Globalization. Glocalization. Two very similar-sounding words with two pretty different meanings. Let’s talk about it.
Globalization deals with global factors and allows numerous aspects of society to interconnect, from business to politics, technology, travel, and media. But despite the many economic incentives to globalization, it is not devoid of potential negative cultural effects typically when expanding companies fail to fully understand the local culture within their target market – a potentially irreparable move for a global brand growth strategy.
On the other hand…
Glocalization focuses on describing how local and global factors are combined to create a global marketing plan. A “one size fits all” approach to global marketing will not suffice. It’s necessary to acknowledge the various behaviors of diverse audiences throughout different regions of the world. Glocalization inevitably pushes the proverbial marketing envelope and requires companies to consider adjusting their product or service to complement every stage of the business cycle.
Consider glocalization an improved version of globalization by removing the consequence of cultural uniformity – an unfortunate result of poor globalization implementation.
Benefits of Glocalization
Glocalization enables your business to access a larger, more diverse audience, expanding the range of potential clients you can reach. Local consumers focus on glocalized marketing strategies, which strongly emphasize how products and services fit into their culture, economics, and preferences. By sharing the same innate values, beliefs, and peculiarities as local markets, these acts help position businesses to be relevant. Glocalization also demonstrates that your business understands local consumers’ wants and needs.
Challenges of Glocalization
- Conflict: Although entering new markets will most definitely lead to an increase in revenue, there are some risks. When entering new markets, it’s essential to not neglect your home markets. In addition, managing global competitiveness against local competitiveness can be a lesson in trial and error to perfect where to best place your efforts. Glocalization necessitates a careful balance between international standards and regional requirements.
- The Approach: Understanding local markets is typically not something one can do from a distance, and it’s definitely not something that can be achieved by using assumptions or prejudices. A local partner, a regional researcher, or an internal team member operating from that nation are all examples of having someone “on the ground” who can help you grasp the culture and specifics of the target market. Learning how to manage a culturally diverse staff has many benefits and problems for global corporations. Foreign employees have different expectations regarding things like compensation and perks, as well as how they manage their daily work schedules. Employers who deploy a globalization strategy and establish a presence abroad must match these expectations.
- Investment Costs: Regional-local marketing can be expensive. The secret to getting local consumers to accept goods and services from other countries is to localize marketing campaigns to help them resonate with local consumers. In fact, a successful approach to glocalization would make local customers unlikely to even notice.
Conclusion
As we’ve seen, glocalization is most definitely something companies need to consider. The world is getting smaller, and businesses need to know what this means for how they will be conducted in the future. Companies that resist glocalization run the danger of losing a competitive edge, allowing other companies to take advantage of untapped market opportunities, and while glocalization might require steep investments, the prospect of market share to be gained is a return worth pursuing.