NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

“While adopting a different marketing model for a single emerging market may be perceived as problematic due to the high cost of adaptation, our research shows that market characteristics are common enough across emerging markets to justify constructing an ’emerging market strategy’. We began constructing this strategy first by interviewing managers at firms such as Cadbury’s, Coca-Cola, Nestl??, South African Breweries, Unilever and United Phosphorous about their experiences in developing markets. Then, we reviewed local emerging market press and top business school case studies and found that three factors characterise emerging market environments: low income and its impact on consumer behaviour, variability in consumers and infrastructure, and relative cheapness of labour.” (This article was originally published in INSEAD Quarterly.) Read full article here.