Going… “Glocal”

Édition : Mulhouse/Sud-Alsace - 10 février 2012

Le périscope, journal économique de Mulhouse et environ : sarah lesage 2012 : On progresse en anglais ! Chaque mois, Sarah Lesage nous livre une chronique en anglais sur le thème du networking (le réseau).

Going… “Glocal”

Glocalisation which can be defined as: “think globally, act locally”, is vital to the survival and development of local business communities. Connecting businesses is the key to future success and while modern technology enables us to network and expand on a global scale, collaboration starts… in your own backyard.

Sarah Lesage

In a period of economic turbulence, the importance of a close-knit business community is paramount. As in Aesop’s Fable, The Bundle of Sticks, in which a father demonstrates to his querulous sons the power of cohesion in the face of the enemy, so neighbourhood businesses must work together to face economic and technological challenges. While this is undoubtedly an unstable and difficult period, it is also an incredible opportunity to reimagine, participate in, and contribute to, the profound way in which business, as we know it, is being globally transformed.

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The world has been rewired by the web

The combination of skills, technology and investment catalyzes and pioneers new ideas, new projects and creates new jobs. As Nick Jankel, a British innovation, collaboration and leadership consultant puts it: “The world has been rewired by the web and the power is shifting to people”. It is no longer a top-down pyramid world of companies and clients, bosses and employees, businesses, suppliers and their competitors, but a vast playing field in which everyone has a collaborative role to play. In parallel with rapidly evolving globalization and the continual shift to higher gears through new technologies and social networking, businesses must embrace this collaborative modus operandi at a grass roots level to ensure not only their own future, but sustainable growth for their local economy. A good illustration for this is the North American based Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), which is the world’s fastest growing network of socially responsible businesses with over 80 community networks and more than 22,000 participating companies. It preaches a “bottom-up, networked change” model, helping local businesses to collaborate in a relationship-based, social and ecological approach to building thriving local communities. This philosophy is based on finding the right balance between self-interest and commitment to the local community, which in itself will have a global impact.

Sarah Lesage
formatrice et rédactrice en anglais – saklesage@gmail.com, 06 15 28 43 48