ASPECTS OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPLIED IN ...

Annals of the University “Constantin Brâncuşi”of Tg-Jiu, No. 1/2008, Volume 2,
ISSN: 1842-4856
A. Rugman falls in the first category of specialists thinking that globalization never even happened
because production activities and service performance of multinational corporations are organized
on a regional scale not a global one. (8) The author considers multinational corporations to be the
engine of international business but thinking regional and acting local. This is the reason why
Rugman reduces globalization to a process between USA – EU – Japan.
In the second category we have M. B. Steger who sees in globalization an Anglo-Saxon doctrine of
free market based on neoliberal standards and values, globalism being the dominant ideology of our
era. (9)
Regardless of the way the globalization process is understood it is more and more obvious the fact
that globalization is the implacable destiny humanity points to, all states being affected more or less
by its irreversible proceed.
The complex and highly dynamic process of world economy evolution from the post-war period is
determined in the opinion of some specialists by two main things: the creation of most states in the
second half of the 20 th century as a result of the destruction of colonial empires; with the appearance
of these new states the political configuration of world economy was substantially changed,
necessary premise for forming and developing new national economies in the frame of world
economy; the increase and diversification of international economic relations, based on the growth
in labor division on a world-wide plan, throw out the good use of the discoveries in science and
technology. (7) In such a context, the most developed capitalist states accomplished a great
economic expansion mostly throw out the spreading all over the world of trans-national
corporations. The economic expansion of the most evolved capitalist states having the trans-national
corporations defending their interests, contributed to the amplification and diversification of
international economic relations, emphasizing the interdependency among national economies,
driving to the globalization of the markets for most of the products and services, as well as the
capital market, making national borders count less in the world economic trades.
Based on the spreading of the net formed by trans-national corporation and the expansion
accomplished by them in the hole world, each great center with economic power has created for
itself a certain influence zone in which it accomplishes a significant part of its external economic
relations. In this zone preferential relations between partner countries are promoted. Gradually, these
zones were institutionalized (European Economic Community that became the European Union in
1995, National American Free Trade Association – NAFTA, Association of South Eastern Asia
Nation – ASEAN, Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation – APEC).
Simultaneously with the institutionalization of the main influence zones of the grand economic
powers of the world a series of regional organizations belonging to countries in development
progress were founded, especially in Latin America (Common Southern Market - MERCOSUR) and
in Western Africa (The Arab Maghreb Union - Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania,
Western African Community, African Development Community) which target the expansion and
diversification of mutual economic relations, mainly by freedom of commercial trades, with the
purpose of diminishing the under development that affects them.
Thus, the regionalization of world economy represents the main form of the economic integration
and globalization. Regional integration and globalization are considered two objective processes of
the development of the world that are based on technological phenomenal (the boom in the
infrastructure of transport and telecommunications) and on economic phenomenal (the reduction or
removal of national barriers in international flows of goods, services, capital, technology). At