Real-World, Real-Time

Ellen Pearlman Avatar

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It’s so easy to be afraid of change. Change is disruptive and opens up windows into the unknown. And given the severity and scope of the changes brought about by globalization, it’s no wonder that people are afraid. It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since the “Battle in Seattle,” when antiglobalization protesters smashed windows, burned cars and sparred with police for days at the World Trade Organization summit meeting. Since then, it’s been more of the same: Just this month, hundreds of antiglobalization demonstrators were arrested at WTO meetings in Kenya.

The irony of it all is that no one really knows enough about globalization and its consequences to justify all the anxiety, and it’s fair to say that there’s a dangerous amount of misinformation contributing to the hysteria. Americans seem convinced that India and China will steal their jobs and rise up as major global economic powers. Indians and Chinese, along with quite a few others, are wary of becoming colonies of an ever-expanding American socioeconomic empire.

With that in mind, the editors at CIO Insight have gathered together some of the world’s most knowledgeable experts on globalization, in the hope that we can further the business community’s education on this highly charged subject. People like Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times foreign-affairs columnist, who took a leave from his news desk to travel, because he realized he didn’t fully understand globalization.
CIOI global outsourcing teaser link

People like JPMorgan Chase CIO Austin Adams, whose billion-dollar decisions on outsourcing are grounded in nothing but business realities. People like Boyd Rogers, vice president of global supply chain and technology for VF Corp., an old-line apparel maker that has exploded into the global markets. And people like international outsourcing consultants Mark D. Minevich and Frank-Jürgen Richter, who brought together the expertise of more than 30 international experts to create this month’s whiteboard. Called the Global Outsourcing Report, the whiteboard brings readers the first-ever global assessment of present and future risks and opportunities in 30 countries.

Coming to terms with globalization is tough for anyone, even business leaders who are accustomed to looking ten years ahead. We all have to work hard to understand this rapidly changing environment. And we have to work even harder to succeed in it. It’s always easier when things stay the same. But nobody said this was going to be easy.