Are you looking for a development model?
Globalization pushes our economies to standardize codes and to impoverish local cultures, step by step, in favor of a capitalist model directing financial flows towards the most dominant big brands. Never forget your roots. It is time to impose a circular economy model of co-development between all countries.
As exporters, are we contributing to the globalization of the world?
Definitely yes. However, taking into account inter-multicultural factors remains the major concern of all players in international trade. In terms of strategic development, companies translate this duality by choices either of global and universal standardization of the offer, or of adaptation to the market.
“Either the client accepts what is offered to him. Either the company adapts to its customers, whoever they are.”
And for reasons of cost reduction, companies often prefer standardization and centralized versus localized production. Unfortunately surely. This intrinsic duality is inscribed in the genes of internationalized companies. The DNA of export executives is made of this ability to adapt to cultural differences. This duality is found in all aspects of our lives, economic, sociological, political, cultural, artistic…
Should we offer standard or personalized products ?
The trend is towards the globalization of the planet despite the richness of our diversity. Even nature is becoming standardized with the massive disappearance of living species. On a politico-economic level, a breath of protest is emerging. The indignant, alter-globalists, activists, nationalists, ultra-ecologists… And the big brands are increasingly the scapegoats of unethical, unresponsible, unsocial, unshared, unsustainable development.
This fight for the protection of the disparity of peoples, cultures and species is legitimate. Why?
Because indeed, some globalized companies standardize and impose centralized socio-cultural models. Sometimes without social responsibility. The risk is to lose our soul.
We must claim the right to protect our national cultures, world heritage. In every country, quality of life comes first. Everyone must safeguard their values of humanism and shared roots in their local culture, their own village and their region.
We must share these values but also enrich ourselves with those of others.
Of course, everyone is free to refuse to agree to return to the norm, but do we really have the choice of refusing the Samsung flat screen, the McDonald’s Burger, the Zara shirt, the Ikea furniture, the American blockbusters, the Iphone, the Google search engine and the Facebook Instagram profile ?
Is there a social ideal behind this massive standardization that is sold to us on TV and on the web? There is not one truth better than the others.
The competitiveness of a nation is proportional to its ability to impose its model, its beauty, its design, its vision of progress, its organization to the rest of the world. What is the influence your own country in this globalized vision of the world?
The questions I ask to marketers are the following :
- Is it possible to invent a nation development model based on the choice of differentiation ?
- Can we imagine co-development between your country, its neighbors and other regions of the world ?
- Can we not impose a non-standardised, local, ethical, sustainable country model ?
- Can we base our growth objectives not on “always more” but on “even better” ?
About our young students
The practice of win-win (therefore fair) trade is simply the future of our model of international economic development. We must enrich ourselves by enriching others. This involves the strategic decisions taken on a daily basis, therefore by our governments, and therefore by the content of education and the training of elites.
We can improve the training content dealing with co-development models taught in our universities based on the experience of business elites. Because every country, through its cultural richness and its art of living, has assets to promote. We remain convinced that this localized model of growth could appeal to a number of partners.
In every country, we fight every day for a conquering, enterprising and competitive nation, seeking growth in its openness to the world. It is thanks to our human qualities that we manage to export the richness of the diversity of our regional cultures. Let’s look for good ideas elsewhere to revitalize, develop and protect our territories, their economies and their customs. There remains the problem of the know-how of the comunity and their behavior.
How are we perceived elsewhere ?
Humans trust their intuition, their emotions, whatever their culture or language. So, in your export approach, above all, be yourself, analyze your values and try to work on what brings you closer to your foreign customers.
Because exporting means in French, “PORTter à l’EXtérieur”, litteraly “bringing outside”. Bringing the company and its values to the exterior.
It is therefore to bring our own values and then… ourselves.
“Globalization is a complex issue, partly because economic globalization is only one part of it. Globalization is greater global closeness, and that is cultural, social, political, as well as economic.”
Amartya Sen
Happy CEO 