Where local and global meet

Abstract

Due to its popularity we have to be careful defining the discourse of globalization. This research is part of corporate anthropology within Small- and medium-sized enterprises. It is an explorative research that gives insights in what way processes of globalization are interpreted and played out in Pakeha owned engineering (structural/civil and mechanical) SMEs in Auckland, New Zealand.

This thesis will show how multilayered and multi-scaled processes of globalization can be, how visible and at the same time invisible these processes are. The first layer described concerns processes of globalization in the context of having business international and the technology that enables this, on a more global scale. The second layer is, additional to the top, also part of processes of globalization that concern technology, but affecting businesses on a more local scale; Both in communication and in standardization. Getting to the end this research shows that these layers are wrapped around the core; The personal experiences and perceptions of the people within these engineering SMEs. Although they are part of and form the first two layers as well, showing them more central and personal, the complicatedness of how processes of globalization are played out becomes even more clear. It shows the processes of globalization, on local and global scale, work both ways and could be hard to divide. With that it shows the importance of not dividing these processes, but look at their intertwinement and their ‘interconnectedness’.