Harvard Business Publishing

Professor Ghemawat,

I couldn't agree with you more about the fact that a whole lot of globaloney drives the thinking of most global or global aspirant corporations. Having said that, although I see the point of Isdell reversing the globaloney ideology in actions, I am not sure that it is gone in spirit. If Coca Cola's basis of operation is to appropriate the natural resources of developing countries like India (e.g. water) at less than acceptable prices, and hide the true magnitude of costs it imposes on the ecosystem (effluents, solid waste), it can't have truly left behind its globaloney, can it?

Dear Sir,
One very interesting thing about Coca Coal, which I read recently about the India and China’s, are as follows:
1. As you said Coke reentered in the India’s market in 1993 after being booted out from India for about a decade. As it reentered the massive India’s Market it had masterminded the marketing strategies in beverage market by buying out Ramesh Cahuhan’s Thums Ups Brand. It did not cannibalize the brand of Thums Up it kept it alive in it’s portfolio and still it is very much alive in India. It got over the bottling plants of Thums Up and gave the licensing for making Coke along with Thums Up. It was a mastermind decision, as it knew that Pepsi its archrival has all ready made an in road in India in early nineties. Buying Thums Up was to kill the Indian competition but not killing the brand. Billion Of US$ were poured in advertisements and campaigns to win the confidence in the mind of the people after the allegations rocked both Pepsi and Coke that’s its products had abnormally high traces of unacceptable chemicals. In recent years it is doing good in India’s Market. Interestingly the market in India grew ( CAGR) of only1 % between 1999 and 2006 from $1.31 billion to $1.32 billion. It is said 30% of all beverages sold in emerging markets are ready- to-drink. That number is 70% in the western world and in developed world, this will happen in only one decade time period in the case of emerging markets. Very smartly it did up sale and Cross Sale getting into the (Brand: KINLAY) potable drinking water market in India (this is a major segment) where the MNCs are also coming in along with Indian players.
2. Where as in the case of China it found its difficult and a very complex market and had to struggle.
3. Coke introspects and takes corrective decisions and actions in adjusting to different countries complex market, politics and sentiments of the customers as Global MNC’s professional do.
4. It is focusing on markets with favorable demographic, for that it is rightly repackaging and rightly pricing its products so that it can reach to the critical mass when the market will mature and ROI’s will be favorable in coming years.
5. Globalization in this Darwinian world is only meant for smart players. Survival Of The Fittest, and only the Fits have the right to survive. Even if you make any mistake you have to come up very fast and take corrective decisions for turn around. As you rightly said globaloney is the only solution in todays world.
Regards,
Debashish Brahma

Globaloney probably started in the '60s when a highly respected academic predicted that we were relentlessly moving towards standardized products promoted in similar ways and marketed at similar prices across the world. In all fairness, two decades later, the same academic was the first to accept with humility that the prediction had gone haywire.

What we are witnessing today is an equally relentless pursuit of customization - sometimes leading to rather bizarre forms of individual customization. From a producer's or provider's perspective, standardization would make a lot of sense. Equally, from a customer's perspective, customization may hold the key to the success of corporations.

The challenge for corporations today is therefore a balance between these extreme positions. Within the context of neighboring countries, there are vast differences in expectations. An example of this may be found in appliances across Europe. What is acceptable in one country is often a failure in a neighboring country. The same dilemma holds for other products - even for basic products like food.

In as much as adaptation to suit individual markets is neither operationally feasible nor economically viable, your observation on globaloney hits the nail on the head. For one thing, mobility of all factors of production is still a distant dream. For another, even if such mobility were to become a reality, it would still test the best of organizations on ingenuity in design and agility in adaptation.

It would be quite fascinating to see how organizations would cope with this dilemma.

i want to know the names of the three countries where coca cola does not have its market?