Alexander Proudfoot recently had the pleasure of participating in this year's "Being Global" conference in Santiago, Chile. It proved to be an outstanding forum for Latin America's emerging business community to learn how to establish a global presence through the effective management of profitability, growth and leadership.
Alan Steelman, Global Vice-Chairman of Alexander Proudfoot, was a keynote speaker at the event and spoke to an audience of approximately 300 people. Accompanying him were Chile's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz and former Minister of Finance, Andres Velasco. The topic of Alan's speech was the impact of "glocalization" as it relates to corporate expansion.
So, what is glocalization? It is the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations, and adapting a product or service specifically to each locality/culture in which it is sold. Examples of this include Coca-Cola in Mexico, which uses more sugar to please the native palate, and McDonald's in Chile, which revised its menu to include avocado to attract more customers.
