 |
 |
|
Ohmae (1995)Management > Global Marketing Management > Lectures > Independent Research > Ohmae
Ohmae (1995) - Managing in a Borderless World"Most managers are near-sighted". They claim to treat all markets in which their business operates with equal fairness, but the majority of their strategies and decisions revolve around their home markets. They ought to be "equidistant" in their view, that is, to think global first. "Information has made us all into global citizens" - due to increased telecommunication technologies, customers know more than firms think they do, meaning that managers are expected to deal globally immediately. A "Universal Product" is one which serves markets all over the world, but which is tailored slightly to adapt to local tastes. For example, Nissan researched into Europe, Japan and the US's dominant requirements, which was then translated into basic concepts for car models. It meant that instead of making one standardised car model for all markets, or making hundreds of different types for every segment in every market, Nissan made only made 18 models. It cut costs of design and manufacturing and the project was hugely successful. A good analogy is colour mixing. The author discusses a colour phenomenon, called "diminishing primaries", where if you mix primary colours, red, blue and yellow, you get black. "If Europe consumers want a product in green, let them have it.If Japan says red, let them have red. No-one wants the average". Global tastes have not converged into "black", they have different colours and it is up to local managers to discover which colours suit each country.
|
|
