TLH334: Globalization, Food, Drink Consumption and Cultural Identity

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of globalization's effects on food and drink consumption, focusing on the concepts of homogenization and heterogenization. It examines how globalization integrates people, organizations, and governments worldwide, increasing interdependence through the exchange of goods, services, technology, and information. The essay delves into political, social, and economic aspects of globalization, highlighting both positive and negative impacts. It also explores the contrasting aspects of homogenization, which can lead to the loss of local culture, and heterogenization, which embraces multiculturalism and diversity. Furthermore, the essay discusses the factors that need consideration when planning and operating a food business, including financial requirements, location, pricing strategies, menu design, product quality, skilled workforce, interior design, marketing, and competitive analysis. The conclusion synthesizes the key findings, emphasizing the multifaceted influence of globalization on the food and drink industry and the crucial considerations for business success.

Questions
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SECTION A.....................................................................................................................................3
Globalization and aspects of homogenization and heterogenization to food and drink
consumption.................................................................................................................................3
SECTION B.....................................................................................................................................4
Factors need to be considered while planning to open food business.........................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
This study is being divided into 2 sections. First section is going to discuss critical
impacts of globalization (Martell, 2016). It will also show different terms homogenization and
heterogenization in the context of food and drink consumption and globalization. Section 2 will
show some factors which need to be considered by a businessman while making a plan about
operating a new food business.
SECTION A
Globalization and aspects of homogenization and heterogenization to food and drink
consumption
Globalization refers a process of integration as well as interaction among people,
organizations and governments worldwide. It has increased interdependency of world's
economies, populations cultures by trade of goods and services, technology, people and
informations (Beck, 2018). Globalization has made several critical changes for developed
countries. Some positive impacts which globalization has upon people of developed countries
are: education, technology, trade, employment, culture etc. It is also increasing the flow of
international capital. This is being divided into 3 parts such as political globalization, social
globalization and economic globalization. For more understanding the meaning and impacts of
globalization it is discussed in its all 3 parts in a detailed manner such as:
Political globalization: It can be defined as the extent to which political co-operations
exists between different countries. It has increased power of nations, expanded new political
parties. On the other hand it has some negative impacts as well such as it has weakened
hegemony of states in illegitimate controlling of nations.
Social globalization: It refers sharing of informations as well as ideas between different
countries in order to develop countries. Some examples of social globalization which has made
exchange of informations easy are: social media and internet.
Economic globalization: It refers interconnection of economies via exchanges of
resources and trade as well. It also has both positive and negative impacts on the developed
countries. One of the main example by which countries are satisfying their needs is: developed
countries like USA sent their technologies to developing countries and help them to improve
their way of processes and in exchange they import natural resources (Scheuerman, 2017).
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There are 2 aspects of globalization which impacts on it in different manner.
Homogenisation is those who have negative impacts and known as dominant culture whose main
aim is to eliminate the local culture (Paterson, 2017). Nowadays societies are becoming
homogeneous. It leads to loss of individual religion. On the other hand, heterogenization refers
multicultural society which means region culture is accepted by other cultures. The main aim of
this aspect is to increase cultural diversity and having positive impacts.
In the context of food and drink consumption, it can be said that food industry focusing
on expanding business and those products which are healthy and can fit to people in both terms:
budget and lifestyle. A common method of food processing, manufacturing companies are
utilizing cost effective production and safely produce there good is high pressure
homogenization. One of the most uses in food and drink consumption for homogenization is for
milk and different types of sauces which they use for spread salads. Some other products are fruit
juice, egg products, baby food, sweeteners (Lawrence and Almas, 2018). The homogenization
pressures used for these products which are range from 20-60 MPa, but some homogenizers have
reached pressure of up to 400 Mpa.
On the other hand, heterogenization and growing globalized also playing a crucial role
which is having positive impacts on economy. They are very open to ideas as they value of
different countries. It has developed several food organizations and make them global such as
McDonald's, Coca-Cola etc. Both these brands have different cultural connotations as well as
consumed quite differently in different places (Ger, 2017).
SECTION B
Factors need to be considered while planning to open food business
Opening a new business in not an easy task as there are several factors which need to be
considered while making a planning and operating them. In the context of food business, it can
be said that food industry of UK is increasing day by day. There are many people who want to
invest amount in food materials (Melkonyan and et.al., 2019). Food and drink industry is
considered one of the largest manufacturing sector in the UK. For being in a competition and
attracting wider range of customers and making a new food business successful it is important to
consider some factors which are:
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Requirement of money and sources: Money is one of the important element in which
everything depends on For opening a new food business, company needs investing in tools,
purchasing a land, employing people. For completing all function they need money. So, while
making a plan and opening a food business, thinking about required money and sources of
getting them is important factor.
Location: Location of the restaurant also plays an important role. While making
planning, it is important to think about a location where people can come at any time as in the
open market. It should be at a place which is convenient to people.
Prices of products: Prices is other important element which can help company in
becoming successful. There are several people who compare prices of food products of one
restaurant with others. It affects customers' buying decision-making. So, businessman needs to
analyse prices food products of other companies for selecting the best pricing strategy.
Menu: There are different types of menu like meatless options and others. It should be
considered by businessman as per the target market (Lin and et.al., 2016). If target market of the
company are non-vegetarian than they should include non-vege option.
Quality of products: Quality of food products is one of the key of the success of
business. People often go to restaurant for having different tastes of food products and when they
get food products as per their taste and higher quality than they become potential and loyal
customers. So, for retaining customers, it is one of the main factor which needs to be considered.
Skilled workforce: Employees are the one who help companies in accomplishing their
goals. Businessman needs to think about sources from where they can recruit skilled workforce
who have skills and ability to attain guests and satisfy their needs.
Interior: Nowadays, interior of restaurants has become one of the main factor which
customer consider while selecting restaurant. They often prefer to go a restaurant which has good
ambiance and interior. They feel good and peaceful in that type of place (Hosseininia and
Ramezani, 2016).
Marketing: Marketing is one of the important function by which companies make aware
to people about their products and features of services. Until people do not have knowledge
about a new business, they will not go there. So, businessman think about promotional strategies
while planning of opening a new business.
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Competition and strategies: To know about the intensity of competition, nearby
restaurants is also important. If a businessman has selected a location but there are already 2-3
more restaurants than they will require making changes. By knowing intensity of competition
and needs of customers which they prefer, companies can develop strategies accordingly.
So, from the above, it can be said that by considering all these factors while making a
plan about opening a new food business and operating them, businessman can make growth and
accomplish their pre-determined goals as well.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been concluded that globalization has positive and negative
impacts on developing and developed countries. It has also shown 2 aspects of globalization such
as homogenization and heterogenization. Further, it discussed some factors which are being
considered by businessman in order to make successful.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Beck, U., 2018. What is globalization?. John Wiley & Sons.
Ger, G., 2017. Consumption in the web of local and global relations of dominance and
belonging. In Routledge Handbook on Consumption (pp. 121-134). Routledge.
Hosseininia, G. and Ramezani, A., 2016. Factors influencing sustainable entrepreneurship in
small and medium-sized enterprises in Iran: A case study of food industry.
Sustainability. 8(10). p.1010.
Lawrence, G. and Almas, R., 2018. Globalisation, localisation and sustainable livelihoods.
Routledge.
Lin, J. and et.al., 2016, March. A business zone recommender system based on Facebook and
urban planning data. In European Conference on Information Retrieval (pp. 641-647).
Springer, Cham.
Martell, L., 2016. The sociology of globalization. John Wiley & Sons.
Melkonyan, A. and et.al., 2019. Scenario Planning for Sustainable Food Supply Chains. In
Innovative Logistics Services and Sustainable Lifestyles(pp. 211-233). Springer, Cham.
Paterson, M., 2017. Consumption and everyday life. Routledge.
Scheuerman, W.E., 2017. Economic Globalization and the Rule of Law 1. In Constitutionalism
and Democracy (pp. 437-460). Routledge.
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