Linkage Between Diversity and Business Practices

I read a compelling article describing different ways a business can adapt itself to accommodate marketplace diversity (read the article here). Part of the reason why I was so intrigued was because I just finished one of my college essays, where I talked about the global nature of today’s business world. The business world is no longer local – it’s international. Thanks to technology, border lines cease to exist.

Another interesting part of the article was its focus on adapting a business to fit the new international theme. In the past, I saw making a few adjustments to a business as to reach more foreign investors reasonable, but this post took that to the extreme. It suggested completely re-vamping the traditional styles and structure of business companies, as to accommodate the quickening pace of the global society.

Another article, in USA Today, says that change for business to adapt to the global world is a must. “Today, though, as more multinationals race into the global economy, they're tailoring their diversity policies and practices to the new cultural and business order to a greater degree than ever before.”

Both of these articles made me ask the question, “What is cultural adaptation?” Beyond the business side, do we adapt ourselves, in everyday life, to better accommodate the new global world? My answer to this is yes. I belong to a program called the Academy at my high school, which was founded on fostering a global education and an understanding of the ever-widening global community. In our everyday studies, we incorporate the lessons from other cultures. I think it's important to recognize and understand that the world today is a mix of hundreds of different cultures.

For decades, philanthropists have suggested models on how the world community shifts and changes. One philosopher, Francis Fukuyama has foreseen the world moving towards one international community. In this article, Fukuyama explains his theory of the “homogenization of human culture”. This theory describes the world culture as moving towards one standardized state.

It’s interesting – the measures businesses are taking to accommodate this growing global society. I’m thinking of how I’ve tailored my own life to develop cross-border networking. As Fukuyama said, “it is culture that drives economics”. Perhaps Fukayama would make the best business-man of all.