Does Globalization Threaten or Nurture Local Markets
By R. Frost

http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=319

A critical issue for all companies (this article talks about consumers but I think it is relevant to business to business situations because decision makers are impacted by similar dynamics that impact consumers from a local vs. global basis), this article delves into the emotive issues impacting decision making. An example of the type of topics covered is highlighted. This is definitely worth the read.

"What effect does globalization have on consumer behaviors and tastes? As we move easily across regions and cultures are we more adventurous or will we naturally navigate to the known?...

…But Mark Kennedy, chief strategy officer at Landor Associates, views the renewed interest in local traditions more as a complement to globalization than a substitute for it. “In all countries in the world there’s almost a reaction to [globalization] in some of the local products,” he says. “I wouldn’t call it a backlash, but it’s almost like a balancing effect on local products. They start to reassert themselves.” Kennedy notes that this growing interest in local brands is taking place even as the shops in all the world’s airports are becoming increasingly the same, with the same brand names in all of them "