To coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Global Network for Advanced Management in April 2017, Global Network Perspectives asked faculty across the 29 schools in the network: "What do you think the future of globalization looks like? How will this affect the economy in your country or region? How is your school preparing students for this world?" Read all of the responses. Also, in a session at the anniversary symposium, a panel of experts—including former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry—led a discussion of the future of globalization and its implications for business and management education. Watch the video.
The word “globalization” gained popularity in recent decades, but the process of globalization started a long time ago. This process of connection began thousands of years ago with simple acts like the trading of goods and the sharing of experiences by traders, missionaries, adventurers, and soldiers. Since the 1990s, globalization has been promoted by a neoliberalism that is considered the contemporary version of capitalist expansionism.
Although it has met setbacks in recent years, globalization is irreversible, and even de-globalization is a part of globalization. I am optimistic about globalization as the celebration of the exchange among nations, firms, and individuals.
China’s integration with the world is also irreversible. Furthermore, with the rapid growth of its economy, China will provide a Chinese version of globalization that will benefit the world—as well as China itself, of course—and make its mark. Due to the relationship between China’s government and firms, China will make its globalization different from the Western version. It will be the most difficult task of Chinese globalization to define and promote core values that can be accepted and embraced by Chinese people and the world at large.
Fudan University has been embracing globalization for many years. As a Fox fellow at Yale in 2006–07, I have personally benefited a great deal from the globalization of education. At Yale, I formed a global vision that is extremely important for my research, teaching, and life as a whole. I teach exchange students every semester at Fudan. I always ask my students to know, understand, respect, and love when they study in a different culture.