Sunday, January 03, 2010

"Glocalization"

For some strange reason I like to document new "econspeak" words and this is a modern classic (of course it is probably not new to those better read).

Luckily the source of this website explains its derivation (just in case you haven't worked it out yet).

IMO this small example explains the difference between academics in Economics departments and those in Business Schools.

Reverse Innovation: Made in China - For China [China Observer]

“Glocalization” vs. “Reverse Innovation”

Glocalization is a combination of “globalization” and “localization” and is the traditional approach adopted by multinationals. Initially for US companies “going global” meant developing products in the US and localizing them for European and Japanese markets where local consumers have similar purchasing power. Govindarajan argues that the consumer markets of emerging economies like China and India are fundamentally different from those of developed countries. He questions “How can you take a product that was originally designed for a US consumer with a median income of $50,000 and profitably adapt it for a middle-class consumer in China whose earnings are significantly less?”

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1 comment:

Chris said...

New terms since my last economics class!

If I got that article right, it's saying for companies to take advantage of globalization, the innovation must happen in the lower cost markets.

Is it reasonable to expect that though? I would think innovations would happen faster in countries with better resources at their disposal.