چکیده :
A commonly acknowledged belief is that globalization–—
the deepening interconnection between
nations and societies–—has multiple facets: economic,
political, financial, marketing, social, and institutional.
As applied to the context of emerging
markets, these different facets congeal in a progressive
pattern of strategic entry decisions made
by erstwhile multinational firms, and recently, by an
increasing number of stalwart local firms. While this
pattern is not necessarily sequential or deliberate,
it accentuates strategic decisions in the life cycle of
internationalization.
Once considered to be bastions of production and
global sourcing, emerging markets were favorite
destinations, particularly when labor costs were
much lower and work skills roughly comparable.
The globe-trotting activities by athletic footwear
giant Nike in the 1980s–—including Japan, China,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, and currently
Vietnam–—provide graphic testimony to this
strategy. But as these emerging markets become
more developed, owing largely to a more prosperous
middle class and favorable governmental policies,
attention is shifting from them as producers to
consumers. This is reflected in current marketing
initiatives by companies such as Apple, Samsung,
Wal-Mart, and Procter & Gamble: to penetrate the
Chinese and other targeted markets. In this context,
economic and trade liberalization that facilitates
production and marketing initiatives will continue
to play a dominant role in terms of integrating
emerging markets into the global economy. Though
the integration of global financial markets is still at a
nascent stage, there is little doubt that this is the
next phase of globalization. Interest in foreign
direct investment and macroeconomic policies
punctuates the growing importance of this direction.
Perhaps the area receiving short shrift is the
purported application of management systems,
which entails the systemic union of Eastern and
Western intellectual traditions. We define management
systems broadly here, not confined to human
resource systems alone, but as the broader base of
human and social capital undergirding strategic
decisions.