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ABSTRACT
Although the windows of local McDonald’s outlets are often smashed by its opponents,
the question of who is responsible for the globalisation and who is actually
driving it forward remains regularly unanswered: Is it the international companies,
which simply for their own benefit expand their activities to cover all the countries
of the world, or is it the governments, which have the interests of their citizens at
heart?
Taking as a starting point the objectives of the international companies, and also of
the organisations which are attempting to establish free trade, it is easy to see that
there is very little overlap between these two sets of objectives. A careful examination
of the role of consumers in all parts of the world, however, shows very clearly
that it is they who are the true “masters of globalisation”.
* Dr. Manfred Lange has many years of experience of international management in consumer goods
industries, ending up as CEO of Bestfoods, Germany and Vice President of Bestfoods Europe, Brussels.
Currently he teaches “International Marketing” at the Universities of Munich and of St.Gallen. Until
2001 he was President of the Zentralverband der Deutschen Werbewirtschaft e.V. (ZAW) (Association
of German Advertising Industry) in Bonn and is Deputy Chairman of G-E-M, Gesellschaft zur
Erforschung des Markenwesens e.V. (Association for Research into Branding), Wiesbaden. Address:
Zypressenweg 12, 81377 München, Tel: 0049-(0)89-7143993, Fax 0049-(0)89-71019173,
E-Mail: [email protected].
Originally published in GfK Jahrbuch der Absatz- und Verbrauchsforschung, Vol. 49 (2003), No. 2,
pp. 128–143.
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