of complementary practices whose territorial
Glocalization
Susan M. Walcott
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Glocalization refers to the interaction of the
spatial scales of global and local influences, with
universalizing influences and models modified
to fit local preferences and practices. In this
regard, “glocalization” is less global and more a
local response to perceptions of modernization
requirements. Studies of glocalization appear in
diverse fields. Originally a Japanese business con-
cept for taking initially local products to a wider
market, the term was later adopted by academics
in the social sciences (Castree, Kitchin, and
Rogers 2003). A popular jingo exhorts individ-
uals to “think globally, act locally.” Glocalization
is an issue for developing regions seeking to
modernize by combining traditional systems
with global practices for acceptance into or by a
desired larger-scale group. Glocalization asserts
the necessity for rejecting homogenization,
given the need to retain some forms of locally
specific traditional values or practices.
Concepts of time and distance are fre-
quently involved when practices are intermixed
from different locales and cultures, and the
Western/developed becomes “global” versus
the local “other” (Robertson 1996). Interac-
tion between scales means that systems such
as Japanese corporate-level “just-in-time” and
“lean manufacturing” can permeate a global
set of production practices that result in the
subnational shaping the supranational (Sharma
2009). Rather than a polarity of opposite or
differentiated parts, the term refers to a blend
The International Encyclopedia of Geography.
Edited by Douglas Richardson, Noel Castree, Michael F. Goodchild, Audrey Kobayashi, Weidong Liu, and Richard A. Marston.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0004
identification occurs across political borders,
interacting at a different cultural or intercommu-
nication level. Transborder and within-border
ethnicities with supra-border extensions also
exemplify glocalization processes that display
the effects of transboundary ties. Rather than
referring to the border-transcending quality of
the multi- or transnational, glocal emphasizes
the incorporation of nonglobal specificities. The
increase in physical and virtual mobility underlies
the use of this term in a number of fields, sig-
nifying accelerating hybridity and an awareness
that to understand this phenomenon requires
a sensitivity to embedded values. Corporations
selling products in varied countries and markets
need to “glocalize” by adapting their portrayal
to segmented market attitudes regarding cultural
portrayals, for example.
SEE ALSO: Development; Economic
development zones; Local/global production
systems; Modernity
References
Castree, Noel, Rob Kitchin, and Alisdair Rogers.
2013. “Glocalization.” In A Dictionary of Human
Geography, edited by Noel Castree, et al., 194.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Robertson, Roland. 1996. “Glocalization:
Time–Space and Homogeneity–Heterogeneity.”
In Global Modernities, edited by Michael Feather-
stone, Scott Lash, and Roland Robertson, 25–44.
London: SAGE.
Sharma, Chanchal Kumar. 2009. “Emerging Dimen-
sions of Decentralization Debate in the Age of Glo-
calization.” Globalization, 8: 1–22.