Is your emerging-market strategy local enough?

The diversity and dynamism of China, India, and Brazil defy any one-size-fits-all approach. But by targeting city clusters within them, companies can seize growth opportunities.

APRIL 2011 • Yuval Atsmon, Ari Kertesz, and Ireena Vittal

Source: Strategy Practice

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Growth/Is_your_emerging_market_strategy_local_enough_2790

The article highlights the importance of thinking local in formulating a global strategy. Remember, markets are local but industries that supply them can be considered global. What I mean is the final offering to any locale must be dictated by local norms and tastes. However, the development and delivery mechanism –or appropriate portions of it—can and should be globalized for leverage and efficiencies as appropriate.

Creating a powerful emerging-market strategy has moved to the top of the growth agendas of many multinational companies, and for good reason: in 15 years’ time, 57 percent of the nearly one billion households with earnings greater than $20,000¹ a year will live in the developing world….
…To accelerate growth in China, India, Brazil, and other large emerging markets, it isn’t enough, as many multinationals do, to develop a country-level strategy. Opportunities in these markets are also rapidly moving beyond the largest cities, often the focus of many of these companies….... To accelerate growth in China, India, Brazil, and other large emerging markets, it isn’t enough, as many multinationals do, to develop a country-level strategy. Opportunities in these markets are also rapidly moving beyond the largest cities, often the focus of many of these companies. For sure, the top cities are important: by 2030, Mumbai’s economy, for example, is expected to be larger than Malaysia’s is today. Even so, Mumbai would in that year represent only 5 percent of India’s economy and the country’s 14 largest cities, 24 percent. China has roughly 150 cities with at least one million inhabitants. Their population and income characteristics are so different and changing so rapidly that our forecasts for their consumption of a given product category, over the next five to ten years, can range from a drop in sales to growth five times the national average…
 …As developing economies become increasingly diverse and competitive, multinationals will need strategic approaches to understand such variance within countries and to concentrate resources on the most promising submarkets—perhaps 20, 30, or 40 different ones within a country