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We see senior executives at larger
companies in developed markets
and even in the growth markets
themselves grappling with the best
ways to deploy their capabilities in
these diverse, unpredictable markets.
But the executives in corporate
headquarters from Boston to Beijing
have an evolving role to play in
adapting capabilities to conditions.
No one can assume that a last-mile
delivery strategy that works in India
will automatically work in Brazil, but
headquarters can be a value-added
player in identifying the best practices
in one market so that the company
can adapt the strategy to other
growth markets. Of course, that means
headquarters executives have to be
strategists themselves, and spend
many hours flying around the globe.
Unilever is a company that has been
able to cross-share lessons and best
practices across different parts of the
world. Its pioneering Shakti initiative in
India, which trained and employed rural
128
world monitor
women as sales agents, was adapted
to other global markets including
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri
Lanka, and Egypt. When Unilever
introduced audio entertainment with
product advertisements on mobile
phones in rural India, the campaign
successfully pushed sales of its
detergent product, so it is now planning
to run similar — though culturally
adapted — mobile ad campaigns in
Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as
several African countries.
Far-flung field office managers aren’t
in a position to coordinate such
projects, but headquarters can take
the lessons of individual business units
and devise a strategy for exporting
innovative projects and efficient
processes from one market to another.
And as the world’s growth engines
speed up their pace, more and more of
the strategies that work in maturing
markets will also be adaptable to
developed economies.
Author Profile:
• David Wijeratne is a managing director
with PwC Singapore. He leads PwC’s
Growth Markets Centre, a team of experts
in Singapore gathered from across PwC’s
global network to assist companies with
successful entry and profitable expansion
in emerging markets.
• Gagan Oberoi, a manager with PwC
Singapore, is a specialist in industrial
products at PwC’s Growth Market Centre.
He previously worked in India with
Strategy&, PwC's strategy consulting
business, with industrial manufacturing
and aerospace and defense clients.
• Shashank Tripathi, is a partner with
PwC India. He leads the Strategy&
practice in Mumbai, where he works with
the team of experts at PwC’s Growth
Markets Centre, specializing in growth
strategies for the industrial products and
aerospace and defense industries.
based on Strategy &
Reference: www.strategyand.pwc.com