Using examples, analyse the benefits of globalized production for local societies.

To what extent is environmental sustainability incompatible with the growth of globalization?

The different local societies may be in producer or consumer nations/areas. States can be treated as "local" places within a global context.

Examples of “globalized production” can be taken from any sector of industry: agribusiness, manufacturing or service sector (eg the outsourcing of call centres). The benefits for producer nations/areas could be economic (including multipliers, cheaper mass-produced goods, etc) and/or social (eg improved work opportunities for women, increased family wages and thus educational opportunities for children). Also credit the idea of increased consumer choice (eg fast food).

There are also benefits for local societies/regions that are now consumer/post-industrial regions, following global shift/relocation of polluting industries. It can be argued that they have “re-invented” themselves as cleaner, higher-wage societies that additionally benefit from cheap imports of global goods from producer regions.

Do not credit benefits for TNCs, or disadvantages for local societies, as neither is asked for by the question. Any such material should be deemed irrelevant.

For band C, two benefits of globalized production should be described in relation to local society/societies in general.

For band D, expect analysis of either a wider range of benefits and/or recognizable local societies, or a structured account that conceptualizes some different kinds of globalized production.

At band E, expect all of these elements.

Credit all content in line with the markbands. Credit unexpected approaches wherever relevant.

The focus should be whether environmental sustainability – the idea that future generations should enjoy the same landscapes, ecosystem services, resources, etc that are available for living generations – cannot be guaranteed if globalization continues along its current trajectory (with resulting environmental degradation).

Globalization is the growing economic interdependence of the world, accompanied by increased global flows of goods, people, capital, information. The “growth” of globalization is associated with high economic growth rates in emerging economies/NICs/BRICs and this may be commented on/highlighted as an area of particular environmental concern, along with the already large footprint of the USA and, to a lesser extent, Japan, Australia, NZ and EU nations. Some answers may lack focus on globalization/sustainability and instead describe how human activity in general results in problems such as acid rain, eutrophication and nuclear accidents (to name but a few). Such partial answers may still reach the band C/D border if they are sufficiently synthetic (see below).

Possible themes for synthesis linked to sustainability/globalization include:

• growth of core regions [Guide 1]
• growth of transport networks for people and commodities [Guide 2]
• ICT and information flows (may have lower footprint) [Guide 3]
• agribusinesses, polluting industries and waste movements [Guide 4]
• environmental awareness and green messaging [Guide 4]
• food miles and air freight [Guide 4]
• globalization of branded commodities (and implications for resource use and waste) [Guide 5]
• de-industrialization and outsourcing [Guide 2,3]
• some local sourcing movements are rooted in anti-globalization/sustainability rhetoric [Guide 7].

Good answers scoring highly at AO3 may evaluate the extent to which some aspects of globalization are less harmful to the environment than others. Alternatively, a good inquiry of “to what extent” might take the view that growing global environmental awareness, or global cooperation on environmental issues and “technical fixes”, can ameliorate environmental degradation and may yet mean that long-term environmental sustainability is possible.

For band D there should either be a structured synthesis of several well-evidenced themes taken from the subject guide, or a properly evidenced conclusion (or ongoing evaluation) that considers the extent to which the statement is true.

At band E, expect both of these elements.