The essence of community

Internet technology, helped by globalization, has linked the world by network and cable. But, in truth, it has come to feel very commonplace – barring the occasional bout of temporary enthusiasm for this or that year's new online medium – such as blogs or YouTube. Still, if you look beyond Silicon Valley's search for the next great idea, this new electronic world of ours may be having a profound impact – in ways we cannot yet fully see. Will there, for example, be anything known as local, native, regional or indigenous a few decades from now? Or will all society mesh into some homogeneous global culture?

In business, for better or worse, many of those changes may already be taking place. As any average business publi­cation will tell you, companies and ­individuals can work with – or compete against – peers around the world. ­Global brands, along with business values and ideas, now penetrate into previously unthinkably remote areas. The benefits, though, of this "shrinking", globalized world are invariably touted by economists and executives – while critics warning of a standardized, bland world are usually editorialists, politicians and non-governmental organizations.

Although it might seem like it, importing ideas and products from abroad, in whatever country you might be living in, is not particularly new. More importantly, it does not seem to lead to a dilution of local culture and identity, as Fran Tonkiss, Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, observes. According to her, one of the main misconceptions of globalization is that it is all one big long process of Americanization.

"In reality, US culture is very diverse. While clearly there are dominant aspects of American culture, the society has been enriched by long histories of immigration and exchanges with other cultures – it's simplistic to think of a unified American culture that is now going global," she says.

While globalization can lead people to embrace new things, it does not seem like they are necessarily forgetting anything they previously did. Take "Schwingen", a Swiss form of wrestling. The first records of the sport go back to the 13th century. And by the end of the 19th century, it had become a national sport with standardized rules. Now, more than 100 years later, despite the globalization of Switzerland's economy, it has experienced a resurgence – one most visibly expressed by the fact that any newly crowned national champion usually appears on television and gets a cover story in the country's largest weekly glossy magazine – not to mention being given a prize bull.

If global technology has the potential to transform traditions, it can also strengthen them. For instance, the internet, because it is so decentralized, promotes and reinforces different perspectives that are far from mainstream. It can also create new communities that are based on similar values, not simply geographical proximity – by strengthening the cultural roots and identity of expatriates and second-generation descendants with their home countries.

And, despite the worries of an overtly standardized, uniform world, as voiced by the critics of globalization, we are still far from becoming one bland planet. While the internet provides us with the opportunity to define ourselves along different lines than being citizens of a nation or of a community, local traditions – be they a custom, an accent, an interest, or a local product – can still represent a deep source of pride and identity. As long as they do, Tonkiss adds, it will be difficult for global trends simply to sweep them away.

Local custom and practice, however, can be an obstacle to globalization in business. Increasingly, corporations have to position their products globally as they find it difficult to ignore the opportunities available in international markets. Still, they will almost inevitably fail if they do not understand the culture of each market they operate in, as it is the local and regional societal drivers that determine the behavior of customers and employees.

Still, it must be said that globalization does increase choice and opens new perspectives. Ginger and kiwi fruit, for example, were nowhere to be found in a normal European supermarket 30 years ago. Now they lie on their ­respective shelves in fairly prosaic fashion. Maybe that is the magic of the whole thing. Making the local become global and then local again – in a new and different way.