Small is Beautiful Among Globalization's Top Dogs

For the last 7 years Foreign Policy magazine, in partnership with A.T. Kearney, has published the Globalization Index rankings. The wonderful part about these rankings is that they reflect quantitative figures on trade and FDI, but also some less easily measured "globalization variables" like technological connectivity, political engagement and remittances. Any attempt to measure this complex process should include a qualitative component. Globalization is about removing barriers to the movement of goods, services and people across borders. The first two are easy to measure. It's the people part that often gets lost in the mix.

The top ten most globalized countries this year (drawn from 2005 data - the latest available):

1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. the Netherlands
4. Switzerland
5. Ireland
6. Denmark
7. United States
8. Canada
9. Jordan
10. Estonia

As the accompanying story points out, the countries on this list are notable for their size (or lack of it). These are very small countries.

"And if you’re living in a small country, reaching out beyond your country’s borders may be the only way to find new opportunities. Not surprisingly, six of this year’s tiny globalizers also ranked in the top 10 on the personal dimension of globalization, which measures international phone calls, travel, and remittances. People in small countries boosted their countries’ rankings by chatting it up on the phone, or in the case of Jordan, by sending large sums of money home. It all goes to show that mini can be mighty."

And that globalization isn't just about reciprocal concessions, non-tariff barriers and structural adjustment. It's also about people.

Ethics Playing Roll in B-school Rankings

The Wall Street Journal published its WSJ/Harris Interactive Business School Year 7 Survey yesterday. The survey was based on the opinions and behaviors of 4,430 MBA recruiters who hire full-time business school graduates. Based on the perception of the recruiters, it seems that ethics is playing a big role in determining the ranking of a business school.

Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business has risen to the top of the national ranking pushing University of Michigan's' Ross School from number one to number seven. Why? "When asked which schools' graduates demonstrate strong ethics standards, recruiters named Dartmouth most often, followed closely by Brigham Young," writes the Wall Street Journal. Dartmouth students embodied the values of teamwork, personal integrity, communication skills, and a good work ethic.

Meanwhile, Michigan has fallen several places because, "More Michigan students are demonstrating a, 'what's in it for me attitude' attitude than in the past." Fortunately for society, I guess Gordon Gekko is no longer the roll model. NYU Sloan School students were also praised for being team players and collaborators. Moreover, one of the factors putting the search for talent into overdrive is that younger people want to work for a company with a good image.

Two schools that did well are grappling with difficult issues like ethics in business in their curricula--Yale School of Management and the London Business School, which was profiled recently on its ethics coverage in the Wall Street Journal in an interview with a London Business School scholar. Yale moved from number nine to eight in the national rankings, while London moved from four to three in the international rankings. Yale's slogan is "educating leaders for business and society."