Article 03 - Exploring the Global Landscape

 Organizations can create inclusive, equitable, and culturally sensitive learning environments that enable workers globally to pick up new skills, adjust to changing business environments, and drive organizational success in the digital age by taking these global considerations into account when developing their digitization strategies.

Cultural Diversity and Sensitivity

Organizations functioning in a global context need to consider differences in attitudes about technology, learning preferences, and digital learning platforms. Language boundaries, customs in society, and communication conventions are examples of cultural elements that might affect how digital learning and development programs are developed and carried out.

Lifintsev & Wellbrock(2019 ) says “For many years global business used to be a privilege of large multinational corporations operating significant amounts of financial resources. Now you can “operate globally” just using your Facebook or Instagram account or selling handmade toys on Amazon or eBay. Such opportunities along with the facilitation of travelling and communication in general have fostered significantly the interest to cross-cultural communication skill”

Legal and Regulatory Considerations

The use of digital technology in learning and growth is governed by various privacy laws and regulations in different nations. When deploying digital learning solutions, international organizations must make sure that data protection rules, intellectual property regulations, and accessibility standards are followed.

However, 

Burri, Mira and Kugler, Kholofelo( 2023) state that “The proliferation of digital protectionism through increasing regulatory barriers threaten the envisioned sustainable development dividends of digitization” 

Technological Infrastructure

The world's geographical locations exhibit significant differences in the availability and caliber of technical infrastructure. While some nations might have strong internet connections and easy access to digital gadgets, others might struggle with difficulties including inadequate bandwidth, erratic electrical supplies, and the digital divide. To work around these infrastructural limitations, organizations need to modify their digital learning practices.

As per the The  Devyatkova,  Kantysheva and  Solovyova (2023) the education digitalization and innovation becomes an important component of the development of the innovative infrastructure.

Economic Factors

Differences in economy across nations can affect how affordable and easily accessible digital learning materials are. To reach employees with limited financial resources, organizations operating in emerging countries may need to take into account cost-effective alternatives like low-bandwidth content distribution options or mobile learning apps.

Sabbagh , Friedrich,El-Darwiche,Singh, Ganediwalla, and Katz (2012) have state “We found that increasing digitization significantly boosts societal well-being in a developed economy: a correlation run on the 34 OECD countries shows that a 10-point increase in the digitization score results in an increase of approximately 1.3 points in the OECD Better Life Index (see Figure 5). However, the analysis reveals that in countries with lower levels of economic development, the impact of digitization is not as pronounced. The difference appears to be that in less-developed economies, factors beyond digitization are more critical to quality of life: of primary importance is food; then housing, clothing, water, and energy; followed by health; and finally transportation and communication. As a result, it would appear that, as expected, digitization has an impact on quality of life only when the population has satisfied its basic needs”

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Organizations are becoming more aware of how their operations including digital learning initiatives impact the environment in the global setting. Reducing the amount of paper used, cutting down on carbon emissions from digital infrastructure, and encouraging environmentally friendly learning techniques are examples of sustainable practices that support global environmental stewardship initiatives and corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives.

De Giovanni (2021) has state that coined the concept of responsible digitalization, which is exemplified by the firms' capabilityto achieve their Corporate Social Responsible (CSR) goals by adopting digital technologies. Accordingly, firms should not restrict their focus on digital technologies as merely boosters of enhancing economic perfor-mance, but they should carefully evaluate the digital technologies' impli-cations in terms of environmental effects and social target.

 References 

Lifintsev, D. and Wellbrock, W., 2019. Cross-cultural communication in the digital age. Estudos em Comunicação, 1(28). [Online] available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333576410_Cross-cultural_communication_in_the_digital_age

 Burri, Mira and Kugler, Kholofelo, Digitization,(2023)Regulatory Barriers and Sustainable Development. Trade Law 4.0 Working Paper,[Online] available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4424470

Devyatkova,0., Kantysheva,N.,Solovyova,I., (2023)Formation of the educational component in the innovative infrastructure of the region in the era of digitalization, International Scientific and Practical Conference “Priority Directions of Complex Socio-Economic Development of the Region” (PDSED 2023),Page 2, [Online] available at  https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202344907014

Sabbagh, K., Friedrich, R., El-Darwiche, B., Singh, M., Ganediwalla, S.A.N.D.E.E.P. and Katz, R.A.U.L.,(2012). Maximizing the impact of digitization. The global information technology report, 2012, pp.121-133. [Online] available at  https://www3.weforum.org/docs/GITR/2012/GITR_Chapter1.11_2012.pdf

Cardinali, P. G., & De Giovanni, P. (2022). Responsible digitalization through digital technologies and green practices. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,  [Online] available at  https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2249

De Giovanni, P. (2021). Smart supply chains with vendor managed inven-tory, coordination, and environmental performance.European Journalof Operational Research, [Online] available at  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377221720309401