Gen Y Labs

  • An Emergent Research research blog, Gen Y Labs is focused on tracking and understanding the attitudes, social behaviors and technology use of generation Y (born 1982 - 2000).

About The Authors

  • Gen Y Labs is a group blog. Its contributors include teens, young adults, researchers from Emergent Research and Emergent Research affiliates. The founders of Gen Y Labs are Thomas King and Carolyn Ockels.

Emergent Research

  • Pawtrait20001 Emergent Research is a cross disciplinary research and consulting firm focused on the global intersections of social change, technology, marketing, and small business. Our primary research areas include: econmic decentralization and the growth of small business; Generation Y, the first digital generation; and the impact of the Internet and connective technologies on marketing and media. 
    Emergent Research is a cross disciplinary research firm focused on the global intersections of social change, technology, marketing, and small business. Our primary research areas include: Generation Y, the first digital generation; the impact of the Internet and connective technologies on marketing and media; and economic decentralization and the future of small business.
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Globalization

February 11, 2008

Gen Yers are Globalists

Recent research drew me to notes from a conversation with leading trade expert, Laurel Delaney, founder and CEO of GlobeTrade.  I had interviewed her about small business globalization, and we touched tangentially on Gen Y entrepreneurs. 

Delaney came out with a key insight:  "Gen Yers are born globalists.  They don't think about national markets; they think about global market opportunity." 

She was spot on.  Gen Y is probably the first truly "Globalist" generation.  Through the Web, they've always had online access to international information, music, movies, chat sites and even gamers for their online Xbox tournaments. Their concerns -- environmental, social, political, economic -- such as Global Warming and Darfur, are seen as global issues, not issues fought on a unilateral or bilateral basis.  When we've talked about the notion of "trade barriers" with Gen Yers, their usual response is "why don't people just go around those barriers using the net?" 

Gen Y thinks of our world more holistically than any generation before.  This will influence their thinking politically, socially and in the workplace.

Posted by on February 11, 2008 at 03:11 PM in Globalization | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)