“Global brands cannot be owned by any one country”: Dr Jagdish Sheth

At a seminar organised by the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), author and renowned scholar Dr Jagdish Sheth threw light on what goes into the making of a global brand, and what are the challenges that Brand India needs to overcome

“There are three stages of evolution as far as global brands are concerned,” explains Dr Jagdish Sheth, author, renowned scholar and Charles H Kellstadt professor of marketing, Goizueta Business School, Emory University. Sheth was talking at a seminar on ‘Building Global Brands out of India’ organised by Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) in Mumbai recently.

Sheth went on to explain that the first is ‘Export-based Global’, where a product is simply exported to other countries. Examples include Indian diamonds, French Champagne, Rolex watches, leather goods and textiles. The second stage is ‘Subsidiary-based Global’, where subsidiaries are set up in countries other than the brand’s country of origin, such as General Motors, Siemens, Wipro, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors.

The third and final stage is that of an ‘Integrated Global Brand/Company’, which becomes integrated in every way that counts – the same brand values, positioning and vision across all markets. However, this does not mean dumping the same strategy and marketing mix everywhere. The strategy should be adapted as per the country, like in the case of HLL or McDonald’s in India. Global success stories here are those of Microsoft, Google, Toyota and Mittal Steel.

Sheth elaborated on this third stage, talking about what makes a brand truly global. The first factor, according to him, is that a truly global brand is one that is owned by the world, and not any one country. “It loses its sense of origin to a country,” Sheth explained. Such a brand goes on to have a common identity in the eyes of all its stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, investors and communities such as the media. Sheth cited the Olympic Games and even music channel MTV as global brands in this respect. “MTV is now a youth craze across all markets. People have forgotten that this is an American brand,” Sheth pointed out.

Sheth also pointed out another fact: new technologies or products often become global faster than brands or companies. He gave the example of television, mobile phones or even broadband.

It is interesting to note that most of the brands that Sheth was talking about, weren’t of Indian origin. So why are the heavyweights of India not quite out there abroad?

Sheth responded, “There are a lot of factors that India lacks to make this happen. We lack a global strategy and mindset in most cases.” Other factors that play against India are lack of capital leading to small scale of operations, limited experience in international marketing, government rules and regulations and an ethnocentric culture.

“India must aspire and globally compete both in value as well as premium markets,” Sheth said.

Focusing on the solution and what can be done, Sheth gave a few pointers, chief among which was the need to have a global mindset. Other solutions include global acquisitions and integration (particularly a challenge for the packaged goods industry), building a quality reputation across markets and producing superior products at competitive prices) and differentiation through design and innovation.

“India has a high potential for growth as far as design goes, both in terms of logos as well as products,” Sheth said. “We have a pool of talent that can be put to use here, particularly the consumer electronics market.” He said that even the I-Pod is a gift of design.

Among Indian brands, Sheth feels that Amul has strong chances of becoming a global brand, ever since its tie-up with retail giant Walmart in 2004.

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