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Globalization Is An Increasingly Present Phenomenon, Which

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Globalization is an increasingly present phenomenon, which influences almost everyone’s life to a certain extent. Our world is more connected than ever, and not just from an economic point of view, but from social, political, technological, and cultural as well. Globalization can be defined, analysed, tackled many ways, but this essay seeks to briefly define globalization, introduce the convergence - diversity debate, and examine the different types of organizational strategic perspectives in China.
The notions of globality can be traced back to the early part of humanity, but the term globalization itself was not coined until the 20th century. From a social standpoint, it can be defined as:
“A social process in which the constraints of …show more content…

From a managerial point of view, there are many implications of convergence. For example, the staff of multinational firms are often expected to move around the organization’s global operations.
Furthermore, “Belief in the transferability of techniques has led management to turn elsewhere for solutions to problems such as organization structures, new market entry, product and process design, controlling labour and cost reduction.” (Needle, pp.147)
On the other side of the debate, “divergence scholars instead assert that national culture, not economic ideology, or technological growth, is (and will continue to be) the dominant force in shaping the values, beliefs, and attitudes...within a country”. (Gupta, V.; Wang, J pp. 69)
The divergence supporters argue that differences in cultural values can be seen as natural barriers to convergence, and they can only be altered slowly. They insist, that instead of converging on one model, national states and companies aim to be different, so they can be more compatible on the global market. Divergence scholars are convinced that management practices cannot simply be integrated, as cultural differences - particularly between Western and Eastern countries - are too great.
There is a hybrid model which combines the best features of convergent and divergent ideology, called cross-vergence. It represents a middle way in the values symbolized by the Western and Eastern world.

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