The Kimchi Matters: Global Business and Local Politics in a Crisis-Driven World

From renowned international business expert Marvin Zonis: a penetrating analysis that cuts through the fog of polemic and misperception surrounding globalization and returns our attention to the issues that should really matter to everyone concerned about international business, economics, and politics.

"Globalization is perhaps the defining international business and political story of the past two decades, so big, in fact, that many other stories were overlooked: why some countries succeed in achieving stability; why others fail; and why it matters. An ironic side-effect of globalization is that these relatively small, local -stories-the budget policies of Argentina, the corruption of Indonesia, the stability of Saudi Arabia, among many, many others-matter more than ever before. They are played out in distant countries, but with the click of a mouse or the boarding of a plane their effects are transmitted around the globe.For the uninitiated, kimchi is the unofficial Korean national dish: unassuming cabbage soaked in chilis, -garlic, and ginger until pungent, fiery, and blood-red in color. To be sure, kimchi has its charms; but for today, at least, it remains a very local dish. Today, almost everyone eats Big Macs (one hundred twenty-one countries at last count), which is unprecedented, amazing, revolutionary: in short, the "big story" of globalization. But one lesson of September 11 is that the small stories, of national politics, regional economics, and local struggles, cannot be overlooked. Everyone eats Big Macs; but the kimchi matters.

This is a book about the kimchi."

-From the Introduction

In The Kimchi Matters, Zonis provides a useful anti-dote to other works that have done little more than simply explain the phenomenon of globalization and the processes that make the world more interconnected-trade, travel, technology, etc. Zonis demonstrates that nothing good will come of globalization and global business without sufficient attention paid to the unique situations in different countries.