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I'll open this post with a personal Technological Allegiance that is evolving, but then I'm going to 'Tarantino' this a bit by discussing the event that prompted the idea for this post.  I'll conclude by returning to my opening example and posing a question to the reader about their personal experiences.

Having been raised in Rochester, NY, and being an amateur photography enthusiast, I have always held a level of pride around purchasing Kodak cameras, (previously) film, seeing the Kodak label on prints in galleries and museums, and promoting the online Kodak Gallery for digital storage.  Unfortunately, I always felt that my Kodak camera was only "good enough:" I bought my Kodak cameras because they were Kodak, even though I appreciated several features that were only available on the cameras of other manufacturers.  The evolution: I continue to use the Kodak Gallery for online storage (mainly because the majority of my collection still resides on this site), but my most recent camera purchase went foreign - I needed more features.

Now, what happened that generated the idea for this post: Constellation Brands, a major owner/distributor of adult sodas (alcoholic beverages) is also based in Rochester, NY.  Being an amateur (notice a trend) wine connoisseur (yes I recognize the definitional gap), the majority of my friends and I can - and do - pick Constellation-owned wines when browsing our local store.  The twist a few days ago: I picked a bottle of Svedka Vodka from the shelf, turned to my friends, and said: "need to keep supporting Rochester."  They laughed, expecting my typically very sarcastic sense of humor, as Svedka is originally from Sweden.  On this one (rare) occasion, however, I was not joking - in February 2007, Constellation acquired Svedka.

Why did this interaction spur a post / reader response time: In an increasingly globalized economy, do purchasing loyalties, especially technological, matter?

I raise the technology characteristic here, because in my opinion, other than the services industry, I feel the technology industry is most exposed to a diverse, global, manufacturing and distribution network.  Much like the purchase of Svedka, which benefits both the Constellation parent as well as the Swedish facility, is a purchase of a Kodak product truly flowing back into the Rochester economy, or is it being parsed to the various global participants that contributed to its construction?

While product ease of use and relationships will always matter, are our Technological Allegiances evolving with the remainder of the globalized economy, such that geographic-loyalties, no longer matter?

Comments (1)

	1. 03-26-2010 22:12
	I think when it comes down to it we all still want to support the "local" relationships that we have whether that be with the local grocery store or with buying American made products. The problem as you noted is that many of these products are no longer built here but are managed from an American location. Now should we not support Walmart because many of their products come from China? As the manufacturing base of this country is so weak and expensive it is not a big issue that many products are no longer built here. The real question is whether this is a problem or just evolution into a larger global society?    -sean Registered

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