Still, my answer to his question was ““yes.’’ We weren’t consciously trying to coin a new management-speak buzzword. Rather, we wanted to find some respite from a growing dissatisfaction with the word ““globalization.’’ Minted not much more than a decade ago, globalization has become the inescapable and admittedly useful axiom of the international economy, the poster word of the post-communist world. But as with all words, it has its limits. It defines a process–the internationalization of economic activities–that is crucial to today’s business strategies. We were trying to convey something else, something larger than business and economics, though encompassing both: something pointed more toward the new century. Not a process, but the results of a process: a place, a condition, the situation that comes afterward.
Globality’s profile was raised some by the title of an article I wrote for NEWSWEEK, ““The Age of Globality.’’ Still, the globality buzz was low-key–until just a few weeks ago. I rolled into the Swiss ski village of Davos for the 29th annual World Economic Forum–the epicenter of the world’s intellectual capital market–and discovered that the theme of this year’s talkathon was ““Responsible Globality.’’ As Prof. Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, told The Wall Street Journal: ““We wanted to look beyond the economic dimensions of what is happening . . . It is a globality.’’ The word seemed to fall off the lips of Davos panelists with an ease that suggested years of familiarity. ““Globality is here to stay,’’ said U.S. Sen. John Kerry. And so, it seems, is the word. Bill Gates told a Davos session that he would have globality added to Microsoft’s dictionary–much appreciated, as the spell check on my computer would then stop underlining it as an error.
Three forces are interacting to create this new globality. The first is a move away from counting on governments to manage economies and toward a much greater confidence in the ability of markets to function fairly and deliver the goods. This translates into deregulation and privatization. Government gets out of business ownership, and out of the business of sheltering companies and markets from international competition.
The second spur to globality: borders are eroding as individual national economies are integrated. Think of the European Central Bank and the World Trade Organization. The rapid growth of trade, investment and capital markets is also tying countries together. International brands beat out national champions. And third, add to all this the relentless force of technology, which provides the working foundation for globality. Cheap communications and information technology are fashioning a woven world, a global community–or, more precisely, a multitude of global communities. It’s hard not to stay in touch–or get in touch.
Globality helps to explain the ceaseless wave of big mergers blurring national identities. Opportunities now exist that would have been unthinkable–or politically impossible–a few years ago. The ever more intense cross-border competition seems to require a new scale and broader capabilities, while shareholders increasingly demand high-caliber financial performance. Globality has some very nice features–such as higher incomes, wider choice and ““anything.com.’’ It also has some very unappealing aspects, such as the financial contagion that has swept around the world.
The heart of this year’s Davos, at least for me, lay in its use of the word ““responsible.’’ Taking globality as a given, it asked, ““What kind of globality?’’ That question underlies debates about everything from what to do about the tidal flows of capital, to the environment, to social justice and the reform of the welfare state, to the power and magic of the media. What will be the rules of this new reality? How will the world manage itself? What happens to culture and national identity? How will this affect the billions of the world’s poor? Inherent in all these questions is the underlying issue of legitimacy and acceptability. One sort of globality or another is inevitable. It will increasingly affect the lives of an ever-growing number of people. Its workings can bring many benefits and opportunities. It can also generate much disruption and discord.
Globality is not necessarily the most beautiful word, not even when set amid the snow and splendor of the Swiss Alps. But it has two things going for it: it captures a new reality, and it’s useful. Any day now, it’ll show up in a dictionary. You read it here first.
