Globalization and Development: An Expanded Macromarketing View

Macromarketing has expanded inquiry regarding globalization and development since its inception. It has included quality of life (QOL) and environmental measures, and argued that economic development should improve these variables. This article argues that an expanded view of development should also consider QOL, environment, and substantive freedoms as inputs to the development process because of the nature of the globalization process characterized as the spread of Western capitalist neoliberalism. Current global capitalism is an inadequate approach to development because of its focus on economic market relations. The relation among globalization, development, and neoliberalism is examined, showing that the process has economic, political, cultural, and environmental implications that must be addressed from a macromarketing perspective. The development process is unstable and can be problematic if a single model, neoliberalism, is applied to all lesser developed countries. As Russia’s experience suggests, development approaches that ignore nation-specific factors are likely to be problematic.