Whether some people are willing to accept it or not, globalization is here. This may seem obvious, but I believe that there are people who, though they mouth the words, still cannot accept what it truly means. For instance, Americans need to give up on manufacturing jobs as a major source of employment. I’m not saying that manufacturing is going to totally disappear in America, but I am saying that the number of factories and the amount of people that they employ is going to continue to decrease. Again, this may seem obvious, but there are many Americans that are still in denial about it. These are the people who want protectionist policies that interfere with competition and keep prices high on the commodity goods that they produce. Instead of using their creative energy on finding ways to be more competitive they chose to waste their energy on finding ways to manipulate the general public and the government.
Information Technology is also an area vulnerable to global competition. Let’s face it, the reason it became such a popular business model during the dot-com boom was because of the low barrier to entry. Information Technology is a commodity now too. To become an expert you only need a PC, a few books, an Internet connection, and a little time. Everyone in the world is entitled to the same opportunity. It is not the exclusive domain of established, developed nations.
The term Global Village might be welcome to some while it is a point of contention with others. In fact, we are indeed a global village. We can connect with any part of the world at lightening speed. Our electronic communication networks enable instantaneous communication and goods can be transported around the world overnight by air. Container ships can transport massive amounts of goods in a matter of days and our road system permits trucks to make door-to-door just-in-time deliveries. The world can be thought of as one very large city. This creates tremendous opportunity. Too often people focus on what has been lost instead of what can be gained.
Even if a company is a producer of a commodity item global competition does not spell the end for them. What they need to do is be innovative. This goes beyond cutting costs and laying off employees. It means being creative. It means finding new markets and ways to package the product. It means possibly adding value to the product by processing it for specific markets. Companies need to be agile and be ready to change.
What does this mean for the employee? They need to be ready to change too. This doesn’t mean retraining every five years, though. It means that people are going to have to look deeper inside of themselves to find what they really want to be. The Industrial Age created complacency among the American worker. There was this misguided belief that the mill, the mine, or the factory would always be there. That when you grew up you would get a job in one of these places, work there your whole life, then retire and get a pension. And, although unions did great things for workers’ rights, they became too powerful and placed demands on companies that were unsustainable. This is evidenced by the failure of pension plans in many companies today. But getting back to my main point, people need to understand that things will not last forever and that trying to perpetuate unsustainable systems is doomed to fail. Therefore, people need to realize that getting their sense of identity from a job is putting their faith in the wrong place. They need to put faith in themselves and develop their own identity. This means not taking a job simply because it is available and makes money but developing your own identity that isn’t dependent on any company.
Local Globalization means that we are all neighbors. In order to get along with our neighbors, though, we need to be secure with ourselves. You shouldn’t fear or envy your neighbor. People need to develop self-confidence. The security provided by the Industrial Age was a short-lived anomaly in human history. Throughout most of time people have had to be resourceful and move with the changes. I believe that if people regain this sense of self-reliance we can all compete in a global economy. As more people join the global community it doesn’t take away, it creates opportunity. We only need to be astute to where these opportunities lie.
