Crafting strategies for global marketing in the new millennium

The demarcation between domestic and international business is disappearing as new and improved means of communicating and conducting business are developed. The starting point for formulating corporate strategy is for upper-echelon executives to determine what the organization's main appeal will be to customers. Once top management adopts a guiding principle, the implementation or "how to" phases of the decision become easier. Executives in multinationals have wrestled for years with the issue of whether marketing strategy is best standardized (globalized), regionalized, or localized. A Global Strategy Matrix is presented, which implies 5 managerial guidelines for formulating and executing multinational strategies, including: 1. Standardization is required for cost-based competition. 2. Localization is the best avenue for firms seeking to get closest to customers. 3. Competing as a product leader in global markets requires standardization. However, modern communications capabilities are blurring the difference between global and domestic business.