My Thoughts About Patriotism Vs Globalism In Modern World

On September 25th 2018, President Trump delivered a 35- minutes speech to the 74th United Nations General Assembly. During his speech, he clearly rejected the main values of the UN and most importantly the ideology of globalism. Instead, he declared being in favor of patriotism. He highlighted the fact that America was governed by Americans only and advised all countries to have their own version of “America first”.

This kind of statement is not quite surprising to hear from him but also not surprising in a time when patriotism versus globalism is the new political divide.

We talk about “The end of globalism” and “The age of patriotism and nationalism”. Amid this heated debate, what is actually the best for all of us? How important is Globalization and International Business for citizens, companies and countries?

In this essay, I will try answer to these questions and therefore I separated this essay in 5 different parts: first I’ll give some definitions of some of the main terms.

Then, we’ll discuss the importance of International Business for individuals, organizations and nations before ending this essay by describing the side effects of International Business and Globalization.

Globalization is now the only way the world is working now: we are in an era of hyper-Globalization. The world has shifted from national cultures to mixed cultures across the globe, resulting in a homogenized global culture rather than national. We have access to the whole world, we can communicate with the whole world,… Basically, we can be everywhere, without being physically there.

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We talk about a global village where we are all inter-connected. And business surely followed the move.

Globalization helped to create business relationships between countries. To illustrate Globalization and International Business, the economist Milton Friedmann used one of the simplest object existing: a yellow pencil. He explained that not a single person can make this pencil. The wood used to make the pencil comes for example from America, it was cut with a saw that was made in India, out of steel produced in a Africa. The yellow paint, the rubber, the glue used to put all these parts together also come from different countries different from the previous ones. With this theory, Friedmann explained that thousands of people cooperate to create even the simplest object. If they didn’t cooperate, consumers wouldn’t be able to buy it for a small amount of money. And that is an illustration of Globalization.

However, Globalization and International Business have been subject to debate among scholars for many years. The struggle of nationalism against globalism is and will be fought not only among nations but within nations.

The former president of France, Charles de Gaulle, once said that patriotism is when love of your own people comes first while nationalism is when hate for people other than your own comes first. Some people talk also about isolationism. These movements are currently benefiting from Globalization and are becoming more important than ever. Now that we defined Globalization, patriotism and nationalism and before seeing why such ideologies rose, we will first see the importance of International Business on 3 different scales: local, national and global.

At a local scale, International Business profits individuals.

First, International Business provides citizens a wider range of products. Whatever the location of production, billions of products, coming from the 4 corners of the world, are now available for purchase. Customers have access to new products with new features that were not available in the region before. In emerging market for example, a rising upper-class is currently very interested in purchasing luxury goods that were not available before. Thanks to International Business, increased IT and cross border investment, we can get goods and services for a lower price and it can help improve our standard of living.

Second, International Business increased employment. When companies multiply their number abroad, they give new job opportunities for locals. Thanks to this, it brings hope to people in remote parts of the world (ref R), they can leave poverty and feed their families with a stable job. International Business brought better living conditions of thousands of people. It stimulates economic growth, raises the income of consumers and helps to create jobs in all countries that participate in the global trading (Hill, C., Hult, T., Wickramasekera, R., Liesch, P., & Mackenzie, K. 2017, p. 34). According to some studies, Globalization has also helped to reduce the gender wage discrimination and give new opportunities to women.

Third, International Business trains employees to gain more skills, and in the same way, skilled workers are wanted. Skilled workers have more job opportunities, better access to knowledge and new ways of working. With International Business, employees have no choice but to be in accordance with the time. Nowadays, soft skills take more and more importance in business: being able to communicate with different cultures, having cross-cultural assets, being able to share ideas, experiences, lifestyles, cultures are definitely a must when working in a global environment. Thanks to International Business, employees are more skilled and more trained to be able to face the new issues of the globalized world.

Fourth and consequently to the previous point, education has become more important thanks to business being now international. Now that we shifted to an information society, we need to understand how the world works if we want to succeed in it and if we want to be part of the society. Many countries thus went for an educational strategy to create the leaders of tomorrow but also to train the current employees to the new ways of operating. Nowadays, children have no choice but to start learning English, the International Business language, from a very young age and universities are constantly adapting their degrees to fit the new trends of International Business (digital marketing…)

At a global scale, no matter the size, organizations profit from International Business. Thanks to Globalization, companies can go global and win big. Operating in a new country shows a new pathway to business growth and increased revenues.

First, the most famous advantage of International Business for companies is the cheaper costs such as production costs, labor costs,… (Hill et al. 2017, p.448). They can also benefit from trade agreements (regional and international) that make International Business operate easily with less risks. These agreements are very attractive for undertakings. In the EU, free movement of goods and services are applicable for all EU members, so any organization operating in an European country can also send products in whole Europe with reduced costs. Free trade reduce barriers such as tariffs, value added taxes, subsidies (Long 2020). Companies can also benefit from currency fluctuations or currency conversion and thus have easier cash-flow management. In addition to that, trust in alliances in International Business also leads to less costs. If companies decide to build a business relationship based on trust, they are more likely to limit transactions such as contracting or monitoring costs. A lack of trust, on the other hand, requires more effort to control opportunism, which leads to higher transaction costs. Taking advantage of international businesses and possible business relations is for sure profitable for organizations. (ref S)

Second, International Business helps for risk management. Becoming less dependent on a single market is definitely helpful for undertakings. When a company reached the maximum at home, International Business is an efficient way to have additional capital. Also in the case of an economic storm in the domestic country, companies can balance the losses with profits made abroad. It reduces volatility of earnings (Long 2020). Furthermore, when a product becomes obsolete or old fashioned in one country, it may be in demand in international markets. This leads to longer product lifespan and an increased immunity to trends.

Third, operating as an International Business helps to specialize. When entering new market, you get new customers with new needs and new expectations. To succeed, companies have no other choice than adapting their products features and attribute to the new demand ((Hill et al. 2017, p.513). They also need to adapt to the new ways of operating, selling, negotiating… They will have access to new talented employees who will take their enterprise to the next level. All these aspects leads to greater specialization, faster innovation and better efficiency and quality.

Fourth, International Business allows companies to take advantage of untapped capital, low competition and unsaturated markets and become an early entrant in a market, also called a first-mover (Hill et al. 2017, p.75). Thereby, you can become the leader and the recognized brand in your industry. Being successful in another country can also give you a good reputation with your domestic customers or with other businesses. This is called prestige business. If you become a leader in another country, other businesses will want to work with you.

On a national scale, International Business and Globalization are important for nations. In political vocabulary, Globalization means solidarity and it is, for sure, beneficial for a nations and its population.

First, Globalization has helped to create the biggest economy of the moment and Donald Trump should know better. If you look at the famous American IT industry, many of the founders of successful start-ups came from India. The strength of the USA also comes from the multinational composition of its population. Donald Trump himself used Globalization when he used to operate as a real estate builder in NYC: his construction workforce was composed of people from around 20 different countries. The United States, Australia and Canada are the three big immigration countries in the world, countries where the mix of race was brought together as one. The United States if America actually became “United” thanks to the world first globalist, the first one who saw the bigger picture: Benjamin Franklin. At the time when the 13 states were debating whether they should be united or not, he argued that there was a simple choice: hang all together or fall all separately. Without his opinion, the United States of America will probably not be a world power today.

Second, International Business and Globalization has made the world more peaceful. Since the rise of Globalization, nations avoided wars. It’s simple, you don’t want to declare war against someone who buys your products or someone who provides you products you need. That is how economic relations helped to maintain good political relations. (Long 2020). Protecting your country comes through solidarity from other countries.

Nations constitute a network through institutional, financial, ideological, and security ties among them that are such that the global network is composed of many “smaller worlds.” Ideological and economic conflicts influence the patterns by which nations operate. In a global network, nations expect predictability, reliability, and competence from each other. (Ref J)

Third, developing nations are really taking advantage on International Business in many different aspects. It helps them with rapid economic growth (faster than developed countries), it helps them increase their national income, increase employment and the level of standard of living. The sharing of technology also helps them progress faster than if they stayed by themselves, closed from the world.

Fourth, nations can benefit from International Business through taxation too. Either by taxing local businesses operating abroad or by attracting foreign companies thanks to their privileged taxation system. That way, it can help nations to balance imports and exports and minimize debts for example.

However, as mentioned before, International Business is also quite criticized (which led to the rise of nationalism and patriotism) and we can’t deny the fact that Globalization is not all white but has many things to improve.

Some people, such as Donald Trump, see Globalization as a threat. The president associate it with dependence, governance, control and domination. He strongly believes in the concept of mercantilism where there are only winners and losers (Hill et al. 2017, p.62). He said that because of Globalization, other countries (winners) are taking advantage of the United States (losers) and their opened borders to foreign goods. In exchange, the USA doesn’t get the same access and as a consequence, Trump decided to raise tariffs and promised to implement more similar measures.

But, in my opinion, this is not the bad side of International Business. The dark side of it is its unethical side such as human rights, environmental issues, child labour,… (Hill et al. 2017, p.352-355). Promoters of Globalization appear to neglect the crucial issue of distributive justice. Money is sadly still taking over people or nature and Globalization is benefiting only some elites while undermining the lives of many others. Sometimes, even within a nation, governments protect certain groups (producers) at the expense of other groups (consumers) (Hill et al. 2017, p.113). Consumers and workers sees International Business as an unpredictable market without “pillow state” to cushion them in case of unpredictable changes. (ref R)

When making business decisions, organizations should consider the social consequences their decisions can have and prefer decisions with good outcomes which is called the corporate social responsibility. (Hill et al. 2017, p.627).

A move to a more ethical world is currently happening and media get more coverage on such issues. Nations and organizations have no choice but to improve their behavior on some issues to avoid the infamous ‘Naming and Shaming’ that can ruin their reputation and thus profits. It seems like multinationals want to win the trust of medias and customers in term of ethical issues.

As we have seen throughout this essay, International Business and Globalization are a good thing and it’s dangerous to think otherwise. Being pro-globalism does not mean hating you country. On the contrary, it means pushing your country to the top: you want to lead a country that is leading the world. Globalists are double patriots, they have a dual sense of loyalty, to their home and the entire world. A balance should be found between patriotism, nationalism and globalism. The patriotism of the 21st century must also have a global dimension as globalism shapes the future.

Trump or anyone else should not neglect the fact that solidarity and global cooperation is needed when it comes to solve local, national and global issues. Furthermore, with or without globalism, a country is still free to have their own legal restrictions and sign the agreements they like.

To close this essay, I would like to point out that there is a lot of improvement to be done regarding International Business. Yes, Globalization is a good thing, but it benefits organizations and nations more than individuals. We should maintain the positive effects of Globalization while creating a national environment associated with an ethical behavior which takes care of the people who are left behind.