globalization1

Internationalization and Globalization are long words with long life-changing consequences for businesses and societies alike. They are without doubt a force of trade and equally so a force of bringing people together, and by creating for them a mutual interest they contribute to world peace and stability.

They stem from a global way of life that the web and travel have catalyzed in many ways.

But they are also primarily the result of the concept of free trade seen in the wider context of a borderless planet. The most able business by quality and costs is a winner and supplies its products/services to all interested customers on earth. And the customers get the benefits that wouldn’t have if confined to buy from locals only.

By their nature, they favor the big, but the small also have their chance to wider markets if they can offer a differentiated product that might be configured with ingenuity on their local advantages.

Surely what propelled globalization some years ago, it may be different today.

The first blow to globalization came some three years ago from the political measures and sanctions on Crimea. Then recently and very noticeably, we saw Brexit, and in the US the election of a president on the promise of closing the borders and moving out of existing international treaties.

The narrow concept of nationalism is a blow to globalization. Nationalistic flames, especially in Europe, have been fanned by an unprecedented refugee movement from the war-torn countries of the Middle East and its nearby regions. There is the danger that the nationalistic flame will burn brighter in other countries too toppling established political order in favor of extreme nationalistic movements.

I am not aware of any calculations as to the economic loss, for example, of the US companies with global presence, from the president elect’s pronounced repatriation of businesses and walling of the country from its neighbors, but it will be interesting to see such economic figures so as to understand the magnitude of any possible upheaval of turning pronouncements into realities.

However, just the mere threat of isolation measures and sweeping nationalistic hysteria no doubt signals to the business world a kind of instability and insecurity that threatens with unknown the winds of business and fortunes.

It will be a shame for the world to lose what with great endeavors has been built over a long period of time, and the business world, in particular, has every stake in lobbying the politicians for not only its preservation but its growth too.