The Marketer's Handbook: Reassessing Marketing Techniques for Modern Business

GLOBALIZATION OF MARKETS

Application: Affects Pretty Much Every Aspect of Cross Border Marketing Work

The Concept

In the latter half of the 20th century, it became common to talk about “globalization”. The crux of this argument is that a number of powerful forces are driving the world towards convergence and commonality. They include: a growing consensus amongst educated populations (e.g. about sustainability and global warming), the emergence of international trading blocks, greater political integration, and technology (like the internet). These have prompted the free flow of capital and enabled big world-wide markets to evolve. It has allowed suppliers in markets as different as professional services, vacations, information, and commodities (to name but a few) to access much larger groups of customers. A revolution in communications technologies has allowed media like film, music, and the internet to create aspiration amongst massive world-wide audiences; prompting, in turn, the evolution of gigantic markets. In parallel, political initiatives like the GAAT rounds and the emergence of the European Union have added to the creation of common standards in international markets. This has had implications to the capital flows which enable businesses to grow and to the political or legislative frameworks in which they operate. More than one politician and many business leaders have ...