There is, in fact, a direct connection between global trading and freedom. Global marketing is essential to freedom because freedom is about options. Options provide the opportunity to make decisions. With international marketing, companies cross borders to provide more than one choice for customers. Global marketing does so in all corners of the globe, in the glamorous ones as well as in the small and remote ones where the efforts are not seen by others. By operating both in the limelight and also well outside of it, international marketers offer freedom by providing options to the seller and the buyer – whether it is in supplying or purchasing, pricing or selecting.
When the long-standing rivalry between socialism and market orientation was resolved, market forces and the recognition of demand and supply directly affected human rights and the extent of freedom. With all humility and gratefulness we can conclude: The markets were right. In country after country, market forces have demonstrated typically greater efficiency and effectiveness in their ability to satisfy the needs of people.
International marketers have been instrumental in stimulating these newly emerging market forces. In spite of complaints about the slowness of change, the insufficiency of wealth redistribution, and the inequities inherent in societal upheavals, a large majority of participants in market-oriented changes are now better off than they were before. Without the transition provided by international marketing, these changes would not have come about that swiftly.
This is part of a three part series on Freedom, Marketing, and Poverty (FMP). Stay tuned for more updates on Mondays.
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“Freedom without limits paves the way to tyranny” (Salman Rushdie)
I only see your quest for a lot of options but no reflection about what kind of options global marketing is supplying.
Is it really helpful to deliver the option to choose between hundreds of different white T-Shirts when on the other side children have to work in fabrics for that? Responsibility and respect are first and real driver for freedom regardless of socialism or market orientation. For that, marketing is a necessity like bicycle for a fish.