I.

Globalization: Ushering the Industrialization Renaissance of Emerging Economies In the last two decades the worlds civilizations have witnessed profound developments in the processes involved in transportation, communication and logistics. These were fundamental technological revolution that spurred the first American large scale complex technological system, the railroad followed by other systems which became the dominant forces in the U.S. economy by 1870 (Smith & Clancy 3). Most importantly it was the non-mechanical technology that made it possible; which arrived in the form of the telegraph and telephone network, new chemical industries, electric lights and power grids. On a national scale these significant but few innovations helped the U.S. transition from the gilded age successfully into the progressive era. What took nations fifty plus years to develop is now being done across the world to economies in a matter of decades. Consequently, recent transportation, communication and trade innovations have allowed the insinuation of world economic singularity to develop that we have come to know as globalization. Globalization is the integration of national economies, expansion of linkages, and the expansion of partnerships and interdependence through trade, finance, investment, technology transfer on a global scale (Edoho 2010). The international and national implications of this process are vast, dynamic and highly complex. These newly fostered international relationships, both corporate and political, can be greatly beneficial for developing nations whereby they can skip years of trial and error already suffered by older economies and quickly see growth. There is however a dark side to exposing commodities of less experienced countries to the more advanced economies. Globalization has for a long time been a contradictory topic among economists because it is a double edged sword, to say that is can be a great benefit but also looms as a possible liability. While opening up new markets and creating new opportunities it simultaneously highlights the issues of economic dislocation, global inequalities and social instability. According to Felix Edoho, the controversies of globalization arise because it tends to integrate the world politically, fragment it economically, polarize it technologically, and differentiate it regionally (Edoho 2010). This multiple dimensionality of the international fabric of trade as a system is not even close to being an exact science whereby human error is completely absent. There is far to many powers at work with different goals and motivations thus a complete lack of unified vision. It is still a dog-eat-dog world but the players are realizing they need resources from each other to survive for the time being. Unfortunately, it is more often the not the already technologically advanced country who walks away the true winner of new trade agreements. Developing nations may not see the Western world as a favorable moral example but the West has for a long time been an economic giant and the success is seemingly driven by our technology. The contemporary perspective today in and of Western industry is that to invest technology with a host of metaphysical properties and potencies, thereby making it seem to be the determinant entity, a disembodied casual agent of social change and of history ultimately creating the illusion that technology drives history (Smith & Clancy 5). Technologically advanced nations are able to use this common rationalization against emerging economies by leveraging this illusion against countries thirsty for new technology. Sadly, these undeveloped countries are in a tight spot and dont have many options otherwise waste crucial years in self-development and risk falling further behind. One could argue they are indebted to older economies for the many years it took them to get streamlined however this attitude is in direct

opposition to an altruistic idea of a globalized economy while resulting in increased trade also decreases cross-border responsibility. Most emerging economies today are only seeing tremendous growth because of a foreign reliance on their goods and services. The large investments made by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union serve as a way for these already complex economies to get quicker and larger scale access to whatever services or materials developing nations have to offer. For example the initial investments in China for cheap labor and manufacturing, India with its heavy human resource supply for I.T. personnel and both Africa and Iraq for their abundant reserves of oil and natural gas. Globalization is destined to produce clear winners and losers but this will not be determined by current market share conditions but who can create sustainable growth with their available commodities. It is not the technology itself that matters but rather the context of the social or economic system in which it is embedded, (Smith & Clancy 8). Diversity in social, economic and cultural development remains another wild card of variability in predicting market outcomes across the board. The correlation between globalizing nations are the affects seen well after business transactions are made. These consistencies are increased urbanization, environmental degradation and falling agricultural output.

II. Growing Demand for Sustainability Metrics in Newly Industrialized Nations It is extremely hard to predict the many outcomes branching from the invention or innovation of a particular technology. The rapid growth in technological capabilities seen today has endowed mankind with an ostensibly unlimited potential for the creation of conveniences and innovative methods. New technology remains a strong driving force behind dynamic and efficient businesses. Companies that are savvy to new process improvement technologies are able to get a job or service completed much faster, cheaper and often of better quality. Countries that are heavily immersed in technology today hold a concrete position of power in the international economy despite a low level of commodity exports. In a globalized economy where jobs are becoming more technical and ever more specialized, the human resource ultimately becomes the most valuable. This rings true because even though there may be significant value in a tangible good, technology is not limited to the physical world and can be stored in ones mind. Outside of being strictly perceived as machines, equipment or systems,

technology is also defined as the study, development and application of devices, machines and techniques for manufacturing and productive processes. II. Higher Industrial Engineering demand with Emerging Economy Boom. For example, in 1971 the Japanese Toyota Automobile Co. started a movement after implementing a new technological innovation making the Toyota production system famous. This new strategy called Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) set in motion a worldwide phenomenon in industry after seeing the great benefits that followed this innovation in thinking as a new manufacturing technology. Most importantly, it showed corporate leaders the importance of good leadership and the lucrative benefits those simple changes in employee manufacturing philosophy can create. Furthermore, TPM is a historic movement because it called for further innovations evolving into more invasive process improvement metrics such as the TPM add on known as LEAN, and additionally ISO9000 certification, Six Sigma, and Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing procedures. All of which resulted in creating improved efficiency, increased employee morale, higher production volume, mitigated environmental damage and reduced production costs. All of the aforementioned enhancements contributed to a holistic reconstruction which ultimately results in optimal sustainability.

World powers are politically and economically drooling over Africas potential in the Global Market. Africas weak infrastructure and political instability have made it difficult for the third world country to utilize their abundance of untapped resources but appear ripe for the picking to outside investors. Today as a result of increased globalization and industrial activity in the Economic Community of West African States (ECQAS) the continent of Africa is seeing gross domestic products (GDP) doubling in a matter of four years in some countries from $45 billion in 2001 to $105 Billion in 2005 (Oshikoya 10). This upward trend of developing third world nations in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) going international presents many old challenges to sustained economic growth however, today we have many new tools and technologies to help countries in Nigerias position to avoid the pitfalls of past industrialization processes. Nigeria is but one of the 15 countries part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECQAS) and accounts half its population and three-quarters of its collective GDP (Oshikoya 1). It is also projected that Nigeria will provide one fourth of the United States oil needs by 2020 as the worlds 8th largest producer of oil and boasts the 7th largest reserves of natural gas. Nigeria is poised to become an economic giant within Africa in the years to come and most agree that they have not come close to their full potential in international markets. Despite the optimism some may hold for the future of Nigerias economy there still exist a variety of problems which

could handicap the nation on the rise. Tigineh Mersha of the University of Baltimore Maryland suggests that nations of the SSA region will be struck with a plethora of problems including high unemployment, declining per capita income, recurring famine, epidemics and environmental degradation (Mersha 1). Nigeria and its surrounding countries cannot provide for and protect its people and interests given the current support systems in place, many decisions will soon need to be made on how to approach this problem and in what time planning horizon the fledgling nation should consider their growth against. Temitope Oshikoya, chief economist of the African Finance Corporation (AFC), in his journal article expresses that Nigeria is progressing far below the potential that they should be realizing currently. He goes on to say that among African countries, Nigeria and South Africa have strong potentials to harness the opportunities and meet the challenges that a global economy can provide. There are many projections about the economic might of the upcoming power that is being driven by a growing population. Nigerias population is relatively young and one of the fastest growing of the SSA and is projected to reach 365 million by 2050 placing it as fourth largest population in the world (Oshikoya 2). As a result, there exists a much needed demand for social and infrastructure services but will place continuous strain on the countrys economic resources needed domestically. It seems that Nigeria suffers from a worsening problem in the distribution of wealth. In terms of social indicators, Nigeria remains ranked among the top 25 poorest countries in the world with per capita income up to $678 as of 2005 which is up from $300 in 1999 (Oshikoya 2). With a national population so great it is a troubling thought to imagine so many living on so little in such a confined area. The industrious companies that drive the nations GDP must figure out ways to get the wealth spread among more than just the corporations. It may be a huge task but

this would result in building up a stronger work force and help with the globalization hurdle of unemployment. The human resources are there but do not have the education or opportunity to insert themselves easily into the working class. On the other hand, there is another measurement provided to assess the nations level of prosperity. The Gross national Product is another metric to distinguish countries levels of economic growth that removes the relationship of geographical location from the equation. According to Oshikoya, Nigeria (28.8%) boasts a much greater GNP than China (13.1%) who is among the lowest and says they are six times that of the United States (Oshikoya 3). Admittedly, he says that these comparisons are rooted in the fact that Nigerias economy is very informal in nature with many transactions happening without any form of documentation. While his statement sounds convincing it contrasts with any public world ranking which has the U.S.A. and China as number one and two for GDP, respectively. If Oshikoyas educated assumptions are correct then that would give merit to Nigerias booming entrepreneurial sector which goes mainly unaccounted for. In order to be seen and respected on a global scale Nigeria must practice better documentation skills because that is the way of the West, Europe and the East. Documentation facilitates higher accuracy and it is that accuracy that has allowed for other nations economies to function with fluidity. Furthermore, to enter the globalized economy there are some incapacitating transactions that had to take place. Not only do countries import and export goods but some of the most valuable resources are human resources. In order to enter the international network, countries such as Nigeria must make sacrifices by allowing their educated to leave the country in search of greater wealth or knowledge. Skilled workers make up two-thirds of the emigrant population of Nigeria which is just above India (60.5%) and South Africa (62.6%) and these are

the people that would be doing the most good to improve the nations social standards (Oshikoya 5). There is an upside to this brain drain because of not only the remittances that average $1.5 billion per year but also the invaluable networking that takes place, providing Nigeria with social and business connections from around the world that it never may have seen if not for their initial sacrifice. On the other hand, it is known that Nigeria has an abundance of human resources. The main issue is getting the majority of them a good education. Nigeria has the third highest number of poor people in the world, only trumped by China and India, with 70 million Nigerians living on less than a dollar a day (Oshikoya 9). People struggling like this do not have the privilege that pursuing an education truly is and must instead worry about where their next meal is coming from for themselves or their family. Additionally, HIV/AIDS is very prevalent in Nigeria at a rate of five percent which is very high in comparison to most developing countries with the SSA at an average of 7.7 percent (Oshikoya 9). This journal article sums up the several key challenges that Nigeria must overcome in order to realize full economic potential as governance, infrastructure bottlenecks, and human development. Ultimately, Oshikoya believes that the one key to ensure future economic growth is that is not done by cyclical factors relating to higher commodity prices but by structural determinants as well (Oshikoya 10). Despite any challenges that Nigeria may face in the future we can be sure they will see steady economic growth around five or six percent annually for the foreseeable future. It is projected that at current production rates Nigeria holds enough oil and natural gas to supply their demand for the next 40 and 110 years, respectively, and hope to almost double operational capacity by 2020. Even without addressing the aforementioned hurdles there is no stopping a country from growing with such an abundance of resources as Nigeria.

Oshikoyas perspective is in direct contrast with the presumptions made by Tigineh Mersha of University of Baltimore who authored Quality, competitiveness and development in Sub-Saharan Africa for the Journal on Industrial Management and Data Systems. Mersha believes, as most industrial engineers would agree, that quality is a growing in international trade as a strategic weapon for gaining a competitive edge. Additionally believes that improvements in quality and productivity will enable firms to increase market share and increase commodity prices in order to strengthen profitability (Mersha 1). This approach from a microeconomic starting point would greatly benefit Nigeria and the rest of the SSA by fostering improvements that have long-term acquisition goals versus macroeconomic procedures that are short term by their drive for instant expansion. If we learn anything from the economies that rule today their degradation implies that you cant plan to far ahead into the future. Nigeria is not going to fall apart if they do not explode their oil and natural gas production capacity in the next ten years. Nigerias main focus should not be growing their GDP. Internal changes can result in external changes of even greater magnitude while requiring fewer resources. Nigeria and the SSA region, as both articles agree, suffer from many intricate problems. The only discrepancies between the two in terms of issues at hand are that they do not agree on declining per capita income and only Mersha mentions environmental degradation as being an issue. By entering the global economy a nation must honor the collective good by assuming environmental responsibility. Otherwise they risk future costs and penalties that are already on the horizon for international trade laws. In order to avoid these pitfalls there are technologies available which guide industries into conformity through the International Standards Organization (ISO). ISO is a certification

that ensures companies that one another are upholding better business practices that promise environmental protection and quality of goods. This program was started in Geneva, Switzerland and has gained worldwide acceptance among most manufactures. Though ISO is a very effective way to increase international attractiveness for Nigerian industries it fails in comparison to the benefits gained from Total Quality Management. ISO registration is a much narrower focus than TQM which as a holistic management practice creates an attitude which seeks to meet and then exceed customer expectation by providing defective-free goods on time all the time (Mersha 2). Most companies do not have enough employees with the technical background to facilitate such an environment therefore Mersha suggests that they start out with ISO certification because it is less invasive and would provide the much needed practice in documentation that Nigeria seems to lack. Once reaching TQM abilities they would benefit from acceptance of positive change, adoption of customer oriented approach, enabling of effective management and workers and increased foreign exchange earnings (Mersha 3). Through the training required to realize these changes Nigeria would also be creating a much more independent and ingenious workforce that would help create the entrepreneurial environment that it needs. TQM enables small incremental changes to cause significant performance improvements and often at the hands of the creativity of the workers themselves; allowing the working class to generate ideas that have great value to the organization and the nation itself (Mersha 5). Contrarily, Oshikoya does not believe that this approach to higher commodity prices will foster the improvements that Nigeria needs. His macroeconomic approach which seems geared toward outside investors, calls for the acceleration of growth without consideration of internal operation procedures or environmental consideration. However, if we look toward the

Middle East countries which rely on a single sector economy, growing GDP without initial attention to internal affairs can create civil unrest and religious dispute as a result of the inescapable feeling of instability and reliance on foreign goods, which Nigeria is most dependent of all the SSA. Mersha seems to be addressing not only industrial engineers but more importantly the manufacturing leaders of Nigeria and the SSA directly by explaining to them what can be done internally to improve operations and quality of life in the region. Mershas writing style appears to be unbiased and direct, using more of a global perspective than the one exhibited by Oshikoya. Oshikoya is a Nigerian native and want the best for his homeland. His biased assumptions from his own personal analysis of financial data and also his planning horizon may result in proposals for changes he wishes to see in his lifetime which do not necessarily benefit Nigeria in the distant future. Mershas approach seems to be more scientific and could actually result in long term sustainable success for the resource abundant country of Nigeria. In order to realize the future that Nigeria would like to see there must be the successful implementation of quality improvement practices which in turn would create a mutually supportive and convergent synergy, thereby blending the basic elements of traditional African values and the socioeconomic realities facing the SSA (Mersha 6). As a student of Industrial Engineering I find Mershas argument to be more compelling, not due to my affiliations, rather because I have seen what TQM can do for companies long term success. Even with only ISO implementation, in a study performed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) it was found that six companies which recently adopted ISO certification achieved returns of 394.5 percent compared to S&Ps 146 percent (Mersha 2). In the bigger picture entire nations as an entity can be viewed as a business macroeconomically, the way to create a better business has been proven to be achieved through micro-economic incremental changes. Oshikoya should not only consider better business

practices as higher production capacity to generate more income but the quality of work, efficiency and environmental protections as the solution to the social issues Nigerians face. When the day comes that they no longer have the resources to sell and barely enough to support their own manufacturing processes then what happens is the entire global bubble will burst and will make the great depression look like the U.S. black Friday shopping spree. This is the worst case scenario and hopefully remains on the far horizons of the foreseeable future. This trend of third world countries industrializing isnt going anywhere but up as technology becomes more transparent, it is crucial that Nigeria who is a leader of this movement becomes the example for the rest of the SSA. It is likely that technological developments will one day be able to rid us of our fossil fuel dependency but that is dependent on one crucial factor, time. Time seems to be the greatest factor that is causing discrepancies between solution proposals. This collapse could happen or not happen within the window of a year. The important thing is that we currently do everything in our power to increase the time we have to be able to rely on resource reserves until technology reaches the apex necessary to save us from ourselves.

Works Cited (MLA)

Adegbuyi, P.A.O., and J.O. Uhomoibhi. "Trends in the Development of Technology and Engineering Education in Emerging Economies." Multicultural and Education Technology Journal 2.3 (2008): 132-39. ProQuest. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. The authors, P.A.O. Adegbuyi and J.O. Uhomoibhi, are part of the Technology and Environmental Science at Lagos State University and University of Ulster, respectively. Their affinity for educational reform is likely a result of their own disappointments in current conditions. In their field they see a growing gap between engineering curriculums in nations with emerging economies whose material is stagnant and not at pace with technology that is available now.

Akintayo, Dayo I. "Job Security, Labour-Management Relations and Perceived Workers' Productivity In Industrial Organizations: Impact Of Technological Innovation." International Business & Economics Research Journal 9.9 (2010): 29-37. ProQuest. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. The author, Dayo Akintayo, is a senior research member of the Institute of Education in Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago Iwoye, Nigeria and has published over 40 articles in prestigious Journals. His research as an associate of the Nigerian Institute of Personnel Management is centered around Human Resource management/Managerial Psychology. His aptitude for the analysis of technological innovations implications for the workplace is very high, especially in the Nigerian context as he is a native of the country. His data is procured via questionnaire from 321 respondents. He utilized statistical research methods in the development of his methodology for the experiment and uses a 95% confidence level.

Aprioku, Innocent M. Consequence of rural industrialization: the case for the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria. Geo Journal 48.4 (1999): 313-321. ProQuest. Web 25 Oct. 2011. Edoho, Felix M.

Mersha, Tigineh. Quality, competitiveness and development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Industrial management and Data Systems 100.3 (2000): 119-124. ProQuest. Web. 1 Oct. 2011. Oshikoya, Temitope W. "Nigeria in the Global Economy." Business Economics 43.1 (2008): 31-43. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.