Over
the past decade, the world has become a big global marketplace.
A marked trend has emerged towards integration despite cultural
diversities and geographical distances. There is little doubt that
the exchange of technology and processes is much easier today than
it was a few years ago. However, despite all this, many large businesses
with transnational ambitions are faced with a new challenge-the
need to customise products and sales strategies for individual markets,
and yet lend a globalised feel to their businesses.
There are instances of companies having widely-acclaimed
brands and globally-acknowledged best business practices failing
to repeat their success seamlessly across the globe. Often, it is
an issue of misreading or ignoring the cultural nuances of the local
markets. Therefore, cultural integration of the company's management
with the host market is a critical determinant of success for a
globalised business.
A critical responsibility of a good leader,
therefore, is to deploy superior technological and knowledge resources
for servicing local markets in a way that the products and services
offered are compatible with the local cultural ethos, tastes and
preferences. Catering to local needs is very important since customers
tend to avoid marketers who do not make an effort to improvise their
products and services to fit the market's unspoken expectations.
A company can only succeed in a global marketplace
if it uses enterprise leadership to build the business in a way
that the managers truly live by the local maxim while drawing upon
their global resources. This ability of global leaders to feel the
pulse of their customers is what we can define, in today's world,
as true leadership.
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