01-02 Basics

It was 65 years ago that I graduated as an engineer and started my first job with Imperial Oil, an arm of ESSO, a global fossil fuel giant. My opinion then has not changed over the years. That globalism is more about finding and keeping customers than any kind of conspiracy to make billions at the expense of the average Joe. The top people were all super managers that had worked in every arm of the business both in Canada and around the world.
Certainly, the concept of globalism is about the integration of ideas and thinking. It happens via global companies, global media, global transportation vehicles, new technologies and on and on.
Not all scary. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which I created, is the largest advocacy organization of its kind in the world relative to the size of the population. But it is not just a product of my own innovations but also ideas I gleaned from similar organizations in the US, Japan, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands. And the product of innovations by hundreds of employees over the years.
Big organizations come and go. The world of business is constantly changing. Rules on trade and investment are in constant flux. And so is globalism.
During the annual meeting of the International Small Business Congress in Taiwan in 1997, I met some real global players. The Chairman of Acer Inc., a supplier of products like desk-top computers. And the Chairman of Foxconn, a global electronic contract manufacturer. The story from our meeting was Acer’s plan to shift its production function over to Foxconn and focus on the design and global marketing of its products.
I did not realize at the time that Apple’s I-phone would also be manufactured by Foxconn.
This is the real story of globalism. The growing dominance of contract manufacturers with facilities all over the world. So, if there are new tariffs on goods going from China to the US, production shifts from their Chinese plant to their plant in say, Vietnam.
The major global companies all have their meeting places. Not to control prices or create monopolies. But to stay on top of change. Trade associations, naturally. But the World Economic Forum is the real gathering place. The photo shows climate change activist from Sweden, Greta Thunberg who was a featured speaker.
But, having chatted with some of these corporate types. They are always trying to learn stuff, but what they really like to do at these great conferences is find new customers and keep old customers.