::
Growing, Growing ... Gone? China's under control, Europe's finally reforming, and the global economic outlook is rosy, right? Not quite
::
Follow The Stars Forget politicians and titans of industry — celebs like Bono, Sharon Stone and Angelina Jolie set the agenda at the World Economic Forum
::
Davos Identity Have business élites lost touch with their national roots? The WEF annual meeting in Davos this week crystallizes the debate over globalization
WORLD VIEW :
Investment-firm manager Browder insists that he's a global citizen and that national identity has become obsolete
Posted Sunday, January 23, 2005; 11:27 GMT In a new Time/cnn poll, 46% of those surveyed in France and 40% of those surveyed in Germany said globalization has been "mainly bad" for their country's economy. And 62% of respondents in Britain, France and Germany agreed that some international businessmen and women "have profited unfairly from globalization." The opponents of globalization "used to be hippies with a bunch of signs," says Nathalie Kleinschmit, a Canadian-born consultant with a German passport who helps big companies deal with international operations. "Now the feeling is that anti-globalization is more focused, more organized and more widespread." In other words, globalization once perceived as something that makes poor countries poorer is now seen as a phenomenon that makes rich countries poorer.
Of course, Davos makes a tempting target for anti-élitists. It's easy to feel suspicious about an event that gathers the world's business and political leaders around tables of wine and fondue and asks them to solve other people's problems. And naturally, many Davos Men don't accept Huntington's terms. "Huntington forgets that there is a difference between culture on the one hand, and attitudes and lifestyle on the other," contends Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, arguing that endorsing a global outlook does not mean erasing national identity. "Globalization can never provide us with cultural identity, which needs to be local and national in nature."
A.C. Grayling, the British philosopher and essayist, is more outspoken. The transcending of national boundaries "is a very good thing," he contends, pointing to the postwar integration of Western Europe into the European Union as a model. "In the last 250 years, nation-states have been the problem, not the solution, to world affairs." Others see Huntington's depiction of Davos Man as a caricature that ignores key nuances about the nature of world business. "It's a false dichotomy," says James F. Hoge Jr., editor of Foreign Affairs and, like Huntington, a frequent Davos attendee. "Globalization is a child of the nation-states of the developed world. So in a sense it can't stand in opposition to nationhood." While nations are willingly ceding some aspects of sovereignty, he points out that they are hanging onto tax laws and, in the post-9/11 era, security and immigration.
Nonetheless, Huntington's argument does strike a chord. "Lacking sensitivity to local issues is dangerous," says Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the advertising and marketing services giant WPP, which does about 40% of its business in the U.S., 40% in Europe and 20% in the Asia-Pacific region. "To think of the world as a marketplace doesn't mean that national identity is not important. People are more different than we thought they'd be." The trick for companies, Sorrell says, is to be "ambidextrous" to position themselves as efficient global organizations that nonetheless present themselves in each national market as being a local player.
For corporations looking to peddle consumer goods, that's good and familiar advice. The food behemoth Nestlé, for one, tries to achieve it by tailoring its worldwide businesses to national taste: buy one of its best-selling KitKat candy bars in Russia and it will have a slightly different mix of sugar and other ingredients from a KitKat bought in Britain, which in turn is different from the ones on sale in Germany.
Bespoke chocolate bars won't resolve the broader economic questions raised by Davos Man's critics. Global trade has been around for centuries; the corporations and countries that benefited from it were largely content to treat vast parts of the world as places to mine natural resources or sell finished products. Even as the globalization of capital accelerated in the 1980s, most foreign investment was between relatively wealthy countries, not from wealthy countries into poorer ones. U.S. technology, companies and money were often at the forefront of this movement. "The U.S. was an early adopter [of globalization], but that's not a place it can retain," says Laura D'Andrea Tyson, the former Clinton economic adviser who is now dean of the London Business School. "We'll see the rise of other significant players."
It's happening. Already the developed world is beating a path to China's and India's door — and Chinese and Indian companies, in turn, have started to look overseas for some of their future growth. Beijing has even started what it calls a "Going Out" policy that encourages Chinese firms to buy assets overseas. Last year, the world economy grew at its fastest pace in decades, largely due to the dynamism of China. Cross-border direct investment has been falling sharply in the U.S., Western Europe and other developed countries since 2000, while it has risen strongly in developing countries, most notably China. In 2004, it received some $60 billion in investment. Add in the $13 billion that flowed into Hong Kong, and the total is more than double the amount foreigners invested in the U.S., the world's largest economy.
:: Building Bridges Feb. 08, 2001
Much of Davos was devoted to closing the gap between the technology haves and have-nots
:: Doubts At Davos Jan. 27, 2003
At 2003's World Economic Forum meeting, misgivings about America are the talk of the town
:: What The World Needs Now Jan. 19, 2004
Smaller nations have the chance to put poverty, AIDS and the environment back on the table
:: Voices Of A New Generation Jan. 19, 2003
Eight young leaders with huge hopes for Europe and big ideas about how to make a difference.
:: Rotten At The Core? Jan. 27, 2004
Germany and France have always driven E.U. integration, but smaller states say Berlin and Paris should move over
::
The War On PovertyApr. 15, 2003
In office just two months, President Lula da Silva and his team have begun to tackle inequality in Brazil
::
Can't Stand The Heat Mar. 22, 2001
Global warming is making many winter-sports lovers hot under the collar
Mogadishu at 60 Miles an Hour Arms merchants are once again doing brisk business after a rapid change of power in this tough town, but so far the peace has held
The Year of The Nuke A rundown of the world's nuclear powerhouses, and what to expect in the coming months
In a new 
"Now the feeling is that anti-globalization is more focused, more organized and more widespread." In other words, globalization once perceived as something that makes poor countries poorer is now seen as a phenomenon that makes rich countries poorer. 
