International Masters in International Business (IMIB)

School of International Trade & Economics (SITE) Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (JUFE)

Jiangxi, PR China

Cross-Culture Business Communication Assignment # 1

How can you understand “Grobalization”?

Submitted To:

Prof. Mark Du E-Mail: markdu@hotmail.com

Submitted By Mohammad Tawhidur Rahman

Student ID # 31540051 Bangladesh

Date of Submission: 14 December, 2015

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Question # 1 : How can you understand “Grobalization”? Answer # 1 : Grobalization is defined as “the imperialistic ambitions of nations, corporations, organizations, and the like and their desire, indeed need, to impose themselves on various geographic areas” (Ritzer 2007: 15). The theory of grobalization was coined by George Ritzer in his 2007 book entitled The Globalization of Nothing 2. Grobalization is a portmanteau of the words “growth” and “globalization”; hence the term “grobalization”. Grobalization refers to the imperialistic goals, desires, and needs of large corporations (e.g., KFC, McDonald’s, and Disney) or even entire nations to get a foothold in various areas of the world so that their power, influence, and profits can grow. The term “grobalization”—rather than globalization— is used because it specifically refers to the “growth imperatives of organizations and nations to expand globally and to impose themselves on the local” (Ritzer 2007, 13). In other words, grobalization is both a specific and an extreme form of globalization. Grobalization shows that global capitalism can prevail. Globalization is more general and refers, in a nutshell, to global interconnectedness (Roudometof, 2005) or the worldwide diffusion of practices (Lechner, 2005). Globalization, in and of itself, is not a monolithic phenomenon. It is not a homogenizing influence that forces local cultures into adopting its norms, practices, and values. Neither does it attempt to erase local cultural arrangements altogether (Kraidy, 2001). As opposed to grobalization, globalization does not possess the connotations of standardization, homogenization, and universalism (Mattelart, 1996). Grobalization, on the other hand, is more monolithic than globalization. Globalization does not assume a monolithic imposition of Western ways of life—or the values of a gigantic company like McDonald’s —on local cultures. Grobalization does. It is ultra penetrative to local cultures and represents more than just a “global consciousness” (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 205). This is why it is important to differentiate grobalization from globalization from square one. Before coining the term “grobalization”, Ritzer (2005) discussed another sub process of cultural imperialism that is synonymous with grobalization: McDonaldization. McDonaldization represents the values of the fast-food industry—efficiency, quantification, predictability, and control—all of which are ideals that lead to convenience and efficiency across all sectors of society. Those values also symbolize impersonal sameness, the notion that products (or stories or ideas) are standardized and lack real or unique taste. For instance, children in African villages wear American-style T-shirts and drink Coca-Cola. In Saudi Arabia, women under the veil apply Clinique or Christian Dior cosmetics. Norwegians and Vietnamese consume burritos and tacos at an increasing number of fast-food chains (Quelch & Jocz, 2008). According to grobalization theory, the main consequence of McDonaldization and the aforementioned imperialistic goals, desires, and needs is that the world is growing increasingly similar and this similarity, over time, tends to minimize differences within and between local cultures of the globe (Andrews & Ritzer, 2007). As Rigby and Vishwanath (2006) put it, in many places we are witnessing the decline of the local. Grobalization is a unidirectional process whereby local cultures have less capacity to introduce or exploit new ideas, or even to create themselves and their worlds, because they are being flooded with the products and cultures of Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Disney, Hollywood, and the like. Whether intentional or not, the invasion of local cultures

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by commercial products and ideas constitutes an agent of change that progressively leads to global cultural osmosis (Quelch & Jocz, 2008), cultural convergence (Booth, 2008), and homogenization (Hurrell, 2008). Grobalization, then, is a process of cultural and economic imperialism profoundly implicated in the propagation of capitalistic culture throughout the world (Ritzer, 2007). Capitalism is the economic philosophy that has contributed the most to grobalization. As Marx completely understood in the 1860s (Marx, 1867/1967), capitalist systems must continue to develop and spread or they will die. When opportunities for high earnings and revenues within a given nation decrease, capitalistic corporations are compelled to look for profits in other nations. Marx (1867/1967) called it the general law of capitalist accumulation. Eventually, giant corporations are led to search and exploit opportunities for profit in more remote locations or regions that are less developed. Accordingly, capitalist businesses have, by nature, global ambitions. They are always attracted to grobalization (Ritzer, 2007). Although Marx focused on the capitalistic economic system, there was another scholar whose view focused on the growing ability of large corporations and nations to increase their power and reach throughout the modern world: Max Weber. In his General Economic History, Weber (1927) was concerned with the rationalization of not only the economy but also many other areas of modern society. The argument made earlier that globalization is not exactly synonymous with grobalization needs to be explained further. Globalization is more general and encompasses grobalization (Ritzer, 2007). Globalization is the sum total of two major concepts: (a) the one that we now know (grobalization) and (b) glocalization. Glocalization, a portmanteau of “globalization” and “localization,” refers to the interplay of the global and the local giving rise to unique outcomes in different areas of the world (Andrews & Ritzer, 2007). In other words, glocalization means the cooptation of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies (Robertson, 1994). For Kraidy (2001), glocalization refers to new cultural hybrids and the modification of norms and practices to cater to local worldviews and expectations. Ritzer (2007) came up with the concept of grobalization not to supplant the popular idea of glocalization but to complement it. Both grobalization and glocalization have become the most important globalization trends of the new century, but this article focuses specifically on grobalization. Grobalization means “delocalization.” It is an excessive form of global colonization. When such global colonization transforms today’s nations, their communities, and their consumer food habits via the influence of the McDonald’s, it is called McDonaldization. To understand McDonaldization is to reach a fundamental understanding of a supreme economy that has become global or, to be more precise, grobal.

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