Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Globalization and its challenges
- Part I Leading the global organization
- Part II Global market participation
- 6 Globalization through acquisitions and alliances: an evolutionary perspective
- 7 Developing new products and services for the global market
- 8 Managing brands in global markets
- 9 Global marketing of new products
- 10 Global equity capital markets for emerging growth firms: patterns, drivers, and implications for the globalizing entrepreneur
- Part III Managing risk and uncertainty
- Part IV Implications and conclusions
- Author index
- Subject index
7 - Developing new products and services for the global market
from Part II - Global market participation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Globalization and its challenges
- Part I Leading the global organization
- Part II Global market participation
- 6 Globalization through acquisitions and alliances: an evolutionary perspective
- 7 Developing new products and services for the global market
- 8 Managing brands in global markets
- 9 Global marketing of new products
- 10 Global equity capital markets for emerging growth firms: patterns, drivers, and implications for the globalizing entrepreneur
- Part III Managing risk and uncertainty
- Part IV Implications and conclusions
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
With the emergence of global markets and global market segments, it may seem that standardized products and services are a given. But as Reinhard Angelmar points out in this chapter, developing new offerings for global markets requires a deep understanding of segmentation and a careful design of the product development strategy. Companies need to balance the tradeoffs between the increased cost of differentiating products and the increased revenue that can be obtained from such differentiation. He discusses strategies for reducing the costs of differentiation through the use of platforms. He also considers strategies to boost the revenue from this differentiation through effective market segmentation, particularly focusing on the “must have” and “delight” benefits that are critical to a specific segment. This discussion moves global product development beyond simplistic recipes for globalization or standardization to a richer analysis of the strategies to develop profitable new products for specific global market segments.
In the 1980s and 1990s, it was tempting to believe that with the emergence of global markets and media, globally standardized products would quickly follow. In his highly influential 1983 manifesto for globalization, Theodore Levitt argued that Western firms were over-differentiating their products. He recommended that companies follow the example of Japanese firms, which had designed global products for global markets. The picture turned out to be much more complicated than Levitt, and many of the managers who followed his advice, anticipated.
The Japanese companies that Levitt upheld as a model to be emulated later moved away from global product standardization.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The INSEAD-Wharton Alliance on GlobalizingStrategies for Building Successful Global Businesses, pp. 159 - 183Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004