ABSTRACT

The globalization of brands has been an important theme in cross-cultural marketing for many years. The first part of the chapter reviews some of the main issues in the debate about the globalization of products. In reality, even the huge global companies adapt their product offerings to different cultures. The second theme of the chapter is to assess how some companies adapt their products for different markets, and what effects the Westernization of aspects of consumer culture has on the built environment. A little commented upon aspect of product innovation is the evolution of transnational products, yet as more consumers do not live in their own country of origin they are an expanding area of product innovation. The concept of transnational products will be illustrated in the context of money transmission services and how various cultural groups deal with sending money back ‘home’ will be the theme of part three. The fourth part of the chapter will deal with the concept of crossover products. Crossover products are designed for ethnic minority consumers and then become part of main-stream culture. Products that have been specifically designed for diasporic groups (see Chapter 2), are an important growth area, and will be discussed separately in section five.