Marketplace Dimensions

The past two decades have witnessed a steady and gradual progress of globalization. The world has seen unsurpassed reduction of poverty and economic progress in many regions, as a result of the economic liberalization policies. Even though opening up of economies have produced a certain level of unsettlement in some segments of the society, the rewards have far exceeded the drawbacks.

The liberalization of the Eastern European, Chinese, and Indian economies have produced not only abundant opportunities for various multinational corporations, but also brought into light the dire need for global systems that will cater to a world, which is increasingly multipolar in many respects. The increasing cooperation among global economies due to international trade, international flow of capital, international sourcing of processes, and international exchange of intellectual property has resulted in efforts to create common platforms for these multi-dimensional interactions. Additionally, the international markets are developing common levels of awareness, tastes, and demands, as a result of the ability of the consumer to keep tab of the latest developments through the ever-growing influence of the Internet.

As the major global economies are becoming interdependent, globalization is moving to its next phase of "global integration." The phase of integration can be analyzed from three angles, which are provided below:

• Integration of regional capital market systems
• Development of international regulatory regimes
• Growth of international markets with common characterisitics

The integration of regional capital market systems can be observed from the rapid pace of M&A activity in the stock exchange industry. As regional economies are looking for ways to increase influence in the global economy, the secondary market platforms are viewed as powerful mediums for reasons of goodwill generation, capital accessibility, financial infrastructure, commercial viability, and market dynamism.

The continued movement towards developing common accounting and non-accounting standards to manage the generation, flow, and integrity of transactional information is a direct result of the global integration of various entities. The growth of common regulatory regimes will benefit the various stakeholders in numerous ways, ranging from reduced compliance costs to cost-effective and wide-spanned control systems.

As mentioned earlier, the increasing globalization has produced global markets with consumers, who have global tastes, awareness, and inclinations. The result is the delivery of products and services that cater to the needs of a geographically-dispersed-yet-behaviorally-converged global consumer base.

To conclude, with the participation of the major economies, the global economy is taking its initial steps towards global integration.