the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

modern production, it has moved away from the developed economies to places or
areas that offer some competitive advantage. These may include a milder climate
and an environment of sun, as well as perhaps favourable foreign exchange rates
and local wage levels attractive to tourism entrepreneurs. Hence, tourism is no
different from other forms of commercial activity that seek competitive advantage in
response to change. If one is to focus on shifts from one mode of production to
another, or from one dominant organising principle to another, an explanation is
perhaps to be found not in the endless rhetorical regression of postmodernism but
rather in the process referred to as globalisation (Meethan, 2001).
3.4 Globalisation
The earliest use of the words 'globalise' and 'globalisation' dates back to the mid­
1950s where the terms emerged in a business context characterised by the growth
of international trade (Oxford English Dictionary, 1988). Central to this development
was the post-Second World War rise of trans-border investment that culminated in
the emergence of readily relocatable 'quicksilver capital' and the growth of the
multinational corporation (Pitelis and Sugden, 1991). In the context of these
developments, globalisation has therefore come to refer to the internationally co­
ordinated command and control of the production and dissemination of commodities,
capital and infrastructure (Eisner and Lang, 1991; Barnet and Cavanagh, 1994;
Barber, 1996).
Globalisation, however, does not just mean the extension of trade and other
economic links to all parts of the globe. It also refers to the reorganisation of
activities by the large multinational corporations, on a world-wide basis, without any
real home base or special concerns for a home country. Such firms have a
hierarchical organisation with bases at various levels in numerous countries. They
are often vertically structured, with suppliers of materials and power sources,
manufacturers, and assemblers for final markets, all forming part of the main
enterprise. As a result of this, they occupy major urban centres around the world and
bring large revenues to these centres through their high-paid executives and through
the growth of business services such as accountants, financial services and lawyers
to handle their regional problems (Morris, 1998).
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