Adopt Contrasting Strategies for Emerging Markets
Emerging markets have typically been lumped
together by investors and corporations attempting to define all-encompassing
strategies, but these markets are diverging. Tailored, local strategies are now
more important.
The ASEAN (Association of South East Asian
Nations) region has been growing steadily at about 6 percent a year since 2008.
If it were a country, it would be the 7th largest economy in
the world. ASEAN today is on the cusp of a new era. The growth drivers of
1998-2008, based on export-led growth of products and commodities for developed
markets are no longer as relevant. A new growth model, based on innovation and
domestic demand, is necessary, but this presents very different opportunities
and challenges for countries and corporations in this part of the world.
At the recent Emerging Markets Conference at
INSEAD, hosted by the INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute and PwC, INSEAD’s Dean and Professor of
Economics, Ilian Mihov said that BRIC nations should be treated separately. “Each one of these countries are very
different and they are at different stages of economic development with
different monetary and fiscal policies,” he said. As a consequence, countries
in the region will need very different approaches to leverage the
opportunities.
Speaking on a panel at the conference, Bob De
Lange, the Vice President of Caterpillar’s excavation division, the global
headquarters of which is in Singapore, agreed, saying “there's probably no such
thing as ASEAN, because there's such a wide variety in the economies, the environment,
even within ASEAN.”
De Lange and other panelists discussing the
future of South East Asia at the conference explained how they were adapting to
this new emerging market order.
Building and leveraging local capacity
Rahul Gupta, Managing Director of Business
Development in ASEAN at General Electric explained that corporations are
changing their approach to emerging markets and are at an inflection point of a
longer-term game. “The days when you said ‘enter opportunistically and exit
when the tide turns against you’ have gone,” he said.
Given that governments are focused on how they
can increase productivity, develop skills and create home-grown innovation,
customers are changing too. “Customers want you to turn around in their time
zone, so that leads to a lot of people to have local empowerment, and
in order to achieve that you need to have the accountability and the
capability,” Gupta added. This is why GE is focused on developing local
leaders. “It was not very long back that a region like ours had expatriates in
country leadership roles. Today, we find all our country managers –
Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines – everybody is a local,” he said.
This is also reflected in the way GE improvises
to align with the needs of the market, rather than following only global
business models. Gupta pointed to the example of a handheld ultrasound machine
developed by GE Healthcare that runs on batteries so it can be used in remote
places with unreliable electricity supply. He also highlighted how these and
other projects have led GE to increasingly focus on aggregating a local
business opportunity with other regions to build a global business case that
would justify investments beyond the narrow scope of a local opportunity.
De Lange of Caterpillar echoed the sentiment by
explaining that his organisation is committed to becoming local in the region
for the long-term opportunity in basic infrastructure development, but also to
diversify across markets at very different stages of stability and progress.
This has driven Caterpillar’s decisions on everything from building
manufacturing, capacity, R&D and local supply bases across the region.
Catherine Jucker of Baxter also explained that
the healthcare company had established local manufacturing capacity in Thailand
around 3 years ago as part of a strategy grounded on partnering with government
and healthcare practitioners to enhance access to dialysis care for patients.
The company continues to take this long term collaborative partnering approach
in emerging markets to improve access to therapies and raise standards of care.
Local players rising
While growth strategies are changing, they’re
also being coloured by the emergence of highly competent local players.
Governments are racing ahead on policies to encourage more domestic demand
growth and increase the economic lot of their populations.
Widhyawan Prawiraatmadja, Commissioner of PT
Pertamina, an Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company, shared how Indonesia
is applying a proactive approach to building a new growth model for the
country. It includes diversifying the economic bases for growth, creating
opportunities for more local economic activity and making local businesses
competitive while also addressing the issue of inclusive economic growth.
Drop the group acronyms
Panelists highlighted the fact there is no such
thing as a monolithic ASEAN strategy. The particularities of sectors and
countries necessitate a more granular approach to understanding the challenges
as well as the opportunities and building the strategies for growth at both a
country and corporate level.
All panelists agreed, however, that long term
strategies are needed, as the prospects of emerging markets remain bright,
despite current headwinds.
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Paddy Padmanabhan is the Unilever Chaired Professor of Marketing and the
Academic Director of the INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute. He is also the Programme Director of the
following executive education programmes at INSEAD: Asian International Executive Programme, Leading the Effective Sales Force and INSEAD Leadership Programme for Senior Indian Executives.
Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/adopt-contrasting-strategies-for-emerging-markets-4428?utm_source=INSEAD+Knowledge&utm_campaign=da9cbf20fc-21_Jan_mailer1_21_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e079141ebb-da9cbf20fc-249840429#2lbQk4D7JllmfwfC.99
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