Constructing a Super Economy Through Global Citizenship

The debate over global and local identification is one that has recently popularized itself over the last decade. On one hand, we have individuals advocating for an identity that transcends geographical boundaries to promote shared unity and on the other we have people championing the importance of taking pride in one’s ‘home’ country to foster a sense of belongingness. With both sides being extremely opinionated, it seems as though our world can’t come to a consensus as to how one should identify themselves. In recognizing this, a particular dimension that influences one’s decision is how their choice of identification can mark an impression on the global economy.

With our world advancing into more efficient modes of communication and technology, we have undoubtedly witnessed firsthand a more interconnected global system. From millions of investors trading on the stock market from different time zones to products being manufactured in Vietnam and sold in Italy, our economy is flourishing.This being said, many ask — well how does global citizenship contribute to this economic success? You see, global citizenship promotes the idea of togetherness by requiring that everyone has responsibilities to the world as whole. Such ideologies thus incentivize individuals to understand cultural differences and seek global opportunities. Despite this, it is still claimed that global citizenship in fact suppresses economic development through undermining nationalistic competition, I personally argue that possessing a global identity is crucial as it sparks cultural competence which in turn drives global economic progression.

Naturally, as individuals start to adopt a global mindset, they are more tailored to understand people across different cultures due to their beliefs in unity. This ability helps them adjust to change swiftly which can prove to be extremely advantageous in business settings. According to linguist Richard Lewis, he states that different countries have different approaches to management and communication. For example, he points out that Sweden’s management is very “democratic and decentralized” while America’s is more “assertive and aggressive.” Now let’s say that an individual who is American is assigned to work at a firm’s branch in Sweden. If that individual identifies as a global citizen, he/ she would be more inclined to accept the disparities that occur between the two different cultures and can fluidly transition into the new organizational climate which gives way for better performance. Additionally, by adopting positive attitudes to such differences, the individual can be a lot more sensitive to coworkers who hold different values and beliefs which results in harmony within the workplace that leads to collaborative success.

Admittedly, it can be difficult to develop cultural competence as some may not be adept to interacting with diverse groups. Nevertheless, such obstacles have been addressed by globally-minded organizations through implementing cultural initiatives that drive business innovation. For example, let’s take a look at L’Oreal — one of the most culturally fit organizations listed in global rankings. Through their website they have stated that they provide digital coaching and seminars that are designed for employees to adapt to the organization’s cultural diversity. This approach resulted in increasingly nuanced perspectives among their employee and management teams. The emergence of new perspectives has led to the development of innovative products such as their multi-shade foundation that helps target specific ethnic group skin needs and have brought in great deals of revenue. This evidently goes to show that as employees and managers make the shift to global identification, their ability to generate ideas and maximize profit increases due to new cultural perspectives and understanding they bring.

This same trend of profit maximization and company success is also present when business leaders identify globally as they become more open to conducting company activity like outsourcing on an international scale. If we were to take a look at Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, he has managed to ethically outsource labour from all over the word by hiring temps, vendors and contractors to work on Google projects either remotely or in-person. Engaging in such a process does indeed require cultural competence to an extent. With employees working cooperatively on tasks from different parts of the globe, it is given that there needs to be a mutual effort from both sides to actively disregard the differences to effectively communicate cross-culturally so that quality work is produced. The effect of this does not only enable Google to scale the company bigger than it already is, but they are also helping reduce global unemployment rates which in turn contributes to better standards of living.

The term economic development, however, is not limited to organizational success and positive individual performance. Through global identification, we have seen nations become more willing to work with one another to fuel technological growth that can sustain economic development in the future. Within the last two years itself we have seen countries such as the UAE and India work together to drive research and funding into the increasingly popular field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in hopes for an economically efficient future. From informing optimal decision making by evaluating risks to secure algorithm trading, the potential application of such technology is unparalleled. It is important to note though that these advancements wouldn’t be possible without the binding of nations. With global citizenship cultivating the idea of togetherness, we can say that there truly is power in unity and the India and UAE partnership serves as the perfect example. Additionally, the running success of the agreement has boiled down to the cultural competence each nation possesses. Having experts in AI from both nations consulting annually on ways to promote the usage of the technology, it is seen that each party has to take into account how the other side is going to culturally react to their action plans. This forces both nations to adopt different perspectives that results in better collaboration towards advancement.

Here some may object and state that nationalistic competition in fact is more effective at accelerating change than global citizenship. One could easily point to an example that is currently happening today with the race to develop the first working COVID-19 vaccine. And while I do agree that the majority of great innovation to this date has spurred from such competition, I still believe that it seconds the process of global citizenship due to the fact that we have consistently seen that it harbors hostility and aggression. A notable example of this would be the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union that fueled the Cold War. Such hostility is eliminated when people identify as global citizens as such a perspective promotes active partnership which results in one nation to view advancements achieved by another as their very own. This results in our world working in sync with one another to maintain peace while sustaining economic development.

In closing, there are always two sides to every story. Whether you conform with the notions of global citizenship or national citizenship, it is important to note that both differentiate in views on how we should interact going forward. I will always claim that it is better to think and act global than it is local. With global citizenship promoting attributes of cultural competence, we are forced to take a holistic approach to economic development. At the end of the day, we are all undergoing the same global shift to interconnectedness, so it is our duty to recognize our commonalities and strike a balance between our differences so that we can effectively implement change for a better future.