GLOBAL PRODUCT STRATEGIES

Developing global product strategies requires knowing what types of products or services are
easily standardized and what are appropriate adaptation strategies.

PRODUCT STANDARDIZATION
Some products cross borders without adaptation better than others, and consumer knowledge
about new products is generally the same everywhere because perceptions have yet to be
formed. Many leading Internet brands such as Google, eBay, Twitter, and Facebook-made
quick progress in overseas markets.
High-end products also benefit from standardization because quality and prestige
often can be marketed similarly across countries, Culture and wealth factors
influence how quickly a new product takes off in a country, though adoption and
diffusion rates are becoming more alike across countries over time. Food and
beverage marketers find it more challenging to standardize, of course, given
widely varying tastes and cultural habits.
A company may emphasize its products differently across markets. In its medical
equipment business, Philips traditionally reserved higher-end, premium products for
developed markets and emphasized products with basic functionality and affordability in
developing markets. Increasingly, however, the company is designing, engineering, and
manufacturing locally in emerging markets like China and India.