is efficiency gains that actually drive globalisation. In the current phase of globalisation, capital is very important because it provides the means to set up factories, set up investments that resolve job creation of jobs and increase income,” he said, adding that trade and investment liberalisation, arbitrage and international competition are also drivers of globalisation.

He said, “A very important part of understanding the motivation is actually the gains from specialisation, scale economies and globalisation of trade and markets, especially specialisation of labour because the more specialised the way, the more we can achieve higher productivity and results.” He mentioned that globalisation will benefit those that have economy. They are able to capitalise on economies of scale and economies of scope. Besides, he also highlighted the importance of the ability to sustain competitive advantage by adopting R&D and technological innovation that could provide dynamic gains. Furthermore, he presented the key beneficiaries of globalisation 1.0, globalisation 2.0 as well as globalisation 3.0 and beyond. 

He also talked about the effects of globalisation, where the positive effects included increased output and income, the rise of productivity and wages at the firm and country-level, more jobs being created as well as lower product prices. He also shared the negative effects brought by globalisation—more intense international competition, worsen income inequality, increased market concentration and oligopolistic industries, as well as intense competition for trade and FDI among nations. In his conclusion, he mentioned that Malaysia has benefited tremendously from each globalisation wave, especially the third wave, to achieve upper-middle-income status by the early 1990s. He also concluded that Malaysian industries and workforce need to be innovative, enterprising and digital savvy to leverage on G3.0 and the business and job opportunities arising from the transition to G4.0.