Global talk" Discourse and cognition among Japanese business managers in Singapore

There has been a profusion of sociological and anthropological discussions about the complex set of processes termed “globalization�? or “internationalization�? in the past two decades. These debates have attempted to grapple with the implications of recent developments in the world economy and political order. Several of these developments have emerged in the wake of such processes as better communications, cheaper transport, new divisions of national and international labor, the effects of powerful trade and capital flows, and the intense activities of transnational corporations. From a cultural point of view, these processes have led to intense interactions between various “cosmopolitans�? and “locals,�? and to powerful contentions about “global�? or “native�? identities (Hannerz 1992). From a sociological point of view, these trends have been accompanied by diverse forms of international migration and movements of peoples. An important group now travelling in ever greater numbers are the managers and engineers of transnational companies who converge on what Cohen (1997) calls “global cities.�?.