Globalization and Culture...

We spent most of Tuesday talking about the "Globally Integrated Enterprise" and all the great things that come along with it. Indeed, global integration is a phenomenon for praise - it creates greater communication, greater dollar generation, greater long term stability, etc. etc. However, as I thought about globalization in the business sense, I couldn't help but think about the potentially damning cultural effects it can have. I'm not such a bleeding heart that I believe globalization is just another example of America imposing itself on the rest of the world. Granted, the global organizations are largely American and other "western" companies and certainly the ideas being spread conform a great deal to those we might harbor in western civilization. But I think it is unfair to say that the only cultural effects are imposed from western society to non-western or third world. The increased communicability (is that a word?) afforded by tools like the internet and other forms of technology has also left an impact on American civilization - after all, we are the melting pot, are we not? But I blather too much...back to the point!

Could globalization in some far off and distant time create a global culture? That is, will the globalization of companies cause homogeneity in culture because soon we'll all have the same ideas, the likes and dislikes, the same version of attractive and not attractive? Is that a bad thing? Worse yet, are far more likely, will globalization create two exclusively homogenous cultures - the haves and the have nots? It seems to me that those with the access to the great technologies of the 21st century are those reaping globalization related benefits. The rich get richer... Perhaps we are already seeing this pattern developing world wide. Western society seems to be growing and those opposed are uniting against it - largely we call them terrorists.

Our lives are driven by ideas and ideas are spread by those that can afford to spread them - companies and money making organizations. I think that it is entirely possible that with the increasingly global market in which we are operating, we will lose a great deal of the differentiating factors around the world - we'll all eat McDonald's and listen to Jay-Z on our Ipods. Despite what might be a rich history and culture, world culture will eventually become homogenous.

People talk about the next world super power. Some say China and others proclaim that whoever designs the battery to hold electrical (alternative) power will be the next super power - maybe America, maybe not. What about a company? Or a culture? Maybe the next super power isn't a country at all - maybe its a society or a way of being. I don't know, but I wish I did.