6th Global Management Series
The Art of Translating Global Goals and Aspirations into Strategies and Plans
“How is vision successfully translated into global business strategy?” is not an easy question to answer. The subject reveals some fundamental issues around categories like operations, legal, and sales and marketing which can deter companies large and small from expansion. For example, it is already a challenge for a San Francisco-based company to open additional office locations domestically in
A commonly understood question relates to global consistency and local adaptation of marketing messages and tactics. How does the CMO of a company like Kodak manage to keep all his product divisions aligned with Kodak’s singular marketing message? This is achieved with a global plan that includes some local market flexibility. A brand needs to be consistent internationally to achieve economies of scale in terms of global marketing spend, but also needs local flexibility to achieve local goals.
Take the Body Shop for instance. A few years ago, an initiative was launched to make the marketing and product design global and consistent and to centralize all marketing communications. The Body Shop’s HQ wanted to launch promotional activities around pos materials and in-store merchandising for the worldwide retail shops around Mother’s Day. Specific marketing themes included sisterhood and friendship. The problem with this particular approach is that it does not work universally in all Arabic and Asian countries. One global plan and one global message, does not always translate locally. Senior marketing executives rarely know all of the local culture and regional issues that can impact a global brand. Those who work closely with product and R&D divisions, get the right advice and insight, the right management approach, in addition to the right advertising and integrated marketing strategies, are more likely to succeed in new global markets.
Another example to consider involves a few of the French wineries, which believe that the beauty of the French language and culture does not need to be translated or interpreted in all global markets. Success is most often earned by the companies, which build trust and respect from local consumers. In this particular example, the French wine labels that translated their brand attributes into locally understood nomenclature have been the most successful in their global expansion aspirations.
The approach you take to global marketing success is not predetermined. There are many correct paths to building your brand internationally. It does not matter if the marketing strategy is centralized or de-centralized as long as it contains elements that are balanced and allow for regional adaptation and input.
Is a global business strategy successful when it has successful global sales and marketing or are global sales and marketing successful when the company has a successful global business strategy?
First of all, it all depends on the size of the company, on the industry and also on the investments made.
Second, we can truly say that the term « global » may be misused, used in different contexts, used as an aspiration.
To be truly global, it is not just about physically being global, it is also about understanding what a local market requires, how it functions, where the niches are, how business is made, how business relationships are developed, how contracts are concluded, how the local company culture works, how consumers buy, what consumers like, what businesses need, etc. The list can go on indefinitely.
Success starts with the ability to listen to/look for the expression of business differences, with a flexible attitude to understand what these differences are and how the corporate message and key values can be made to work.
It is a logical first step to appoint a global job function to maintain some consistency and drive for consensus. To make it work, they need to visit every department or location periodically, not just to build relationships, but also to gain local insight.
For a small business, the next challenge will be investment money to build the foreign operation or representation office. For foreign expansion by mergers and acquisition, the next challenge consists in making the post-merger implementation successful. Very often in the software industry, companies think that they do not need marketing and (re-)branding in the first place, that hq business processes can be applied systematically, that sales and using the country of origin’s staff and production resources is going to work. Many businesses have learned that there is no sales without marketing, even if the local person is effective. How can a salesperson be expected to close any major sales for a B2B product or service in the absence of brand recognition, marketing materials, pr, appropriate presence, in an expected short sales cycle? There are very few examples of success where this has happened without sustained marketing investment. In the B2C area such as apparel and cosmetics, product adaptation, manufacturing, market segmentation, distribution channels and advertising have increased complexity.
A lot of businesses also tend to forget that partnering is of the ultimate importance and, that it pays to take the time to create alliances and partnerships that complement each other. It especially pays off if the business is small and has limited foreign investment means, or simply if market entry is difficult in that particular region.
Approaching a new market should be considered very carefully and planned properly in advance in order to make the right impact and to achieve the right positioning.
This process inevitably starts with a business plan, which has a proper organizational, marketing and sales action plan, as well as a proper P&L projection. Once this is established and approved, it is about finding and selecting the right local resources that will be coached by qualified corporate staff. There is no hard and fast rule: it is about understanding the products/services, fitting in the corporate HQ culture and being able to comply with its principles and understanding the local needs for the business and the success of its local business model. It is also about having the adequate budget for the right things at the right time and the right business partners and potential investors. Everyone involved in the project needs to be entirely clear on strategies and goals for each initiative area, should it be operational, financial, marketing or distribution, supplemented by detailed execution plans that are implemented and reviewed periodically.
