Posts by Zia Daniell Wigder from May 02, 2008

Zia Daniell Wigder | May 02, 2008, 10:17 AM
Keeping up with localization

In the past couple of months, the topic of localization seems to have been everywhere. In March, both McKinsey and BCG tackled this issue in their publications: The McKinsey Quarterly addressed the central-local debate in global staffing in The multilocal challenge: Managing cross-border functions while the Boston Consulting Group issued a report on The BCG 50 Local Dynamos which looks at how nimble local companies in emerging markets have staved off competition from multinational corporations.

Daily publications, too, are addressing this issue in great number. In the past few days alone, the UK-based Times Online published an article citing Club Penguin’s localization strategy while The Wall Street Journal’s Marketplace section featured a front-page look at Kraft’s localization of Oreos for the Chinese market (the story was subsequently picked up as a feature on Yahoo!). CNET covered the launch of a new localized Twitter Japan.

Asian-based publications are also eagerly following localization: ChinaDaily, for example, published a story yesterday on the successful localization strategies of Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier. In India, The Economic Times recently covered the trend of retailers localizing by region within India rather than trying to create products with nationwide appeal.

Localization is a topic that’s only becoming more important to global companies; don’t expect coverage to wane any time in the near future.