Globalization has a long history but not quite as long as Localization. The idea of the world being available for resources, products and services gets a good jump start when trade routes opened up. Thank you Marco Polo. The concept is primarily a merchant one. New trade, exotic trade, and wealth transfer. Everyone got something as this wide exchange proceeded. Silk, spices, metals, minerals, later oil, and a myriad of produced goods were exchanged. It also brought an exchange of ideas between the long game China/Asia and the hit 'em hard and fast west.
It is almost inevitable that disparities would follow with one country overtaking another and some getting the idea that the world is theirs for the taking. That's somewhat different than the benign and mutually beneficial exchange of goods and services. Conquer is an old ambition and whether Genghis & Kublai or Nappy, conquering was favorite pass time throughout history. The means have changed as has the weaponry but it still is. Control rather than exchange always interfered in peoples lives. Indeed, the population often suffered and died in the fight for control. Globalization tends to ignore the dark side of mankind and somehow thinks it can be kept at bay.
Isolationists lost the fight when global trade came into being and once the supply chains were globalized, sovereignty went into disfavor and borders along with it. Of course, a simple definition of a country is found in its borders. A border is where one thing ends and another begins. When ideas differ between countries and borders go down, the ideas and cultures mix it up. Usually, some group or another comes out on top and wins that battle to become the dominant force and/or culture. China has been very successful using its Belts and Roads program in making itself a huge influence in various parts of the world. Naturally, the local cultures will eventually get lost. That seems to be the willingly paid price for cheap goods and loans.
The idea of localization is also not new. Be too localized and you get out of step but be too globalized and you risk losing independence and sovereignty. Over time, the world has become smaller through transportation. The faster and cheaper transport is the smaller the world gets. The smaller it gets the less diverse it becomes and the borders fade and sovereignty along with it.
When I support a cause I look for local causes that are visible. Sending a donation etc a thousand miles away is OK at times but actually seeing how my support gets used locally is a big plus. It helps the people who are in my area and that helps me. This is also seen by supporting local businesses. The rants against Walmart (the global superstore) and others are not unfounded complaints. They have and continue to put mom and pop shops out of business and this goes well beyond them. The days of knowing your neighbor are reserved for few. The tenement I grew up in was extremely diverse and interesting. We knew each other. There were the Vilenti's, the Kalstos's the Gianoppolis's, the Incerpis, the Hespel's, the Petacks...my God we had the world in that building. But we all were locals. One might sell insurance, another the butcher, and another the milkman. We knew who had kids, who was out of a job, who just bought a car and so much more. We had local grocers, doctors and hospitals, farmers and dairies and churches...I have mostly great memories of that life. But as things go, financial influences and cheap manufacturing etc., took hold and the global crew began to win the day. Are we happier? Not so much. Would we pay more to keep it local and keep locals working? Maybe.
I think travel is a wonderful thing. Seeing other countries, their people, their food their culture is an adventure. It helps to bridge gaps in understanding and if you look one can see that humans aren't so different after all. The units that control them can be very different so culture can be an impediment that gets tossed aside for some ideological homogenization like found in Mao's cleansing and reordering through education. The great leap forward indeed. But the local differences will wane and eventually Earth will have fewer sovereign nations with effective borders and be invaded by cheap flat screens and cell phones.
A I sour on global sources of goods and services. No. Am I wary of it? Yes. National security depends on local resources under local control. What is needed from elsewhere can be mostly gotten from allies. Open trade with open enemies seems dumb. Next thing you know we'll be selling strategic oil reserves to China. Nah, can never happen.
Stay aware of your local businesses and populace. As they go, so go you.
Best,
Donn Marier
DM-Your Own CFO