More global than we know

by Vanita Trippe, October 25th, 2006, 7:00 am

The recent coup in Thailand seemed far removed from Austin, Texas, until I learned that someone close to me would be spending three weeks on the Malaysian island of Penang at the behest of his employer, Dell. Penang, I’d been told, is a stone’s throw away from Thailand, so my envy over the trip turned to concern when news of the coup broke. Since then I’ve scouted the atlas to discover that, while Penang is indeed close to Thailand, it’s not very close at all to the area where most of the unrest has been taking place, so I think everything will be fine.

Nonetheless, this little moment of angst was just a small example of how interwoven we’ve all become – countries, economies, industries. My Dell traveler is part of a work group that has been regularly rotating visits to Dell operations in India and Malaysia to train IT counterparts, with whom the Austin crew is also already in daily – almost constant – contact via email, instant messaging, and teleconferencing. Through my several Dell-employed acquaintances, I can also now boast of having good friends who live in Panama, Brazil, and Mexico. (All are Dell employees whom I met when they visited the main campus here in Austin for continuing education or other meetings.) Dell has employees in 180 (180!) countries. I still have a long way to go before my international friendships catch up with the computer giant’s reach.

(For a fascinating “hometown” read about Dell’s current status, both in the states and around the world, check out S.C. Gwynne’s feature on Dell from the October Texas Monthly, subscription required.)

Globalization is certainly not confined to computer makers. In covering the financial services industry, I’m frequently struck by how connected the business world is, with cross-ownership, overlapping board members, and the like.

A quick dash through Hoover’s shows that international banking giant BNP Paribas’ board has a member who chairs mega-insurer AXA and also sits on the board of media and telecommunications conglomerate Vivendi. That company’s chair is also a director of food titan Nestlé, whose chairman is also a director at druggernaut Roche Holding, whose chairman helps direct drinks maker Diageo, whose CEO and director is also a board member at FedEx.

Seven companies, four countries (France, Switzerland, the UK, the US), five minutes to find those linkages. It really is a small world, after all.