Glocalisation – is it possible?

By Helen McIntee , director IMM Graduate School of Marketing

When I was at business school in the early nineties, I came across the term 'glocalisation' – a combination of the words 'globalisation' and localisation'. Meaning the ability to 'think globally and act locally", it was bandied around for some time before being replaced by other terms and initiatives. Now, however, as we all strive to become more and more successful in the global arena, 'glocalisation' seems to have made a return to our business vocabulary.

In turning the whole concept over in my mind, as well as doing some Internet research, I have made two simple deductions, namely that local in South Africa is not easy to define and secondly, glocalisation doesn't seem to mean what it did before

"Local is lekker" – as marketers we are constantly striving to find commonalities within segments so that we can develop our marketing strategies appropriately, but the challenges of defining 'local' are immense.

If we begin to draw a continuum and attempt to define the "average" in South Africa , it would fall at both extremes and have millions of points in between. Consider the fact that we have nine official languages, all possible religions and huge cultural and ethnic diversity. South Africa has mountains, beaches, deserts, marshlands, bushveld and snow, the very rural and the densely metropolitan. We have floods or drought (or both), feast and famine. Amongst the population we have the exceptionally wealthy living alongside disastrous poverty and the highly educated mingling with the illiterate, high technology in certain areas and no technology in others, and of course South Africans can and do play every conceivable sport and enjoy every possible type of pastime. There is, at least for the moment, no South Africanism, no national dress and no encompassing culture – a melting pot of diversity.

But the new 'glocalisation' may remedy this.

Wikipedia states that 'glocalisation' entails one of both of the following:

The creation or distribution of products or services intended for a global or transregional market, but customised to suit local laws or culture Using electronic communications technologies, such as the Internet to provide local services on a global or transregional basis. Craigslist and Meetup are examples of web applications that have glocalised their approach. And my own personal favourite from the Cambridge Review of International Affairs Volume 17, No.1 April 2004 : "Glocalisation" refers to the twin process whereby, firstly, institutional/regulatory arrangements shift from the national scale both upwards to supra-national or global scales and downwards to the scale of the individual body or to local, urban or regional configurations and, secondly, economical activities and interfirm networks are becoming simultaneously more localised and regionalised and transnational….

….the pre-eminence of the 'global' in much of the literature and political rhetoric obfuscates, marginalises and silences an intense and ongoing socio-spatial struggle in which the reconfiguration of the spatial scales is a key arena….."

WHAT ON EARTH?

The one I like best and, given our current economic status in South Africa , the one that I believe fits us best, is this one by The Glocal Forum:

"The glocalisation strategy entails a shift in the international system, from a framework based on a balance of power between nation states, to a balance of cultural interests and local needs with global opportunities, always taking into account the importance of local actors as agents of change. The Glocalisation strategy empowers local communities, linking them to global resources and knowledge while facilitating initiatives for peace and development ( www.glocalforum .org)

Based on this definition, it would appear that instead of 'thinking globally and acting locally', glocalisation has developed into an initiative more worthy to embrace in South Africa and maybe one that will truly enable the development of a genuine South African "local", successfully doing business globally.

Fifteen years since I first heard the word, I am strongly thinking that perhaps a better definition of glocalisation is "local thinking, with global relevance " . It makes sense to me that we use our global interactions and business dealings to improve our local economic structure, whilst at the same time we accept our South Africa of "extremes" and revel in it!

Ends.