Concluding remarks

The rapid pace of accelerating globalization has changed the face the world in recent years. Changes are apparent in every sphere including business and community lives. Although globalization is not an entirely new concept - human beings have always traded with each other, the focus of the recent move is considered to have much wider impact on our lives. In the last two or three decades, trade and investment barriers have seen significant reductions and many additional countries have been integrated into the world economy. For all practical purposes, the socialist block has disappeared ' the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and, countries such as China and Vietnam have embraced the market economy and opened up to the rest of the world. Several developing nations have also abandoned their protectionist 'self-reliant' approach in favour of more liberal economic and trade policies. As a direct consequence of these changes, the global economy has been more integrated and almost the entire global population is impacted by the process of globalization - directly or indirectly ' in a positive or in a negative way.