Globalization and the Smaller Firm: Reconcilable Notions?

Abstract

The term globalization is repeatedly encountered in the academic literature and business press nowadays. Although ‘internationalization’ and ‘globalization’ are frequently used interchangeably (Dicken, 1998), there is a degree of difference between them . The IMF definition printed above refers essentially to the macroeconomic level. At a microeconomic level one can argue that globalization is occurring when firms expand their international operations with firms and customers situated well beyond their own national borders. Internationalization can be viewed as a phenomenon of the 1950s, 1960s and much of the 1970s, while globalization a phenomenon of the 1980s and 1990s (OECD, 1999b).