Globalization: Examples in Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Research in Motion (RIM) uses suppliers from eight different countries to supply parts for its smart phone (Valentino-Devries & Dvorak, 2010). This approach allowed for a high quality product and the best price for the smart phone. It also provides access to key markets. Using the design expertise from around the world and assembling the phones in Mexico, RIM is able to simultaneously take full advantage of global expertise and low material and labor costs to produce a high quality product. It should be noted that RIM is a Canadian company yet no components for the smart phone are supplied by any Canadian company.

Since 2000 there has been a sharp increase in the demand for products in the electronic industry. Much of this comes in the form of networked communications. It is driven by the demand from emerging economies of developing nations for electronic devices. For example, demand for phone service in India has by-passed the land lines and the expense of installing the required infrastructure for land lines to consumers using cell phones with the less expensive and intrusive infrastructure. Such advancements are influenced by cultural considerations and conventions of each nation.