Political Science

Human beings have been able to register many achievements among them those that have moved them from uncivilized way of life to a civilized way of life that is characterized by easy and fact communication, developed infrastructure and the use of technology in nearly every area of their lives. As a result, societal interaction has increased to such a level that one does not need to be in a particular place to register his presence in that place. Instead, one only needs to use the available technology that is at his disposal. The movement of goods and services too has not been left behind.

In the modern world, goods can be moved from part of the world to another within the shortest possible time. For example, flowers can be transported from Africa to Europe within a couple of hours without them going bad. As a result of this rapid movement of goods, there has been a development of a complex network that has allowed raw materials to be moved from one part of the world to another, then be processed, packed and again shipped to a totally different part of globe.
The movement of goods from one place to another has been able to united different communities from different parts of the world. This can be seen in the chain commodity analysis that reveals that people begun trade that has united them as early as the 16th century. According to Merg (2004, p.85), the Chinese merchandise found their way into the British and other European empires through the sea during this period. Most of these goods were luxurious goods that were highly valued by those that bought them. Therefore, merchants would move from one place to another seeking for valuables that they would take back home with them. The means of transport in those days was mainly the sea and partly road transport in places where goods that were to be transported were not bulky. Commodity chain has therefore played a critical role in uniting the nations of the world especially through trade.

One of the biggest contributors to commodity chain is sugar. According to Mintz (1986, p.4), the human body has always sought to be nourished. Nourishment defined the status of people in the society, with the rich having plenty while the poor languished in poverty as they sought for food that was very scarce among them. As a result of this, the health status of the poor continued to deteriorate while that of the rich flourished. Therefore, possessing of sugar at one time in history elevated the status of the owner and people were honored in the society just because they had it. As has been cited by Mintz (1986, p.8) not many people were aware of a foreign substance called sugar in the European community by 1000 AD. However, over time, this commodity found its way into the European empires and by 1650 it was a common substance that was consumed by a large community in Europe. However, it should be noted that this was mainly by the noble and the rich in the society.

One of the notable issues about commodity chain is the value that is attached to goods that are produce far away from their major markets and consumers. Most people in the society have associated class with goods that are imported into their territories. For example, in the case of sugar, a mention of it brought the noble and the rich people in memories of many people in the 16th and the 17th century in England. This association of foreign goods to class increased the interaction of people from different parts of the globe, bringing them together in one accord that they may be able to do business. There are advantages that have been contributed by the interactions of people from different societies through the exchange of goods and services. Similarly, there are disadvantages that can be traced back in history of such interaction between people from different societal background.

To begin with, commodity chain has contributed to the opening up of different economies in the world. According to Topik, Marichal  Frank (2006, p.274), Brazil was the only country that dealt in goods that had been produced from rubber material. However, as time went by, other countries from around Brazil began dealing with rubber product. Rubber business grew and most of it was exported to other countries where it was used for different purposes such as making shoes that were waterproof. However, other markets emerged as other economies plunged into the rubber business an increased demand. Therefore, at the turn of the 20th century, the automobile industry, especially in the United States forced the demand for rubber to rise. As a result, many businessmen invested heavily in the rubber industry leading to an overproduction. Therefore, other markets such as the British markets and the Asian market were developed leading to a reduction in prices that caused the Brazilian market to collapse.

Commodity chain has also seen an increase in efficiency in the way people communicated with each other. In fact, much of the communication that is done in the current focuses more on the commodity market more that anything else. This is because people needed to understand different market where they could be able to obtain their products at a cheaper price. On the other hand, business people who are involved in the commodity market have been working out on different ways that they could be able to obtain sufficient information about the status of different market on the globe. It is important to understand that lack of information has acted as a recipe for the downfall of any commodity market. An excellent example is Brazil and its rubber market.

As has been asserted by Topik, Marichal  Frank (2006, p.272), commodity market cannot in any particular operate without certain factors being put in place. First, it is important for one to grasp the idea that a commodity market that operates under uncertainty is bound to crumble without any warning. For example, the Brazilian Rubber commodity market operated under uncertainty, with lack of proper market information. Therefore, when its competitors shifted their goals and put in measures that would allow them to have a comparative advantage over Brazil, this market continued with its policies which later on led to its downfall. Therefore, over time, the commodity market has necessitated the implementation of appropriate communication strategies that would enable the participant in such market to gain information that is appropriate and timely for their commodities.
Development of communication channels have not been the only development that have been brought about by the commodity market. There has also been a development in the transport infrastructure that has been necessitated by the fact that commodities need to reach their intended market on time and when they are still in their intended conditions. On the other hand, there are commodities that are needed in a particular industry to be used to produce other commodities. Therefore, delay in the acquiring these commodities would mean that consumers too would have to wait much longer for the finished products. For example, during the process of manufacturing automobiles in the United States of America, tyres were needed by these automobiles. Therefore, there was need to find an appropriate transport channel that would enhance the supply of tyres to American automobile industries to enable a continuous production process.

The development of communication and transport infrastructure has arisen due to the fact that the production and the consumption chain in the commodity market are interconnected Topik, Marichal  Frank (2006, p.272). Consequently, any particular person who desires to venture into the commodity market and contribute to the commodity chain must understand the complex network that his commodities must go though before reaching the consumer. Different government therefore have been forced to develop the necessary infrastructure that would enable their goods to be produced at a cheaper price and still maintain their quality and be competitive on the overall market.

The development of the commodity market has also been able to eliminate the issues of monopoly market and developed competitive markets whereby the factors of supply and demand play a critical role in ensuring that that whoever offers the best price and high quality is the one to benefit from this market. Again Brazil and its rubber exports can be used as a good example. Initially, many economies such as the United States relied heavily on the rubber that is produced in Brazil and other parts of South America. Brazil was nearly a monopoly in the production and export of rubber. However, when the Asian countries begun producing rubber on a large scale using cheap colonial labor, the Brazilian rubber industry collapse due to high factors of scale that could not allow it to compete effectively with the new entrant thus leading to an end of its monopoly in this industry.

Commodity chain has also led to the development of the market infrastructure throughout the world. The importation and export of goods has necessitated for barriers and trade restrictions to be put in place to protect the overall dignity of the market. In this regard, different nations have introduced tariffs and other trade barriers in order to control the flow of commodities in the market. For example, there were barriers that were imposed on the sugar industry in the British West Indies to protect the sugar market (Mintz 1986, p.156). These barriers include a ceiling on the amount of sugar that was supposed to be produced and also on the amount that was supposed to be exported outside this region.

After trading for sometime, it was necessary for most commodity markets to form treaties that would enable them to form business alliances for a mutual benefit of the entire market participant. According to Pomeranz  Topik (1999, p.31), there was need for a systematic way that could be employed to ensure that both parties that participated in the commodity chain, i.e. the consumer and the supplier were not in any way oppressed by the commodity system. While the modern corporate world boosts of laws and regulations such as contracts and other legal control of their businesses, these have developed over time.

The modern world environment has had commodity disputes despite the fact that it is more developed than the environment of the 16th and the 17th century. These disputes must be settled for business to continue as usual otherwise the commodity chain would be broken. In this regards, there has been dispute settlement systems that have been put in place over time to ensure that order was maintained in the commodity chain. to Pomeranz  Topik (1999, p.32) asserts that different regions came up with rules and regulations such as custom rules to provide guidance to the whole commodity structure and minimize cases of ordeal and criminal activities. However, this did not eliminate totally unlawful activities among traders. There are those who failed completely to honor the law and instead engaged in unlawful activities such use of arms in order to gain control of major business points.

Commodity chain has also been a big contributor to the rise of political strongholds in the modern world. This has emanated from the fact that those who possessed certain commodities that were much needed in other economies for their continued running worked on ways of limiting the amount of such a commodity to the regions in order to get certain favors from them, without which such economies will be unable to get the mush needed raw materials for their industries. As a result, the nations that possessed these commodities have been able to rise and become the most powerful nations of the world. According to Berg (2004, p.86), the development of new skills and technologies that had been borrowed from Chinese wares led to the development of Britain and Europe in general thus contributing to its enormous political power in the modern world.

There are other areas that developed extensively as a result of commodity chain. One of these areas is industry and technology. Berg argues that the interaction of Asia and Europe led to an extensive development of Europe as the European nations borrowed heavily from the Chinese technology that was being used at that time. Thus commodity chain has been able to act as a means of transferring technology from one part of the globe to another. On the other hand, there are nations that possessed raw materials that could be turned into finished products and be used to both domestically and internationally. However, lack of technological know-how meant that they would not need these materials since they did not know how they could turn them into useful material. Therefore, the interaction among different societies through commodity chain led to a discovery of goods that societies had possessed for a long period of time, yet they did not have any idea of how these goods could be used to improve their daily lives.

Therefore, commodity chain played a critically role in ensuring that there was a technology transfer from one part of the world to another. Similarly, commodity chain has contributed greatly to the introduction of the industrial age that has enabled many nations to develop their industries. For example, the British West Indies was not a producer of sugar from the beginning. However, after tasting the Brazilian sugar, this empire decided to create their industry that could be used to process sugar. This was necessitated by the fact that the local demand was growing making it difficult to import sugar that was enough to meet this demand. By doing this, many industries emerged, not only the sugar industry but also industries such as the automobile industry.

Correspondingly, as the world interacted more and more through the exchange of commodities, there was an increased need to refine goods so that they when they got to the intended market, they were purely refined and ready for use. This has also seen an improvement in the quality of products that were provided in the market. For example, initially, the demand for rubber was very low since the rubber products that were produced at that time could not withstand heat. However, continued research led to the development of rubber materials that were able to withstand high temperature, leading to an increased use and therefore demand of this product (Topik, Marichal  Frank 2006).

There is also a strong link between Third World countries and First World countries that can clearly be explained using commodity chain. Recent expansion of the Asians economies, popularly known as Asian Tiger stems from the lessons that these nations learnt from their European counterparts that have been on the forefront economically. According to Berg (2004, p.94), Europe, especially Britain was behind countries such as China and India economically. However, after importing goods that were considered to be luxurious in nature from Asia for sometime, they also began producing their own. However, unlike their Indian and Chinese counterparts, they relied on utilizing technology and large scale production. This increased their advantages over other traders as they enjoyed economies of scale that arose from the use of efficient technology and large scale production. This phenomenon is still in operation even in the modern economies whereby economies such as the Asian economies have been transformed from Third World economies to First World economies after adopting these strategies of manufacturing and industrialization.

The pursuit of a luxurious life has remained one of the driving forces in the commodity chain. As has been discussed by Mintz (1986, p.152), sugar was a luxurious commodity at one particular time in history. However, there are other commodities that have emerged that are termed as luxurious commodities and taken the place of sugar. Thus, both the Third World countries and First World countries are driven by luxury in order for them to develop. However, these links follow parallel paths in that while the First World countries have developed their commodity chain to enhance the luxurious output out of these commodities, the most of the Third World countries have taken the shorter route with the most powerful in these nations indulging in vices such as corruption in order for them to derive the luxurious lives that if found among the First World economies. As a result, the First World economies have continued to diversify their commodity markets by supplying much of their goods to Third World countries while the Third World commodity markets have continued to be strangled by the mighty and the powerful in the society.

 The commodity chain was not without a negative impact to the world. There are a lot of issues that have happened, some of which are still affecting the modern world that happened because of the commodity market. To begin with, most people employed people who were slaves. While the modern world has few cases of slavery, the past commodity chain utilized the services of slave that were taken from South America and from Africa. Most of these slaves were mistreated and worked under forced labor, poor working conditions and in most cases without the necessary tools and equipments that could complement their efforts on work. As a result, there were increased activities of slave trade that violated the human rights of most people (Mintz 1986, p.30). Most of these slaves worked in sugar plantations in South America to boost the production of sugar that was experiencing a high demand in other parts of the world and especially in Europe. However, it should be noted that since that particular time, the commodity market has contributed greatly to the formation of different rules and regulations that are meant to protect the human rights of the workers no matter the type of industry that one is working in.

In conclusion, markets in different parts of the world has thrived not because of how much they produce but on how they produce the commodities they have. Efficiency remains to be one of the factors that contribute to prosperity of any nation or economy. As a result, commodity chain has developed in such as a way that every economy desires to ensure that their production machinery works based on efficiency rather than quantity of production. To meet such standards, these economies have been forced to adapt to new technology and other innovation plans that allows their industries to run well than their competitors.

The commodity chain has therefore gone through a revolution that cannot be compared to any other in the commodity world. First, goods were consumed in their raw form. However, over time this changed and the refining of commodities increased the revenue that one got from his products. As a result, there was the development of industries to refine these good not only for the local markets, but also for international markets. On the other hand, the challenges that were brought about by the commodities on the market resulted in the development of the necessary infrastructure that could support the trading systems that existed at that time. Among infrastructure to be developed is the transport network, communication network and the legal system that could be used to ensure that unlawful cases were minimized if not totally eliminated. In the same way, most of the mistakes that occurred in the past in the commodity chain have been rectified and the modern commodity chain is more efficient but not perfect.