Globalization used to be a buzz word we all used until recently. Now it seems that reality is catching up with globalization, so here are ten things that went wrong.

1- Slavery made its comeback

When opening factories around the world, some know that they will stay protected in an ivory tower with several guards. They won’t have to face the starving workers they hired. How many companies shrug when I ask them what the monthly wages are for their workers? Many.

2- Overregulation

Want to hire someone? 10 pages of regulations. Want to rent a workshop or office space? 10 pages of regulation. Want to start production? 20 pages of regulation. Want to sell your production to distribution? 30 pages of regulation. By the time your product reaches the customer, you’ll have reviewed hundreds of pages of regulation and checked huge checklists.

3- Collective punishments

An Iraqi terrorist? Let’s ban all Iraqis. An American cowboy? Let’s ban all Americans. One person from any company misbehaves? Let’s punish everyone at that company.

4- Huge communication problems

People want to know the story. The story behind the country, the company, the business and the people they work with. That’s not trying to be your friend. I hear too many people complain that the new generation is being overly friendly at the workplace. They’re not trying to be your friend, they want to hear your story, which is different. In the old days perhaps, people shared those stories, perhaps not on social media or blogging spheres, but at least informally at the workplace.

5- Sweeping generalizations

My bad way is the Korean way. My bad way is the American way. I don’t care if it’s the Korean way, American way. If I think it’s a bad way of getting work done or treating people, I should be able to let you know, without having you accuse me of being anti-American or anti-Korean. Politics is one thing, sharing a workplace is a completely different thing.

6- Language barriers

Despite the large pool of bilingual, trilingual or multilingual human resources (like myself) who are having trouble finding a job, monolinguals with a smattering of foreign languages get hired to take care of communication with foreign companies. How could that go wrong?

7- Cultural sadism

Don’t do unto others what you wouldn’t have them do to you. That’s so 2000 years ago it seems. Cultural sadism includes one practice which consists of changing the rules after negotiations are done, or agreeing to every condition before changing one’s mind after the negotiations are done.

8- Overrated degrees

Ivy league and elite universities are overrated. Nothing guarantees they’ll get you a job. I speak 9 languages. No one’s impressed. So who do you think your Harvard degree’s going to impress?

9- Non-tariff trade barriers

Non-tariff trade barriers include overregulation and harsh immigration policies among other factors. In East Asia for example, until recently consumer rates were rather robust, and you would have an easy time selling what you produced. But that could only work if you married a Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese person, otherwise doing business in those countries as a foreign resident was rather complex.

10- Overuse of the term globalization

If your product isn’t tested locally and doesn’t have satisfied customers locally, I’m not sure it can sell at the global level.