Global - Snowball

We have been seduced into believing that we live in a 'Global Economy'.

This is not true. We certainly have a capability to trade internationally but there is nothing new in that.

What has happened is the information economy, which emerged in the middle of the last century from the manufacturing economy of the previous 200 years, allowed companies and people to buy direct from suppliers. Examples of Amazon and Dell are often quoted.

Certainly, this digital rip tide capability was not bounded by geography and it washed away many regulations and rules put up as protectionist barriers by governments and companies.

But the basis for the exchange of ideas and good was bounded by cultures and use and application of technologies. These boundaries exist and remain and will not go away quickly.

Internet communities are created when conditions are optimised rather like a snowball. The culture (snow) has to be right, the momentum has to be right and the effort has to be made and, its quite easy for the snowball to fall apart and fom into althernative communities.

What this means is that we need to understand cultures and networks to be effective and to generate real shareholder return.