Ever since Marco Polo travelled the Silk road Globalization has been present, Globalization, by definition, “is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.” 1
1. Available at http://www.globalization101.org/What_is_Globalization.html
Globalization brings the tendency of Convergence in which it states that the more a country develops, the more it will tend to be similar or converge to a Managerial model that can be found in the developed nations, especially in the west, and as a role model the USA. Nevertheless, nowadays with the rise of China´s powerful economy, things are not clear in whether management styles will converge to the the East or to the West.
But culture itself brings enough differences that it will be a change-resistant force that will make new Managerial styles emerge and be unique in its kind.
Dominant economic powers bring dominant cultural models by region and in the world, for example in the case of Asia; Japan plays an important model for fashion, China for business ethics and culture. In the West we have the dominant power of the USA, which transcends the hemisphere and goes global, almost telling that it will become the universal role model of the world. So we talk about the term “Americanization”, which says that everything will end up being as in the USA.
But once again culture is strongly rooted in each individual´s mind and will make Resistance or at least divergence to the trend or global tendency. Therefore Divergence is a strong fact.
But anything has its pros and cons and Convergence and Divergence is no exception.
One positive thing about Convergence is that Standardised methods of quality will be implemented also in developing nations. One negative thing is that Converge sometimes is blind when respecting local cultural customs and just for the sake of profit it could run over some established human patterns.
One positive thing about divergence is that it makes the cultural identity more respectful in front of business. One negative thing is that could impose a blocking pattern to the development of a country.
One example of Organisation or business structures lie Chaebols in Korea or Keiretzus in Japan in Colombia could be the GEA (Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño) which manages its activities from a conglomerate perspective and is the owner of the same leverage instrument that it needs, such as Banks and Insurance businesses.
Nice Post!!
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ReplyDeleteJuan, interesting entry, I agree. It is really difficult for all cultures to converge, especially when many developing economies like China, India, Brazil are gaining an important place in the world's economic and political field. They are bringing their own cultures to the international marketplace, it is necessary to promote education and an adequate preparation in order to manage every culture correctly.
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