Push and Pull Globalization
We often think of globalization, especially the export-led variety, as a "push" process wherein governments and firms in the developing regions make concerted efforts to launch export-oriented ventures that seek out lucrative markets in the advanced nations. Sure, there is plenty of such "push" globalization, aided by export incentives, tax holidays, and subsidies for land and infrastructure in special export-oriented zones provided by governments of developing nations.
Equally important, however, are the "pull" processes of giant multinational retail chains and brand-owning corporations.
In 2006, a dinner invitation at the home of some friends in Jordan provided a revelation of how the pull process works. Our dinner host was a Sri Lanka citizen who had been sent to Jordan to open up and manage a large, modern textile garment factory in Jordan. We feasted on some lovely Sri Lanka cuisine, quite a surprise during our 3-week Middle East trip, put together by the gracious hostess aided by her maid. Our host the manager poured some nice wine to go with the meal.
The company opening this plant in Jordan, managed by our dinner host, was from Sri Lanka and had been working with brands such as Calvin Klein and others for two decades.
Why Jordan?
Well, it so happens that USA, partly to convey to the Middle East people that Americans are not just blindly pro-Israel and anti-Arab, had just concluded a major free trade agreement (FTA) with Jordan. The American political logic is to spread such FTAs to friendly nations in the Middle East and elsewhere, to allow such friendly nations easy access to the vast American market. The hope is that such moves would spur industry and infrastructure improvements, lead to employment and technology transfer and prosperity, and of course incidentally blunt the appeal of anti-USA agitators and anti-Israel sentiments.
So, Calvin Klein and other brand-owners, who already had good working relations with and trusted the Sri Lanka manufacturer, persuaded the Sri Lanka firm to open up a plant in Jordan.
There was, however, no history of sophisticated branded garment making in Jordan. So the Sri Lanka firm brought in everything -- the managers, the machines, and even the workers for the plant.
Our dinner host said that more than two-thirds of his workforce was from Asian nations, with Sri Lanka, China, India and Bangladesh providing the bulk of the workers. Jordan's government gave these immigrant guestworkers temporary work permits, with the hope and understanding that Jordanians (and the thousands of Palestinians in Jordan) would take over these jobs once they got trained in garment manufacturing methods.
[Later in the same trip, floating on the dense waters of the Dead Sea in Jordan, I heard voices in Bengali all around me. There were half a dozen young men enjoying a weekend swim in the Dead Sea. They were immigrant textile workers from Bangladesh, working at factories such as the one operated by the Sri Lanka supplier to Calvin Klein.]
Our dinner host in Amman told us that the USA-Jordan FTA had duty-free terms so good that it made sense for Calvin Klein and others to move some of the production to Jordan from the traditional textile garment supply locations such as China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In effect, the USA-Jordan FTA created out of thin air a textile export zone smack in the middle of the desert sands of the Middle East.
But what happens when you relocate 1000 workers from places like Sri Lanka and China and Bangladesh in the middle of the Middle East? These temporary immigrants do not speak the language, they cannot understand the local ways of life including the food, and they miss the entertainment they are used to such as the TV channels they watch back in their home countries.
So, the Sri Lanka company has to work hard at providing some degree of cultural support -- screening of Bollywood and Hong Kong movies, South Asian and Chinese cuisine in the cafeteria, satellite TV channels piped into the worker dormitory common halls.
And of course, these "cultural imports", while intended to be temporary, never are only temporary. Global flows begin to seep into and shape some aspects of the local cultural scene. Perhaps a bit of the reverse flow happens too, as the Sri Lanka worker heads home, hankers for a Falafel roll, and searches the streets of Colombo for a Falafel stand.
So, if someone asks you what has the latest designer jean sold at a department store in New York got to do with a newly opened Falafel stand in Nanjing, or what a dress in a show window in Boston has got to do with a movie playing in a cinema in Bombay, now you know!
Nik Dholakia, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Rhode Island
Equally important, however, are the "pull" processes of giant multinational retail chains and brand-owning corporations.
In 2006, a dinner invitation at the home of some friends in Jordan provided a revelation of how the pull process works. Our dinner host was a Sri Lanka citizen who had been sent to Jordan to open up and manage a large, modern textile garment factory in Jordan. We feasted on some lovely Sri Lanka cuisine, quite a surprise during our 3-week Middle East trip, put together by the gracious hostess aided by her maid. Our host the manager poured some nice wine to go with the meal.
The company opening this plant in Jordan, managed by our dinner host, was from Sri Lanka and had been working with brands such as Calvin Klein and others for two decades.
Why Jordan?
Well, it so happens that USA, partly to convey to the Middle East people that Americans are not just blindly pro-Israel and anti-Arab, had just concluded a major free trade agreement (FTA) with Jordan. The American political logic is to spread such FTAs to friendly nations in the Middle East and elsewhere, to allow such friendly nations easy access to the vast American market. The hope is that such moves would spur industry and infrastructure improvements, lead to employment and technology transfer and prosperity, and of course incidentally blunt the appeal of anti-USA agitators and anti-Israel sentiments.
So, Calvin Klein and other brand-owners, who already had good working relations with and trusted the Sri Lanka manufacturer, persuaded the Sri Lanka firm to open up a plant in Jordan.
There was, however, no history of sophisticated branded garment making in Jordan. So the Sri Lanka firm brought in everything -- the managers, the machines, and even the workers for the plant.
Our dinner host said that more than two-thirds of his workforce was from Asian nations, with Sri Lanka, China, India and Bangladesh providing the bulk of the workers. Jordan's government gave these immigrant guestworkers temporary work permits, with the hope and understanding that Jordanians (and the thousands of Palestinians in Jordan) would take over these jobs once they got trained in garment manufacturing methods.
[Later in the same trip, floating on the dense waters of the Dead Sea in Jordan, I heard voices in Bengali all around me. There were half a dozen young men enjoying a weekend swim in the Dead Sea. They were immigrant textile workers from Bangladesh, working at factories such as the one operated by the Sri Lanka supplier to Calvin Klein.]
Our dinner host in Amman told us that the USA-Jordan FTA had duty-free terms so good that it made sense for Calvin Klein and others to move some of the production to Jordan from the traditional textile garment supply locations such as China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In effect, the USA-Jordan FTA created out of thin air a textile export zone smack in the middle of the desert sands of the Middle East.
But what happens when you relocate 1000 workers from places like Sri Lanka and China and Bangladesh in the middle of the Middle East? These temporary immigrants do not speak the language, they cannot understand the local ways of life including the food, and they miss the entertainment they are used to such as the TV channels they watch back in their home countries.
So, the Sri Lanka company has to work hard at providing some degree of cultural support -- screening of Bollywood and Hong Kong movies, South Asian and Chinese cuisine in the cafeteria, satellite TV channels piped into the worker dormitory common halls.
And of course, these "cultural imports", while intended to be temporary, never are only temporary. Global flows begin to seep into and shape some aspects of the local cultural scene. Perhaps a bit of the reverse flow happens too, as the Sri Lanka worker heads home, hankers for a Falafel roll, and searches the streets of Colombo for a Falafel stand.
So, if someone asks you what has the latest designer jean sold at a department store in New York got to do with a newly opened Falafel stand in Nanjing, or what a dress in a show window in Boston has got to do with a movie playing in a cinema in Bombay, now you know!
Nik Dholakia, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Rhode Island
posted by Nik Dholakia at 6:37 PM
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