ABSTRACT
Advances, in particular of the business sector in society, have triggered one of the most debated, but equally ill-understood ‘trends’ since the beginning of the 1990s: globalization. Globalization of the business sector is generally equated with integrating national markets, increased competition and rapid technological advance by a multitude of small and medium sized enterprises that operate across borders (Figure 3.1). But by its opponents globalization is also equated with the dominance of ‘big business’, a lack of democracy, and the ‘commercialization of society’. To what extent can these claimed changes be substantiated?
