In late 2013, Cisco chief executive John Chambers used a portentous phrase while telling analysts that sales in emerging markets were spiraling downward, forcing the networking equipment company to cut its three- to five-year revenue growth target: "We're the canary in the coal mine."

... Cisco was just the latest victim of globalization, the tantalizing but perilous business principle that has – quietly – counted among its casualties some of the world's largest companies. Indeed, although multinational executives avoid talking about it publicly, profits in global markets are underwhelming – and doing business internationally is full of unanticipated risks. – Washington Post, April 24, 2015

Globalization and international trade are in the headlines as Congress considers whether to give President Obama "Fast Track" negotiating authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Opponents say TPP is less about free trade than giving privileges to special interests.

That may not be the point. The Washington Post article makes a different argument: globalization is a failed business strategy, at least in the way most corporations pursue it.

The theory sounded compelling. Lower manufacturing costs abroad would reduce prices for American consumers while raising the standard of living in foreign countries, whose consumers would then buy American goods. The process may have broken down at that last step, however.

Again from WaPo: " 'Even for the most successful multinationals, profit margins in international markets are on average lower than margins in the domestic market,' said Robert Salomon, a professor of international management at the NYU Stern School of Business. 'It's the liability of foreign markets. By virtue of the fact that you are foreign, you are at a disadvantage.' "

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