The effects of globalisation  Generally speaking, globalisation can simply be defined as the process of increasing global economic integration and, in particular, the growing internationalisation of trade in goods, services and financial assets. Over the past 15 years international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have expanded rapidly.
The value of world exports of goods and services relative to world GDP has increased by over ten percentage points in the last fifteen years or so, rising from 19% in 1990 to 30% in 2006.