Global Citizenship and Leadership in Changed Learning Environments

Abstract

One of the key characteristics of the global economy is the increasing fragmentation ofproduction into different activities and tasks along global supply chains. This has profoundsocio-economic impacts (ILO, 2015). The rise in global supply chains has been facilitated by asignificant reduction in trade and transport costs and by advances in information andcommunication technology (ICT). Together, these forces have transformed the world into aninterconnected and multipolar production and trading arena. This makes obsolete traditionalnational boundaries and limits. Physical distance is no longer such an obstacle to themovement of goods, services and information. Consequently, the way in which the worldeconomy is structured has dramatically shifted. This brings new types of benefits and risks -with differing implications for firms, workers and learners in both advanced and emergingeconomies. With an ever-greater number of direct and indirect supply relationships betweenfirms, global supply chains have become increasingly complex (Meixell & Gargeya, 2005).