Globalisation doesn’t mean McDonalds at each street corner, a war zone in the middle of somewhere, Coca Cola or a May Day protest anymore.
Emerging economies in this part of the world can truly build their own, unique brand identity as a nation through its individual (consumer) brands. Be it through cricket, tea, lingerie or software the new generation in Sri Lanka can attune to globalising while topping itself on the map with ‘what it has’, according to those ‘who has been there, done that’.
The 34th LBR- LBO forum in Colombo this week on ‘Placing Sri Lankan on the World Map – CEO’s Role’ saw four individuals who made four distinctive brands achieve cross border success speak on their success and how hard/easy the journeys were, early this week.
Focus
Ajay Amalean, Director MAS Holdings (the ‘A’ in MAS) a company, which went from a mere cut and stitch operation to the highly successful ‘Amante’ lingerie brand which they launched in India shared his thoughts with the eminent gathering saying from early on MAS had a strong market focus. “From the start (1987) we were clear that we’ll always operate and dominate niche markets such as lingerie rather than manufacture shirts and jackets, etc.,” he said. He added that while they weren’t scared of the path less travelled, they insisted on superior customer service.
“We never failed to astonish our customers,” he said, adding that this execution was supported by product development and innovation and integrated supply chain. Mr. Amalean said that MAS from early on formed strategic partnerships which had a lot to do with trust. He said that an extraordinary depth of management aptitude that allows one to out-think the competition and survive changes in leadership saw MAS weather many a challenge.
“Meeting unique local needs or tastes which involve creating a strong and consistent brand culture, borderless marketing, internal hubs, a new “glocal” structure and co-creating with consumers is important,” he told the Business Times on the sidelines of the forum. He said adapting products and services to meet local needs and tastes was a challenge they weathered with Amante.
“Now Amante is the number three lingerie brand in India and it has seen 40% year on year growth during the last four years. This year (we project) it to breakeven,” he said. Rajitha Kariyawasam, Managing Director Haycarb PLC sharing his thoughts said that Haycarb is constantly eyeing potential acquisitions in technology and applications.
Taking a close look at the challenges facing marketers and global brands today, he identified the best practices that will help aspirant global brands achieve success on the world stage. He added that in order to ensure that, as a business, you are gaining the greatest return on your brand, you need to have a strategic plan that continually assesses and reviews the brand's global vision and strategy, as well as its local position in each market in which it operates.
Challenge the status quo
Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, Founder and Chairman WSO2 said that the one thing he learnt in his journey with the company was to always challenge the statusquo. “Enabling people not to be fearful of competing globally is the culture at WSO2,” he added.
Dilshan Fernando, Director Dilmah Teas pointed out that global brands were once local, and when they travel, they have to start over and build that relationship anew. He said that the further they move away from their home culture, the tougher it becomes to create the similar strength of relationship with consumers.
He said it was tough for them to solve the local value equation through product and pricing strategies. Hence creating a strong presence and a distinctive identity helped Dilmah. “Getting as close to the local culture as possible and being a brand people grew up with, with local operational or logistical advantages was helpful,” he said.
Don’t change DNA
Cultural identity of Dilmah, where it promises to give the finest tea on earth was preserved. He said that brands which best transcended countries and culture to create a strong relationship with consumers in multiple countries ‘don’t change their DNA’. Mr. Fernando added that brand's influence on individuals-and therefore on demand--comes from its emotional influence. "It’s important to understand that main emotional connection with consumers,” he added. |
E-mail
