Semiglobalization: A Relevant Reality

This essay is a commentary on Ghemawat’s work on the reality of semiglobalization and its relevance to the International Business (IB) field and to the world of practice. It recognizes Ghemawat’s contributions to the IB field – at par with his earlier contributions to the competitive strategy area and highlights Ghemawat’s emphasis on well-grounded empirical research. This approach serves well to establish the case that markets are semi-integrated, and the world is semiglobal. Through his work, Ghemawat has brought back to center stage a central premise of the IB field: that locations and distance across locations matter.