Globalization
A Key Idea for Business and Society
Key Ideas in Business and Management Series

Globalization: A Key Idea for Business and Society analyzes today?s process of global integration. Globalization is seen as a complex phenomenon, the drivers of which are of a technological, institutional, cultural and, not least, political nature.

The book includes a historical analysis of the rise, and fall, of the ?first globalization? wave which took place between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Great War. The chapters focus on the measurement of the global integration process, on the in-depth analysis of the above mentioned ?drivers?, and on some of the actors playing a relevant role in the process itself ? multinational companies and governments as owners of global companies. The conclusion of the book provides a perspective on the current ?globalization backlash?, its determinants and possible future alternative scenarios.

This book is an ideal resource for students and practitioners interested in past, present and future globalization.

1 Why (another) book about globalization? 1

2 The World of Yesterday 12

THE GLOBALIZATION THAT WAS (AND WHAT IT HAS TO TEACH US)

3 Measuring globalization 31

4 Inside globalization 59

DETERMINANTS

5 Globalization and business 78

6 Global Leviathans 102

7 From globalization to fragmentation 123

FROM THE END TO THE BEGINNING OF HISTORY

Index 147

Veronica Binda is Lecturer in Business and Economic History at Bocconi University, Italy.

Andrea Colli is Professor of Economic History at Bocconi University, Italy.