When developed economies slumped as a result of the financial meltdown which began in 2007, companies everywhere scrambled frantically to find new markets for their goods and services. Overnight, “emerging” markets (developing nations) became everyone’s target.
By the time of the crash, it was already clear that a massive economic shift was under way from the West to the East, and that future global growth would come more from developing nations rather than the established powerhouses: the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
From the earliest days of global trade, the lure of foreign customers in strange places has been a strong one. Following World War II, innovative technologies and logistics systems, the spread of democracy, and the increasing wealth of billions of the world’s citizens have led to fabulous opportunities for companies selling everything from cement to soap, from food to financial services. But it’s really only been in the past 30-odd years that emerging market mania has taken hold.
Ted Levitt at Harvard Business School alerted companies in 1983 to “The globalization of markets,” and the opportunities in marketing across borders. Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs coined the catchy terms “BRICs” (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and “the next 11” (Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam). C.K. Prahalad wrote about “the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.” New York Times columnist Tom Friedman’s books, The Lexus and The Olive Tree (1999) and The World is Flat (2005), were best-sellers. Many other observers spewed out analyses, reports, articles, and books on the same topic. And it gets hyped to the hilt at the World Economic Forum’s annual Davos get-together.
Growth in rich countries remains sluggish. All evidence suggests that developing countries are where companies will find the sales they need. So competition there will become increasingly hostile, and the demand for fresh thinking on it will rise fast.
But there are some realities that cannot be ignored.
A LITTLE THEORY GOES A LONG WAY
Interest in emerging markets has brought with it an outpouring of views on the attractions of specific countries and what it takes to succeed in them. Usually, these are couched in stirring tales of how this or that entrepreneur beat the odds to make a fortune in some poverty-stricken place; how companies from India, Mexico, or South Africa became admired multinationals; and how firms in rich countries found opportunities in poor ones. Much of what’s on offer is entertaining and even inspiring, but contributes little to a theory of emerging market strategy.
The need for advice on how to crack emerging markets is a big one, and its growth is explosive. So we shouldn’t be surprised if zealous researchers and managers underplay what is already known, and what expansionary firms have learned over many decades—even centuries. Breakthroughs are always more seductive than “the basics.”
A few experts have provided useful insights about emerging market strategy. But by and large, efforts to produce useful concepts or tools specific to this field have been less than fruitful, and will continue to disappoint.
As with other areas of management, there’s only so much that can be said. There will be some incremental advances, but executives should not expect revolutionary new models or frameworks. Those in the advice business will add most value by providing information about particular countries and sectors (context), and what it takes to win in them, rather than about strategy itself (concepts).
THE GLOBALIZATION OF … MANAGEMENT
As I pointed out in a previous post, virtually every market for everything is today an emerging market, in the sense that conditions are in flux, the future is unclear, competitive intensity is high, and the rules of the game are evolving. Strategies and business models that once worked well can quickly become recipes for failure, so both must be adjusted or maybe reinvented to meet new circumstances.
But it also means that whether you’re doing business in Europe or the U.S., or trying to get moving in Malawi or Myanmar, many of the challenges are fundamentally alike. And solutions to them will be much the same, too.
The principles of management that produce results are similar across industries. They’re also similar across countries. It may be fashionable to suggest otherwise, but the evidence is clear.
Management know-how has not only been commoditized, it has also been globalized. So instead of wasting time trying to reinvent this wheel, you can focus on the really hard work of getting to know the market you’re aiming at, and figuring out how to apply the best practices within it.
CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING
The first and most important question every firm must answer when it ventures into new territory is, How will we fit in? This is the make-or-break issue. Deep local knowledge makes all the difference. Personal relationships count for a lot. Most executives who’ve worked in developing markets talk about their steep learning curve, the time it took to gain traction there.
Wherever in the world you do business, you have to be wise to politics, culture, and economics; to the structure and character of whatever market you’re in; to customer expectations and behaviour; and to what competitors are doing. But in developing countries, three issues demand particular attention.
First, there’s the fact that “things don’t work”—or at least not as they do in developed nations. Companies are dogged by what Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu have termed “institutional voids”: poor infrastructure, dodgy regulation, weak capital markets, lousy services, a lack of skills, and much else. Unhelpful bureaucrats make things worse. Corruption may be a huge problem (although it also occurs in even the most advanced nations). Protecting intellectual property can be a nightmare.
Second, is the difficulty in connecting sellers and buyers. Informal trade is probably the norm; business ecosystems are ill-formed. There’s little information about customers or competitors. Promotions, logistics, and support all present hurdles.
Third, is the management of people. Individuals with appropriate capabilities and experience are in short supply. Productivity, quality, and customer service are not their priorities. They’re unfamiliar with sophisticated working methods. They have to be introduced to a host of new ideas—roles and responsibilities, technical systems, performance management, communication, disciplinary processes, and so on. So foreign executives need to be firm and persistent in providing new direction, while at the same time acutely conscious of local custom.
None of this should be under-estimated. No one should imagine that building a business in a developing country is a cake-walk. It’s folly to believe you can simply charge out of New York and set up shop in New Delhi.
Joburg and Lagos may both be in Africa, but South African managers who think they can easily crack the Nigerian market because “We are African, we understand Africa,” are in for a shock. Success in one country in Africa, Asia, or Latin America is no guarantee of success in others in the same region, let alone elsewhere. Sony’s notion of “glocalization”—”think global, and act local”—is as valid today as it was when it was coined about three decades ago.
Emerging markets—in the sense of developing markets in developing countries—offer exciting prospects for many firms. They differ in many ways from developed markets, but managers should not hope for fantastic new theories for entering them or competing in them. Instead, they need to do their homework, strike a careful balance between importing ideas that worked elsewhere and developing new ones, and recognize that as outsiders they have special responsibilities towards their hosts.
Strategy is always a learning process, and even more so in emerging markets. But emphasis needs to be on learning about these places, not about new strategy concepts or management tools.
IN SUMMARY
Success in these markets depends, more than anything, on putting the right people on the ground with all the support they need.
They should balance a core set of strategic principles and a proven management approach with a sensitivity to local attitudes, customs, and behaviours, and always be respectful of these.
They should understand the importance of local knowledge, and never stop searching for new insights.
And most importantly, they should couple these practical actions with a preparedness to do what it takes to fit in (within reason) and the determination to improvise through difficulties.
A CHECKLIST TO GET YOU GOING
- Mindset matters. Given the hurdles you’ll face, you and your people have to really, really, really want to try. You have to be bold, you have to be able to adapt, and you’ll need both courage and perseverance. Above all, you’ll need to be resourceful—your ability to “make a plan” will be constantly tested.
- Appoint people who’ll be happy there. Living in Luanda or Laos is not like living in Los Angeles or London. It can be tough. Especially on families. Everyone can’t do it. So give them every chance to understand what they’re taking on, and all the encouragement and support they’ll need.
- Go “where the warm armpits are.” As Ted Levitt liked to say, there’s only one way to really understand any market, and that’s to go there and immerse yourself in it. To watch the locals and listen to them. To get to know what turns them on and off, and to learn how things work.
- Remember the first principles. Just as focus, value, and costs must be your mantra in developed markets, so they must guide your every action in emerging markets.
- Explore, experiment and learn fast. No matter how you prepare, no matter how good your initial information seems to be, and no matter how carefully you think through your strategy, you will get things wrong. This is a fact of life in any market, and especially so in developing ones.
- Get stakeholders on your side. You have to gain the support of government, communities, workers—the same array of players you deal with in your home market. But in emerging markets you probably have to work much harder to educate people about business in general and your business in particular. They have to understand not just what you expect of them, but what you can do for them. “Out there,” they can make or break you.
- Develop local partnerships. In some countries, they may be mandatory. In many, they’re necessary to open doors, smooth your entry, build alliances, and facilitate your growth. Their knowledge, experience, and contacts can be invaluable and make the difference between success and failure.
- Clear values, no compromises. While adaptability is critical, you have to be certain about how you need to behave and what you will and will not do, or you’ll be jerked around constantly—and a sitting duck for crazy demands and corruption. So set the rules early, or someone with another agenda will set them for you.
- Be willing to build your own infrastructure. This may mean anything from a shopping centre to a power plant or a water purification facility, roads or runways, a sewage system, accommodation for your staff, or schools and clinics for communities. It could mean offering to train local officials or upgrade their IT systems. Or it could mean working closely with PR or advertising agencies, or other service suppliers, to develop their capacity.
- Try, try, and try again. Cracking an emerging market is not a quick process. It’ll take most companies a lot longer than they expect, and cost far more. If you don’t go in for the long haul, you’re wasting your time. If you can’t keep picking yourself up, and adjusting your strategy, you may as well stay at home.
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