Abstract:

The paper suggests the key is building a common internal vision within the company: understanding and processing the regional marketplaces through intense interaction between research and strategic planning at the company's top management levels. The successful 'approximation to/of the world' operation during a critical period suggests the usefulness of the notion of 'locality' as a key concept that enabled: I) identification of those aspects which make a global brand locally relevant, and II) expression of 'local' into the global brand's paradigmatic values. The paper concludes with a reflection on key conditions for generating effective articulation between research and corporate decision-making.