Thinking Globally - Page 2
October 7, 2002
Thinking globally requires big thinking. Put aside budgetary constraints for
a moment and think of every possible country or region your company might want
to target:
India?
Malaysia?
The Middle East?
Although these three markets might not be at the top of a company's globalization
strategy, it's just a matter of time before they get there. There are more
than 1.5 billion people in these three markets alone, and their buying power
is exploding. Even if you plan to enter only a few European markets this year,
you might someday end up like IBM, with 62 localized web sites. If you want
to build a global company, you need to think global from the beginning.
Thinking Big - Coke has 26 localized web sites.
Lycos has 34 localized web sites.
IBM has 62 localized web sites.
What's Your Localization Timeline?
Creating a localization timeline for the next 5 to 10 years can be as simple
as this example:
Sample Localization Timeline
Year 1: Spanish-Mexico, Portuguese-Brazil
Year 3: French-France, German-Germany
Year 5: Japanese-Japan, Korean-Korea
Year 8: Arabic-Middle East, Tamil-India
A localization timeline, including both language and region, helps you avoid
a lot of the common technical, legal, and cultural potholes that await. For
example, assume that you test your brand for the first four markets you're
planning to enter. The initial launches work so well that you accelerate your
rollout schedule and add a few new markets. Unfortunately, because you didn't
test all potential markets initially, competitors have beaten you to them by
launching similar brands and localized web sites of their own. With the Internet,
anyone anywhere can spy on you. If you have global aspirations with your products
or services, you need to make the investment upfront to ensure that you can
launch in those markets without hitting regulatory and copyright obstacles.
If you want to avoid the sort of conflict that Anheuser-Busch is involved in
with Budvar (see sidebar), think big from the beginning.
When You Say Budweiser... - There is more than one company
in the world brewing Budweiser (see Figure
7.1): the American giant Anheuser-Busch and the tiny Czechoslovakian brewer
Budvar.
Figure 7.1
Budweiser Czechoslovakia and Budweiser U.S.: Similar names, different brands.
Needless to say, the big guy has won trademark battles in much of the world,
but not all of it. Budvar has the right to Budweiser in Germany and Russia,
so Anheuser-Busch promotes "Bud" instead. It's a nasty fight
and very much ongoing. Since 1939, Budvar has been prohibited from selling its
beer under the Bud, Budweis, or Budweiser name in North America. But that hasn't
stopped it from going after A-B where it lives; it recently released a new product
for the U.S. market: Czechvar.
Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies
Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies
Separating the Constants from the Variables - Page 3
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