When you wake up in the middle of the night, what do you do? After counting sows to 1,000 and you’re still awake, what next? When all your efforts to fall back asleep fail you, what do you do? Despite your best efforts, if you can’t get back to sleep, you might head to your computer or smart phone to pass the time. You get online.

Did you ever notice this shift? Sure, there are still insomniacs that enjoy reading or late night movies from the 1980s, however, that group are the minority as a growing number of people – consumers, business owners, and employees – head for the Internet. Whether on their phone, the laptop, or an antiquated desktop model, we like what the Internet offers. After all, there you can find access to more information than we could possibly use – some good information and some bad, some reliable information and plenty of nonsense. That access to information is, not surprisingly, changing our world.

Coined the Interconnected Age, we all have entered the ‘always-on, always-open’ era. Mainstream culture is being exploded into a gazillion fragments. No longer is the economy local, regional, or national – it is global all the time. Everyone competes internationally. Your company, your information, everything is out there for the entire globe to consume, investigate, accept, or reject it.

As author Thomas Friedman describes in his national bestseller, The World Is Flat, what makes this era of globalization unique is “not just the fact that technologies are making it possible for traditional nation-states and corporations to reach farther, faster, cheaper and deeper around the world than ever before. It is the fact that it is allowing individuals to do so.” The access to the consumer is wide open. Chances are anyone can find anything they are looking for. They can get any question answered.

People are always connected and communicating anytime, anywhere. It’s no wonder time zones and geographic obstacles melt away. I can email Singapore before bed and have an answer when I wake up. I can purchase a book from the Netherlands and have it by Friday. If I want to know more about traveling to Brazil, I can research online using my mobile card while someone else is driving me to a basketball game. If I want to buy an original sun visor for a 1961 Cadillac Eldorado, there are at least four choices of colors on eBay. It is a global marketplace.

The origin of globalization is an on-going debate for most scholars and the very term itself is not without controversy. Globalization has been going on since the beginning of time. Market expansion, the need for more profits, and attempts to take over economies has been around since the beginning of wealth. It’s been the subject of wars and exploration missions that have founded new countries. And it’s still happening today, just in a new way. Instead of fleets of ships sent by the Queen, companies and individuals seek out foreign investment opportunities as routinely as they butter bread.

Globalization is an overwhelmingly trendy topic today. It’s a part of most strategic conversations, always a popular trade show topic, and is being dissected over lunches every day. And, as often as it is being discussed, it is being ignored. There are still holdouts that believe you only compete in your own nation, your competition is down the street. If that’s you, you are mistaken. Today, the entire globe is interconnected and intertwined. Policymakers have seen to that.

As information technology drives new access to old markets, policymakers have been forced to redefine their views to protect their economies. And protection sometimes requires aggression – a more aggressive viewpoint on policies that will allow for increasing foreign investment and international activity.

Shedding light on how globalization will impact the United States and the worldwide pork industry, the former CEO of the National Pork Board, Steve Murphy, offers some telling insights:

“Without critical attention to details, such as food safety/security, pork quality and animal welfare, the industry could lose ground to global competitors who are willing to provide the final product desired by the marketplace.

“The U.S. pork industry has a bright future because the Pork Checkoff has laid the groundwork through research, education and promotion to continue to be the best overall supplier of pork in the world; 96% of the world’s pork consumption occurs outside of U.S. borders, and we must prepare to capture more of that market potential.

“As other countries continue to lower their cost of production, we will need to drive technologies to be competitive. Make no mistake, Brazil will change the global marketplace in the next five years.

“Over the last 25 years, we have changed our product dramatically to meet consumer demands. Pork demand rose by 2.8% in 2004 alone. Now, it is time to listen to the global market, respond to its needs and reap the rewards.

“Issues such as food safety/security, pork quality and animal welfare will be driving factors in how U.S. pork is perceived worldwide. Pork producers must take control of the security of their product until it reaches the customer.

“As U.S. pork competes in the world market, now and in 2025, we must remember that we are not just competing against other protein supplies, but against pork from many other countries.

“As we look to the future, it may be time to take a page from the past. In 1966, in Moline, IL, 90 pork producers banded together and changed the course of U.S. pork production forever. Understanding who will move our industry forward and who will attempt to halt its success is critical. The challenge we need to accept is to look outside the gates of agriculture and determine how we best move forward.”

And Murphy makes a great point. Understanding who (and also what) will move the industry forward is just as critical to its success. Keeping our eyes open for hurdles in the way will be crucial.

As we embrace this unique era of globalization, we open the doors to new challenges and opportunities for advancement across global levels. The global economy is here, ushered by a variety of factors including new ways of communication. This digital economy is here and it is continuing to fundamentally reshape communications. When it comes to your business or world, remember – it’s not a matter of will every industry continue to be redefined, but it’s when it will happen.