Anthropology and epistemology for “glocal” managers: understanding the worlds in which we live and work (Fernando Salvetti and Barbara Bertagni)

Speed, interconnection, immateriality, net-economy, global and local worlds... The increasing globalisation also brings with it a rise in the differentiations, not just in the homologations. Therefore it is better to talk about ‘glocalization’ rather than globalization: global integration and micro-territorial fragmentation are two complementary processes. We live within a society that is based on multiplicities, often very different among themselves, but with some lines of convergence. Working in intercultural contexts means taking into account different cognitive paradigms, relational set-ups and reference values. The greatest barrier that often comes between us and a successful business is that made up of cultural difference. In order to do global business effectively a lot of cross-cultural intelligence is needed. Dealing with global business also means that misunderstandings, ambiguity, mistakes are always around the corner. What we need are ways of thinking and acting that are able to make us understand and frequent the many particularities, contrasts and differences that characterise the many local markets in our increasingly global world.