Late globalization and evolution, episodes and epochs of industries: Evidence from Danish textile and fashion industry, 1945–2015

• Date: 01 September 2020
• Author: Nikhilesh Dholakia,Behnam Boujarzadeh,Romeo V. Turcan
• Published date: 01 September 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22155

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Late globalization and evolution, episodes and epochs

of industries: Evidence from Danish textile and fashion

industry, 1945–2015

Romeo V. Turcan

1

| Behnam Boujarzadeh

2

| Nikhilesh Dholakia

3

1

Aalborg University Business School, Aalborg

University, Aalborg, Denmark

2

Information and Communication Technology,

VIA University College, Horsens, Denmark

3

College of Business, University of Rhode

Island, Kingston, Rhode Island

Correspondence

Romeo V. Turcan, Aalborg University,

Fibigerstraede 11, Aalborg, 9220, Denmark.

Email: rvt@business.aau.dk

Abstract

This paper explores the conceptual terrain of what we term late globalization. The

late globalization phenomena are multilevel and multidimensional; this paper offers

an initial portal into these phenomena. Understanding late globalization would provide

academic insights and help in shaping practices at international, national, sectoral, and

corporate levels. The paper follows a macro-conceptual to a micro-empirical path to

provide illustrative empirical evidence. Studying the emergence and evolution of Dan-

ish Textile and Fashion Industry (DTFI) between 1945 and 2015—a quintessential sec-

tor for globalization—allows the examination of several interrelated issues: critical

events, impediments, pressures, andturning points that shaped DTFI; main institutional

players that motivated key policy changes in and evolution of DTFI; and effects of late

globalization on size, mission, location, knowledge, growth, and structure of DTFI. This

longitudinal casestudy of the development of the DTFI brings to the fore keyfeatures

that shape late globalization at the sectoral-national level: government industrial poli-

cies toward domestic and foreign players in an industry, global competition thatshapes

and continually reshapes (cost as well as quality-driven) location of key value chain

activities (and the concomitant global distribution of core competencies and skills), and

the growing role of information technologies that enable globally-dispersed value

chains to function in cohesive and unified ways. Late globalization has additional levels

and dimensions;and we point to implications for futureresearch.

KEYWORDS

Denmark, industrial policy, industry emergence, industry evolution, international business

policy, late globalization, textile and fashion, theory building

1|INTRODUCTION

We want to explore the conceptual terrain of what we term late

globalization, a terrain that has temporal and spatial aspects, and multi-

ple levels and dimensions. The Danish Textile and Fashion Industry

(DTFI) is a late globalizer, and is examined to add an illustrative empiri-

cal angle. The theoretical intent of the paper is wider—to create

a stepping stone for a long journey into multiple dimensions and

phenomena of late globalization.

Why is exploring late globalization important? It is important

because life-cycles of phenomena provide ways to anticipate and plan

for what is ahead. In an epochalsense, we are well into ‘late’globaliza-

tion, as some cultural theorists argue. In specific national-sectoral

senses, there are many instances of “lateness”in globalization and

cross-learning opportunities abound. Finally, in a futuristic sense, we

are approachingrapidly the end of the Magellanic era—inwhich human

activities wereconfined to a round ‘global’earth—and are stepping into

an acceleratingextraterrestrial-postglobalphase of economic and social

DOI: 10.1002/tie.22155

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life. International business policy researchers, policymakers, and man-

agers, we believe, would find explorations of late globalization

phenomena—inall the unfolding dimensions—to be challenging, insight-

ful, and relevantfor shaping future practices. We seek to open an initial

portal here.

The specific pattern of DTFI, with ups and downs, policy and

technology innovations, and adaptations, provides a particular win-

dow into late globalization processes and sets a stage for further

exploration of the late globalization phenomena. The reason DTFI is

useful as an empirical context is because textiles represent the quin-

tessential first industry (Manchester, Liverpool, New England; even

the Madeira/Textiles comparative advantage example from Ricardo)

to be buffeted by multiple waves of globalization (and de-globaliza-

tion). Hence, an ultra-late globalizing textiles case from an advanced

Scandinavian economy provides strong insights into aspects of

“lateness”.

We follow a macro-conceptual to a micro-empirical path. The

next section discusses the multidisciplinary and multifaceted field of

late globalization. Then, since DTFI is a specific case of late globaliza-

tion, we have a substantial section on the historic-analytic approach

that we employed to study DTFI. We then draw out very specific,

empirically derived, conceptual themes about the patterns of global

interactions that characterized the specific evolutionary trajectory of

DTFI. We do return briefly to a final macro-conceptual section on late

globalization, acknowledging that the particular DTFI case study does

suggest further pathways to explore late globalization. We end with

some suggested for future research directions for late globalization.

2|LATE GLOBALIZATION: CONCEPTUAL

TERRAIN

When Friedman (2005) deliberately evoked the “flat world”metaphor

for an of-course-round global world, he was emphasizing the break-

neck pace of globalization—with the implication that we are in a really

advanced phase of globalization. Late globalization refers to relatively

new sets of phenomena. While not using the term late globalization

explicitly, Appadurai (1990), recognizing the five cross-national inter-

connecting and intermingling scapes—ethnoscapes, technoscapes, fin-

anscapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes—provided a first major

window on late globalization from a lifecycle of globalization sense

looks and feels like. Literary theorist Moraru (2011) has gone a step

beyond, and introduced the term late globalization, in a lifecycle-of-

globalization sense, implying that globalization is in a late-geriatric

phase.

In contrast to economic and entrepreneurship theorists, to culture

theorists, ‘globalization’has been happening for a very long time, even

a couple of millennia, if we take the early perilous journeys of Silk

Road and the seafaring merchant-adventurers, traveling perilous

routes by long caravans or in very early sailing boats. From a culture

theory lens, globalization stretched over centuries, starting with the

early-explorers phase, expanding into a long phase of merchants-

imperialists from Europe, and maturing in the 20th century. In this

sense, globalization is now likely in a late maturity phase, with the

intensity of cultural traffic at an all-time high. Such long-historical

views, however, are of limited utility when particular nations, sectors,

industries, companies—and specific individual or institutional actors—

are grappling with practical aspects of late globalization affecting their

situations, fortunes, and prospects. The DTFI case, discussed later,

shows the complexity—in practice—of the actual late-globalizing

aspects in a specific country-industry setting.

The cultural lifecycle-of-globalization concept(s) of late globaliza-

tion could extend and interact with other disciplinary dimensions—

economic, political, sociological, technological, and more (Martin,

Tyler, Storper, Evenhuis, & Glasmeier, 2018; Turcan, 2016). This paper

takes a small step in this regard. It develops fine-grained, substantive

details of the DTFI case that would contribute toward the develop-

ment of a theory (or theories) of late globalization.

2.1 |Late globalization: Multiple senses

The late globalization angle has to be developed carefully. The act of

being late in whatever aspect of globalization—whether it is deliber-

ate, serendipitous, or for other reasons—often means that, in many

traditional industries (say automobiles), opportunities were cornered

by the early globalizers. New entrants got spaces only after meteoric

economic (Japan, Korea) or revolutionary technological (Tesla) trans-

formations. Late globalizers, indeed, under propitious conditions

(Japan, followed by Korea, in TV sets) often capitalize on and benefit

from opportunities created by intersecting global events and

strategic bets.

The qualifiers early-late could be applied to countries or nations,

functions or aspects of industries or sectors, as well as companies.

The term late may refer to the timing of various steps/forms of inter-

nationalization and globalization. Overall, the notion late produces a

number of issues or questions. Late—by whose standard or definition?

In the context of DTFI, for example, is the nature of “lateness”about

(a) Danish firms in general, (b) Danish firms in textiles, (c) Scandinavian

firms in textiles, (d) British firms in textiles, or (e) American firms in

textiles?

Alternately, switching tracks, late at what levels of analysis: coun-

try (Denmark), industry (textiles/DTFI), company (Kvadrat), process

(manufacturing, R&D, marketing), strategic alliances (value chains,

value locations, intellectual property issues). International angles bring

additional early-late combinations or intersections: (a) Denmark late

globalizer, but China early globalizer; (b) Denmark late globalizer in

textiles and Belarus also late globalizer (as supply source); (c) USA

early globalizer in textiles and also China early globalizer (as supply

base). One could also explore late at various dimensions within an

industry, for example, DTFI: (a) manufacturing, (b) supply chain devel-

opment, (c) market-seeking or resource-seeking, (d) process and strat-

egy, (e) innovation, knowledge creation and diffusion, growth and

structure.

From the above, it is evident that there are several levels of analy-

sis such as meta-theoretical, macro, meso, and micro levels. At macro

516 TURCAN ET AL.