Professor Pankaj Ghemawat's Essay 'Distance Still Matters'

After reading Professor Pankaj Ghemawat’s essay, “Distance Still Matters”, it had my mind racing. Does distance still really matter in globalization? His idea that distance still matters in globalization is quite relevant today. He talks about how the actual distance from one country to another is very important, due to the costs of shipping products. But that isn’t the only thing he means by distance, he includes that distance also has administrative and political, economic and cultural differences that make foreign markets either considerably more or less attractive. These factors are part of the four components that make up the CAGE framework. Professor Pankaj’s research suggests that you should use the CAGE analysis studying barriers to
The idea of globalization equaling globaloney is correct. I understand that technology is growing larger and larger, ultimately “shrinking” the world and that technology is making things possible that even 50 years ago people couldn’t even imagine. The thing is however, humans are the ones in control of this technology, they are ones who built it. Human behavior still matters very much, same for distance. People can’t drop what they are feeling or what they have been doing for hundreds of years, just because we have technology to say it is “right” or “wrong”. Globalization has created a different way how people think and feel, some say me be good, others may
A couple implications came across my mind of the major points in his essay. These implications can come from the CAGE analysis. One implication is once you enter that country, how will the people react? The people of the country could either hate it or love it, depending on how they view your company and its product. How the country views your company or product is a huge aspect, because they need to know if it is an appropriate part of their culture. The culture of a country is a hard obstacle to overcome. Through the course of history in the world, it has proven cultures over most things prevail and pull through the tough times. The same cannot be said about some certain products and companies entering new markets. Overall I believe Pankaj’s theory in saying that distance still matters, and most importantly the cultures of countries still