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The current backlash against globalisation will not turn back the clock. You say that globalisation as the creator of global markets is gone and has been replaced by the emergence of a new world. Can you be more precise?

What is happening is that individuals and nations are now connected, interdependent, and integrated across the world - and this is creating a "new world". Such global world is emerging, is shaping, and we cannot know exactly what it will be; people everywhere are naturally anxious and a negative sentiment has grown about our global nature. Since the early 80s, we saw globalization turn the world into a marketplace and thrive on sameness. But global is not about being the same, but about being united. And now we know we are. The Internet nailed it. We constantly share information and ideas. The flows that matters today are flows of data across borders, not international trade. China is here, as it were, in your phone, and a new idea about a business from Brazil is there too, now. Any company, even a small startup, can use the world to source knowledge and combine it to create its future. Geography is no longer destiny.

Many leading multinationals are finding that their biggest competitors in emerging economies are local players and not big global names. Why?

Because the more the world is global, the more local differences matter. With world class knowledge and talent dispersed in the world, we need to stop thinking about the US or Europe or Japan as the centre of the world. No place is. Sure, people everywhere may want to drink a Coke, drive a Porsche, own a Louis Vuitton bag, or eat sushi. Such "cultural exports" will always root their advantage in their country of origin. But is most businesses, companies here and anywhere can now source components as well as design, engineering, and other knowledge services in global markets, source capital and hire talented people from far away, access technologies by partnering or acquiring innovative companies abroad - while benefiting from knowing their local markets deeply. This is even more so in China or Brazil or any other markets where the dynamics of emergence make local adaptation by foreign companies an inferior strategy. Local companies lead the Chinese market in ice cream, detergents, or home appliances, let alone e-commerce - despite the long presence of the world leading multinationals there. Likewise with cosmetics in Brazil, for example.

What is the biggest advantage of local companies?

The local companies can now use the world to their advantage but at the same time they hold deep knowledge of their local context, their people, their experiences, their needs. In the past, we thought about the company creating a new offering or business model in their home country and later taking such innovation to the rest of the world.Today, companies can start from the world to innovate for their home market too - or for the world. Success does not come from the home country's economy, but from the company's management ability. Companies can actively participate in the development of their countries. So instead of thinking the world is there to sell, think the world is there to create!