Define international business and explain how it affects each of us in Essay

Define international business and explain how it affects each of us in our daily activities - Essay Example The great Silk Road was another prominent trade route, which facilitated trade between different countries across Asia and Europe. The present global trade has evolved from ancient practices, where merchants engaged in trade to get profit, while the governments engaged in the trade for the same reasons in addition to expansion of their political influences. Due to the movement of people and services across different countries, international trade affects cultural, social, economic, and political aspects of the countries and the people engaged in the trade (Vadime, 2000). This paper examines international business in context with historical development and its influence on our daily lives. The objective of the earliest trade just like the current international commerce was to satisfy diverse human needs and wants. Because of diverse distribution of resources in different geographical regions, scarcity and availability of goods and services initiated the early trade. People from one re gion exchanged their commodities at their disposal with goods and services from other regions. In this regard, goods and services were exchanged directly without use of currency in transactions called barter trade. One of the earliest challenges that plagued early trade was geographical distances between the source and market of the commodities and services. This resulted to the development of transportation networks, linking all the trading regions involved. Allen, et al (2000) noted that the earliest forms of transport during the early trade were human porters and the use of domesticated animals such as camels and donkeys. According to Francis (2007), domesticated animals enabled early traders to travel long distances and this form of transport made early Arabian traders very successful in the trade. Francis (2007) noted that as early as in the second millennium, Arabs organized trade caravans across the Arabian Peninsula and the Far East. This resulted to the formation of the ear ly trade routes where valuable goods such as silk, precious metals and spices were traded across the regions. Early caravans across long distances were not profitable for trading in cheaper commodities. However, people could travel across shorter distance to exchange cheaper but essential commodities such as food, animals, ornaments and textiles with one another (Francis, 2007). The earliest trade routes were on the land and could not take place across regions isolated by large water bodies (Allen, et al 2000). In addition to geographical limitations of the land routes, many caravans were attacked as they travelled across hostile regions resulting to heavy loss of lives and trade. To ensure the safety of trade routes, Curtis, et al (1999) noted that most traders formed partnerships with people along the routes and in other cases, established empires resorted to military intervention and expanding their territorial boundaries across the region of trade interests. However, the discove ry of water transport in the third millennium solved some of the challenges of land routes, such as insecurity and limitations of the quantity of cargo carried. According to Curtis, et al (1999), maritime trade developed after realization that monsoon winds could be manipulated to propel sea vessels across large geographical regions isolated by water bodies. According to Daniel (2007), the waterways enhanced international trade further by opening up