“There are No German or US Companies, Only Successful Ones” the Wall Street Journal recently headlined. We have become a global economy and it affects us in ways we probably don’t like. Senior managers in many companies believe in open markets; global competition where customers are accessible; products move seamlessly across borders; technology is universally accessible; and logic dictates business decisions. These seem to be shared values among senior managers whether they’re from Gemplus, Lloyds, Daimler-Benz, IBM, Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, Coca-Cola, Toyota, or Bertelsmann.[i] We’re already seeing this as companies in drugs, aerospace, tires, automobiles, finance, publishing, software, and engineering merge, form alliances, share technology, access people, or simply be acquired.
[i] White, Joseph, “There Are No German or US Companies, Only Successful Ones,” Wall Street Journal, May 7, 1998, p. A1.