#148 Edeka explains globalization
In August 2017, German supermarket Edeka made a bold statement. For one day, the supermarket chain took all non-German products off the shelves. Instead of their favorite Italian pasta, Spanish tomatoes, Israeli oranges, Greek olives, Portuguese sardines, French cheeses, Japanese soy sauce, or Turkish grapes, Edeka’s customers found signs with statements such as “Things are pretty boring without diversity” or “This is how empty our shelves are without foreigners” instead. Clearly, Edeka, with about 26 percent market share the largest player among its competitors in Germany, intended to make a statement directed against racism, xenophobia, and the fear of the foreign. At the same time, it was also a statement for globalization. In a way it is a take on Sara Buongiorno’s 2007 book ‘A Year without ‘Made in China”. In that book, the author describes her family’s quest to live without products from China. It is not hard to guess that this was not only a difficult undertaking, but one that proved to be impossible to complete: a normal life without products that have “some degree of China” in them is simply not feasible. Hence, globalization is not necessarily a choice that individuals make or that governments can opt out of, it is a reality that consumers and corporations have created. And it has been long in the making.
But how long? Some would say that there was even an archaic form of globalization during the Hellenistic age, the time of the Roman empire, the Mongol expansion, and others. Others would argue that globalization is a thing of the relative recent past, starting with the return to peace after World War II, or even later after the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was implemented, and advances in modern communication and transportation technology increased the pace of international trade. Yet others, such as Thomas Friedman whose 2005 book ‘The World is Flat’ brought globalization to the public stage, would argue that 1492 was the year that the big bang of globalization occurred, only surpassed in significance by the imperialist expansion of other countries, and the founding of the British East India Company in 1600. In a wonderful book, historian Timothy Brook (2008) uses paintings by 17thcentury Dutch painter Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) to decipher the signs of early globalization. Revealing fascinating detail after detail in Vermeer’s work, he takes us from the small Dutch town of Delft to trading stations in the wild vastness of Canada’s unexplored hinterland and the distant porcelain factories of China, clearly demonstrating how the global expansion of business may not be a recent phenomenon of the 21st century. Even early economists such as Adam Smith (1723-1790) or David Ricardo (1772-1823) today might see the new division of labor between Native Americans who traded animal skins for firearms with European traders contributed to globalization (although he never used the term in his lifetime). Before putting a stake in the ground, however, we should also look at the numbers: econometric analysis has shown that international trade only grew at about 1 percent per annum between 1500 and 1799 (O’Rourke & Williamson, 2004). It was a rare phenomenon that developed at a crawl only. Therefore, while it is certainly true that Columbus’ discovery of the Americas or Da Gama’s discovery of the route to Asia opened up new avenues of international trade, the simple exchange of goods across long distances or country borders probably only qualifies for a very limited view of globalization. True globalization, and thus the later stages of what Friedman calls Globalization 2.0 (1800-2000) and definitely, by his definition Globalization 3.0 (2000-present) really only occurred with the global integration of markets– when economic actors in different countries started to compete with each other, and when economies moved from the simple, bilateral trade of goods to an exchange of knowledge, capital, and services along globally integrated supply chains, all facilitated by technological advances in communication and transportation. It is the kind of integration that Georgetown professor Pietra Rivoli wrote about in 2005 when she tracked how a simple t-shirts traverses across countries and between economic actors from Texan cotton growers to global retail chains; or the type of integration that manufacturers of commercial aircraft skillfully leverage in search of the best suppliers and the biggest customers.
Depending on who you ask, today’s world economy has either entered or already fully arrived at that stage. While some authors believe that globalization is in full swing, others, such as Pankaj Ghemawat see the world economy in a stage of regionalization. I’ll leave that debate for some other time, but if you were a consumer looking for that jar of Nutella or that can of sardines at Edeka on that day last August, you experienced how far and deep globalization had gone.
September 29, 2018 @ 8:44 pm
This is a really interesting and insightful post on globalization and so timely given the current tide of protectionism, breakup of trade agreements, Brexit, tariffs, and trade wars. The Edeka example highlights products that come from other countries and what can present itself – no products available on shelves to be sold – if there was not international commerce or free flow of goods and merchandise. If one looks even deeper from the perspective of the product, one would realize that it might be born from ingredients, parts, or components that are themselves sourced globally. Indeed, numerous examples such as a pencil, the iPhone, the Big Mac in Ukraine, Nutella, and Tesla car demonstrate that each product’s individual components or ingredients necessarily come from numerous countries due to its availability, efficiency in production, and cost effectiveness. (Apfelthaler, G.; 2018 CLU EMBA-500 Strategy in a Global Context slides). Sriracha chili sauce (Huy Fong Foods, founder David Tran) while made in America, has its jalapenos sourced from Mexico (ProGreen Farms). A note related to China imports to the USA, 80% of Walmart’s suppliers are located in China. (Alliance for American Manufacturing, 2016). Within China, 21.4% of their total retail is from e-commerce. (Jacobs, H. 2018). Undoubtedly, some products purchased through e-commerce in China likely come a global source. For these reasons and likely many more examples, this writer feels that in the world economy, globalization is in full swing.
Alliance for American Manufacturing (2016). FACT SHEET: Walmart’s Made in America Pledge. Retrieved from http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/press-releases/entry/fact-sheet-wal-marts-made-in-america-pledge
Jacobs, H. (2018). Photos reveal what it’s like to shop at Walmart in China — which is shockingly different from the US and struggling to compete. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-in-china-most-popular-international-supermarket-photos-2018-4
October 31, 2018 @ 5:32 pm
Palanga, Siauliai There are four international airports
operating in Lithuania – in Kaunas, and, of course,
in Vilnius, and there are more than 30 smaller airports
and military airfields. In Estonia, airports are mainly
located in the capital in Tallinn, as well as in Tartu,
Kuressaare, Kerdle and Parnu. These are international
airports, however, there are more than 15 private and
military airports and so-called airports of local importance
located throughout the country. Latvia still has only two
international airports – in Riga and in Liepaja; there are
also small airdromes, for example, in Spilva, in Tukums and
Ventspils, and several other military flight platforms though.
Riga International Airport entered the top five rapidly
growing airports in Europe last year, which lead to an
increase in the number of passengers by 16.2%. Therefore,
it underscores the fact that even though the airport in
Liepaja will have to put a lot of time and effort to its
development, it brings a great potential, which can give a
significant and valuable contribution to the domestic
economy of the country.
November 15, 2018 @ 11:45 pm
Fast, easy and convenient movement of goods, services, money and people – these are the principles that are the main components for welfare and jobs in Europe.Rolands petersons privatban Mobility is the main prerequisite for securing these four core values ??in the domestic and international markets.Rolands petersons privatban This is very important in the Baltic regions, where very well thought out and developed infrastructure is one of the satisfactory factors of development.Rolands petersons privatban A flight organization provides a direct and indirect impact on the economy.Rolands petersons privatban Direct impact is the profit from the work of airline personnel and infrastructure staff in general, when non-indirect impact contribution represents all acquisitions in the aviation sector from local suppliers who most often do not represent the aviation sector.Rolands petersons privatban Moreover, the impact on the economic situation in Latvia is localized by the costs of aviation sector personnel and service providers.Rolands petersons privatbank
November 16, 2018 @ 5:58 pm
The airport in Liepaja provided a great job – in 2015 after the completion of reconstruction.Rolands petersons privatban Nemaore drainage effort was done at the airport, modern runway coverage was put in place, the runway was extended, the cover of the shunting route was improved and extended, aircraft parking areas were restored, then, as Liepaya Airport was certified for commercial flights for the summer season in 2016, Latvian national airline AirBaltic has launched regular flights between Riga and Liepaja. In the first half of this year, more than 4,780 passengers were transported on this route. The five most famous destinations for transit flights on the Liepaja route are London,Rolands petersons privatban Berlin, Moscow, Copenhagen and Hamburg, which in general have good results.Rolands petersons privatban
Taking into account the processes that continue, we need to recall the large capacity building of airports, the protection of the environment in the near future, and the increased cooperation with other regional airports in Europe.Rolands petersons privatban It is not enough for Latvia to have only one airport of large capacity – we have a regional manager who can be an example of successful behavior in the market for others.Rolands petersons privatban
February 21, 2019 @ 9:42 pm
Very interesting post and I really like how the picture of Edeka’s store shelves shows the reality of life without products from other places in the world.
The world would be so boring without globalization! We would be so separate – there would be no reason to have relationships or feeling of connection with other countries, share ideas, share our cultures, learn about them – international business would really not exist! I hate to think of a world without it. There would certainly be less jobs in the world. It would be like having a next door neighbor who you never see and who you never talk to.
How amazing that we can travel across the ocean where our own language isn’t spoken – but we can find often find a small slice of home when we see a McDonalds – although the menu is different, it’s still a familiar place – all because of globalization. I definitely plan to read “A Year Without ‘Made in China’”.
March 10, 2019 @ 8:24 pm
I really like the statement of the German supermarket Edeka. It must be a strange feeling when you go to the supermarket and all the shelves are empty. But that is globalization! Trade exists due to specialization and the division of labor, a predominant form of economic activity in which individuals and groups concentrate on a small aspect of production, but use their output in trades for other products and needs. This is especially favored by trade and monetary unions! In principle, these agreements remove all obstacles (e.g. export bans) and significantly increases trading between member states. This is one of the key most important factors leading to economic growth. It develops markets and puts companies and states in competition with each other. Consequently, the higher competition is, the higher is the force for companies to be more innovative and thus, leading to a better output of products. On the other side, companies are more and more trying to exploit their employees in order to boost cheaper production and thus, remain competitive. In order to prevent this exploitation of workers, it is necessary to enforce laws to protect the employees. For example, those laws regulate minimum wages, vacation periods or maximum working hours. Consequently, industrially well-endowed countries might suffer disadvantages as large companies emigrate to low-cost countries.
March 10, 2019 @ 8:28 pm
I really like the statement of the German supermarket Edeka. It must be a strange feeling when you go to the supermarket and all the shelves are empty. But that is globalization! Trade exists due to specialization and the division of labor, a predominant form of economic activity in which individuals and groups concentrate on a small aspect of production, but use their output in trades for other products and needs. This is especially favored by trade and monetary unions! In principle, these agreements remove all obstacles (e.g. export bans) and significantly increases trading between member states. This is one of the key most important factors leading to economic growth. It develops markets and puts companies and states in competition with each other. Consequently, the higher competition is, the higher is the force for companies to be more innovative and thus, leading to a better output of products. But there are also disadvantages that should be mentioned. Companies are more and more trying to exploit their employees in order to boost cheaper production and thus, remain competitive. In order to prevent this exploitation of workers, it is necessary to enforce laws to protect the employees. For example, those laws regulate minimum wages, vacation periods or maximum working hours. Consequently, industrially well-endowed countries might suffer disadvantages as large companies emigrate to low-cost countries.
March 18, 2019 @ 5:37 am
It is quite interesting to see how Edeka took a stance on globalization this way. Most people do not look at items in a supermarket this way. I would assume it was an enormous shock to all the customers, whether they agreed with it or not, as a mass amount of food disappeared. To see to the numbers on how this “slow crawl” has shot up leads me back to the hockey stick of economics. There was a sudden boom and the main contributors to it are the companies and consumers. Going to a super market and having everything readily available to us, to me, is positive. If I was shopping there that day, I would not be too thrilled to see everything I need is now gone. The debate between Friedman and Ghemawat is one of its own but both make good points. It is here, it does need to be embraced, and we need to be willing to progress forward rather than refute it. I applaud Edeka for taking this initiative to really bring it into prospective to people.
March 19, 2019 @ 8:04 am
The picture of the almost empty Edeka supermarket impressively illustrates the effects of globalization and makes you think. I find the different theses on globalization within the Edeka article particularly interesting. One word that comes to light in Friedman and Rivoli’s theses is integration. The global integration of the markets (Friedman) and the kind of integration with the help of the example of a T-shirt (Rivoli) describes globalization in my opinion very well. It is just as important to describe life services in my opinion by means of income distribution and the effects of globalisation. Firstly, the differences in income between nations, adjusted for purchasing power, have narrowed, at least when nations are weighted according to their population size. Second, income inequality has increased in many countries, often with the highest percentage doing particularly well. This is particularly true of large countries such as the United States or China. Thirdly, income disparities among people or households in the world have recently been narrowing. In my opinion, the last two trends should contribute less to the legitimacy of the liberal world economic order than the opposite trend in domestic distributions, which calls the liberal order into question.
March 21, 2019 @ 9:53 pm
Besides the great example of Edeka that makes the impact of globalization visible in a very concrete way, I especially like the historical milestones of globalization and some of the famous economic theories presented in this context.
Therefore, I want to link my post to the economic theories of Ludwig von Mises (1881 Lemberg, Habsburg Monarchy – 1973 New York), as one of the most famous representatives of the Austrian School of Economics, who claims that without foreign capital (coming mainly from Great Britain back then) and investments in railroads or gas companies, most European countries would have needed much longer to industrialize in the 19th century. Without foreign investments also all those railroads, harbors, production plants, mines, etc. in Asia would not have been there that early to contributed to a global economic growth. Mises states that a prerequisite for greater economic equality in the world is industrialization that should be supported by foreign investments to boost economic growth and prosperity.
Anyhow, according to an index of ETH Zürich, that differentiates economic, social and political globalization, in 2016 (= most recent data available) global trade was declining and globalization in total stagnating. Austria, ranked 7th in this global index, in 2018 for the first time exported goods worth more than 150 bn EUR and services worth 59 bn EUR, equaling 54% of the country’s GDP. Thus, depending highly on global trade (even tough 80% within the EU), we should hope that political leaders value the benefits of global trade and rather focus on eliminating barriers instead of conducting trade wars.
References:
http://austrian-institute.org/essential/vom-wert-der-besseren-ideen/5-auslandsinvestitionen/
https://www.kof.ethz.ch/news-und-veranstaltungen/medien/medienmitteilungen/2018/12/kof-globalisierungsindex-globalisierungsflaute-setzt-sich-fort.html
https://www.wko.at/service/zahlen-daten-fakten/daten-internationalisierung.html#
March 24, 2019 @ 4:01 pm
The picture above could as well have been taken in a shop in Venezuela and it tells a compelling story: we cannot afford to live without globalization nowadays. It touches upon almost all aspects of our lives: culture, education and, as the example clearly shows, economics. Banning all non-German products from the shelves left aisles empty, which is of course a statement against current protectionist tendencies that evolve around the world. One definitely may argue that the trend towards more intensified globalization led to some very strange and questionable decisions when it comes to production lines (e.g. tomatoes that travel half of Europe to end up in a store in the country of origin anyway), but it is a well-known truth (or at least it is supposed to be) that it encourages specialization and trade and in the end results in cheaper prices for consumers.
Setting up trade barriers will consequently harm the consumers in the home market and therefore, later on, due to the loss of purchasing power, the workers who were supposed to benefit from them. Maybe some people need to go shopping in an empty Edeka in order to understand that.
March 25, 2019 @ 8:58 pm
Edeka shows impressively how globalization influences our daily lives. Most (nearly everything) we buy on a frequently basis comes from any foreign countries.
On the one hand customers have high expectations on (1) the availablility – e.g. fresh apples, bananas, lychees etc should be available all sesions long, (2) the price – the lower, the better and (3) the variety and sortiment – the Venezuelan Rum should fill shelfs as the Swiss Chocolate and French Wine. Do those super- or hypermarkets do just follow the needs of us costumers? I would say: Yes. Would someone go shopping in the “local-supplied” Edeka as showed in the picture above? Probably not. If all supermarkets would play fair and only supply with local goods and import only the most necessary, customers would have not choice rather than buying what is in the shelfs … but wait! Every heared about Amazon Fresh?
In my opinion it is the global pressure combined with the expectations of spilt customers that leads to (the need of) globalized commerce.
April 1, 2019 @ 8:47 am
In my opinion it was nice to see how our supermarkets would look like if we wouldn’t import any goods. It showed how dependent we are nowadays from the globalization. I agree that globalization is not new but accelerated after world war II exponentially. It brought a lot of advantages to the world, to the developing countries and to the Western world, probably more the latter.
Edeka removed all imported goods from the shelves. What the retail chain wanted to demonstrate: everything is empty without foreigners. Thus, Edeka unintentionally showed also its own neo-colonial, neoliberal business policy. Xenophobia and racism are, of course, to be rejected, but Edeka’s import goods have nothing to do with that.
Western globalism still plunders often other countries by paying unfair prices, buying goods below their value, and making substantial profits in this country. The neoliberal globalist world is in fact highly doubtful: because it exploits the plight of other peoples and makes people dependent and work for low pay.
My argument is that for us in the Western World, of course, globalization is a success from an economical perspective. But let’s keep in mind that other countries and regions suffer from our advantages and that there is still a lot to do in order to make it beneficial for the whole world.
April 7, 2019 @ 9:43 am
While you stated that some argue the start of globalization was during the Hellenistic age, I think that some would even go further and trace the beginning of globalization back to the long-distance trade networks operated during the Bronze Age. Tin was in high demand but could only be mined at a handful of locations. International trade in tin, precious metals and spices ensued. Trade routes inherently lead to the spread of ideas and thus in the Bronze Age supported the creation of complex social structures as well as wealth. With the collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations, global trade came to a halt too.
Edeka greatly showed how interconnected our world is today and that almost everything we know about is based on the fundament of globalization and international trade. It allows us to be most efficient in production of goods and specialize in what each country / region does best in terms of resource allocation. This results in the fact that also parts of products can come from a different country than where they are sold or what their labels say where they come from.
March 12, 2020 @ 3:13 pm
I like this drastic statement by EDEKA, because it shows people very vividly how connected the supply chains are nowadays. Furthermore, it shows that one of the very basic needs of people (food) is subject extreme globalization, which is not perceived in that manner when shopping in the supermarket. For people it is the norm that literally everything is available at any time. Most people don’t think about where their apples and oranges come from, but rather recognize when prices are changing. Especially, in the times of COVID-19 it becomes obvious that not only “the good things” spread very fast around the globe. Additionally, COVID-19 shows how vulnerable supply chains are and how dependent certain sectors or even countries are on the supplies from the world market (masks, rubber gloves, disinfectant). In other words, nothing really works without globalization in the world we are living in. I think initiatives like this one by EDEKA can really change the perception of people and help them understand how interconnected economies are.
March 14, 2020 @ 1:38 pm
To me, this is a wonderful story on many different levels. First, I really like this timely marketing campaign that works on so many levels. At a time of growing nationalism and more and more “inward” looking politicians it is a well-suited campaign to demonstrate how we benefit from diversity (in this case exemplified with products). It also drives home a clear message that globalisation is all around us and that we benefit from what others have to offer. Clearly, isolating yourself, fending off what is supposedly “foreign”, different and therefore scary (so the populist narrative goes) leads to disadvantages as this case demonstrates in terms of convenience, choice and utility. The current Corona Virus crisis is another case in point here: The crisis really brought the interconnected nature of the economies to the fore and the associated links in the supply chains and human travel. Here, we can also see that inward-looking and nationalist strategies to deal with it are ill-equipped to tackle the crisis – the virus does not care if you build a wall (metaphorically speaking). Dealing with worldwide phenomena in a globalised world with nationalistic strategies backfires. Instead, more multi-literalism more international collaboration and solidarity are more promising strategies to address the societal challenges of today. As such, the Edeka campaign and the Corona crisis surface the highly interconnected and globalised world that we live in and provide a good opportunity to reflect on the strategies we need to tackle the grand challenges of today.
March 29, 2020 @ 11:30 am
I like the action from EDEKA very much. This action showed the normal customer how far globalization entered our daily life. This action shows how little regional production of the normal articles in a supermarket is. Apples from Chile, or South Africa are quite normal, and people don’t care about it, while local apple farmers cannot even harvest their apples because the price per kilo for local apples is so low. I think it’s good that globalization enables us to have a variety in the supermarkets. But I question whether it is really necessary to import products from far away countries, which can be produced locally – often even in better quality.
Especially now in the COVID-19 crisis, we see how dependent we are on globalization. Disposable gloves, protective clothing, face masks and especially disinfectants are mainly produced in Asian countries. Local politicians are now demanding that Europe should not make itself so dependent on Asian countries. But is this still possible? The raw materials for our medicines are produced almost exclusively in China and India, sadly often under catastrophic conditions.
Globalization makes it possible that we can buy all kind of products in Europe. I like the action from EDEKA especially, because it has shown exactly how dependent we are on global trade. And I put up for discussion whether we are willing to do without the diversity that globalization brings to our supermarkets and our life.
April 4, 2020 @ 3:47 pm
I enjoy the statement of EDAKA against racisms and xenophobia a lot. In times of growing racism that spreads almost as exponential as the COVID-19 virus itself these days of the pandemic, that the countries of the world wake up in one by one, we got used to see pictures like this in our every day’s life. It also shows the degree of interdependencies and importance of viable relationships of countries and the need of necessary transportation routes to exchange goods. Today’s pandemic state enhances this statement with the repetition of it on a global level creating scarcity of goods, due to the solely reason of closing boarders and stopping necessary supply deliveries for neighbor or/and union partner countries, confiscating the delivery of desperately needed protecting materials for nightmarishly hit countries by COVID-19.
After the last few weeks the reconsideration of globalization and its degree is at stake. The interdependencies of supply chains, how dependable countries choose to be and the diminishing effect of the stand-by mode of huge industries on pollution during the last two month will be considered. I think the change of Friedman’s Globalization 3.0 into the version 3.1 knocks on our doors delivered by COVID-19.
April 29, 2020 @ 4:14 pm
Edeka’s example from the food industry and the idea of Sara Buongiorno’s book made me think about the trend towards regionality, which we are facing in Austria’s recent past. Most people following this trend are focused on organic food that is produced 100% in the region. With increased effort, as it often is hard to find information on the ingredients’ origin, and giving up on certain food this is possible. But what happens when people want to buy products from other industries that are regionally produced, or at least only produced in their home country? Unless they want to live in Stone Age, I do not think this is possible for many products. Globalization has reached a stage where the consumer does not have many choices anymore. The example of the pencil (CLU EMBA-500 class), a simple product in my opinion, with all its individual components coming from different countries and Sara Buongiorno’s experiment trying to live without products from one single country (I know it is China), illustrates that very good. The current pandemic unfortunately demonstrates the large-scale of globalization in a very drastic way. I am curious to see whether this will change something for the reality we created and if yes, to what extent.
May 1, 2020 @ 9:24 am
Globalization has been one of the buzzwords over the last 25 years. Economic historian tell us that people have been trading across vast distances for centuries, if not millenia. Rapidly developing economies, the world wide web, easier travel, have all combined to create a system that is much more dependent on what is happening on the other side of the world. This is why Covid 19 has had such an immediate economic effect. The disruption of supply chain makes people more creative and looking for alternative supplier at home, even they are more expensive. If companies find domestic suppliers they will stick with them because of the perceived risks. In my opinion globalization creates systematic risks and we should be aware of it, we cannot go back to zero but for the next stop in the grocery store maybe to think of it if we really need apples from south Africa. We, the consumers have the power to make a change to a better living with a useful globalization
June 14, 2020 @ 4:27 pm
It’s great post. With this campaign Edeka shows how much progress has been made in globalisation and the associated import and export of goods of all kinds. But not only that. A globalised world has many advantages: you can buy products that are not available regionally, you can exchange knowledge and benefit from mutual trade. But especially in a time in which the world feels smaller and smaller, environmental pollution is increasing continuously and a T-shirt travels around the world several times before it is sold in a shop in our country, it is worth considering whether in certain areas, such as food purchases, you should use regional products from time to time. I come from a small village that has to fight with the migration of young people to the city and the extinction of the village centre. Again and again I hear what a pity it is that there are hardly any butchers, corner shops and bakeries left. And yet, these are the people who prefer to go to one of the big supermarket branches in order to do the whole shopping at once instead of choosing several regional shops. Somehow understandable, but do we not make sure that just then the regional shops, which we appreciate so much, where you are still greeted by the name, die out? I think that support for regional suppliers by buying regional products should not be ignored in any case. Taking a few extra minutes to look around in regional shops and discover Austrian products that you did not even know, is definitely worth the time.
March 30, 2022 @ 9:48 am
In the Edeka example, one can see how dependent markets are on international trade and global economics. Writing this post while hearing on the radio how Europe gets in severe trouble through delivery problems with gas from Russia and reading on the news what marketing hacks supermarkets use to greenwash their image with hypocritical regionality, it is evident that nowadays, international supply is part of our consumption behavior. If we want a change, it is not enough to blame governments or companies for offering only international products; it has to start with the rethink of every customer, what to buy and wherefrom. Facing alternatives and reflecting on needs and demands could be the first step to achieving a „global moderation“that gives local products or companies the chance to enter markets clogged with the big global players. In my opinion, it is about seeing the big picture and the advantages of globalization but scrutinizing its superiority critically, as Edeka did.
April 12, 2022 @ 7:50 pm
What Edeka did is really brilliant and needs to be honored. On the one hand it is great marketing what they did, however on the other hand they gave up the revenue, they could have generated on that day, “just” to demonstrate that they stand for diversity. This is a big step not every company would do. Edeka did 2017, what actually happened in many stores when the COVID crisis started, it was not only the people buying more than they actually needed, it was also the problem of the logistics and manufacturers, as they were either not able to produce due to sick employees or they had the problem that they couldn’t cross the border. Since COVID and also since the Ukraine war I have some other thoughts about globalization. As I am working at a supermarket chain, I was able to realize that globalization and counting on other countries can also raise issues. We faced the problems that suppliers from Italy couldn’t enter Austria or that we are getting tight on grain, due to the war in the Ukraine. We were able to see, that regionalization is also important. However, I am realistic and know that offering only products and food from Austria will not be possible in a supermarket, maybe there should just be an appropriate balance.
April 14, 2022 @ 5:55 pm
We learned in your class that globalization has become progressively prominent in the early 21 st century as many U.S-based companies look to grow by expanding their marketplace in other countries. Due to the saturated domestic market, many retailers have chosen to work outside of their home country because globalization has given them the access to the new customers and new capital useful in global marketing.
If we think about it, isn’t this what diversity and a variety of cultural and ethical cross-pollination is all about? In my opinion, Edeka did the right thing and gave a platform to products by enhancing the customers appetite and showcasing all products in its cultural and ethical identity. I found your blog-post interesting and liked how you were able to tie together the historical nuances of globalization which are deeply rooted from Friedman’s comparison an acknowledgement of the 1492 up the mentioned Georgetown professor. I would like to add to your elaboration and hitchhikers guide through the galaxy of globalization, that regional stagnation can and ought to be part of the entire and inclusive process of globalization. The current conditions of economic globalization can and will bring about economic stagnation and divergence at some point. This will become apparent in the next couple of years as the economic fall outs of COVID-19 and the current geo-political situation Ukraine will manifest and unfold. All of such aren’t bad things, they merely are part of the process of globalization which is an up and downhill battle with dependence of external factors. With this being said, it will be interesting to see how retail chains like Edeka, Walmart and others will embrace globalization and continue to tailor to their customers and audience of Global Citizen whilst maintaining their variety of products and staying true to their corporate and cultural identity. (324 words)
March 3, 2023 @ 8:33 pm
In 2017, Edeka proved that there are products from all over the world in a supermarket and what would happen if we no longer had them. While there are certainly negative consequences of globalisation, there are also a number of benefits. Globalisation with increased trade between countries has allowed development of new markets and growth of existing ones. This has led to an increase in economic growth, as businesses are able to expand their operations to other countries and tap into new markets. Businesses are able to take advantage of lower production costs, which can result in cheaper goods and services for consumers. We are able to access products we might not otherwise be able to afford. Globalisation has created new investment opportunities for businesses and individuals. This can help to diversify portfolios and consumer can buy products from all over the world. In 2023, a year of high inflation, Edeka bans products of Mars. Due to significant price demands, Edeka has replaced all of the manufacturer’s products. From now on, Edeka will be relying on its own brands and trading without its global partner. Cultural diversity and identity are making a comeback.