History

Global-Local identity is one of the concepts which can be identified in the era of post-

modernity. Modernity occurred due to the first sheer pace of change in technology which set

the modernity into moderation , second a scope of change which means different areas of

globe are drawn into interconnection with one another and third with the intrinsic nature of

modern institutions such as the political system of the nation-state the wholesale dependence

of production upon inanimate power sources, or the thorough going commodification of

products and wage labour. Certainly, globalization became the consequence of the modernity.

Globalization, involves the flexibility brought about by the nations by allowing the global

forces to influence the local market conditions, to achieve economic growth. On the other

hand, as a part of reiterating localization, regions try to protect and maintain a part of the

local conditions and local culture, without being totally swept away by the forces of

globalization. Global-local Identity tries to balance both these approaches in terms of catering

to the local tastes and preferences, while attempting to follow the global corporate philosophy

and vision that the firms have.

The history of global-local identity can be traced back in the 1980s of Japan. According to

the Oxford Dictionary of New Worlds the idea has been modelled on Japanese Dochakuka

(deriving from dochaku “living on one’s own land”) ,originally the agricultural principle of

adapting one’s own farming techniques to local conditions but also adopted in Japanese

business for global localization , a global outlook adapted to local conditions’.

There is a debate among the scholars regarding the concept of global-local identity.

Giddens(1991:21) explained the global-local theme in the context of globalization and

asserted that globalization is a phenomenon which is concerned with the intersection of

presence and absence, the interlacing of social events and social relations “at distance” with

local contextualities.

However, according to Roland Robertson, a sociologist, gave a new direction to the concept

and viewed the traditional way of thinking of Giddens as ambiguous as it does not explain the

complexities lying behind the concept of global-local identity. Roland Robertson described

the concept as in terms of particularity which is a global value and what is taking place is

‘universalization of particularization’ or the ‘global valorization of particular identities’.

Considering the global-local identity as an invention of the globalization Nederveen Pietrese

describes the process of globalisation as the process of ‘hybridisation’, where introvert

cultures are gradually receding and trans local cultures made up of diverse elements are

coming to the foreground. Therefore the globalisation can be regarded as a tandem operation

of local/global dynamics or global localisation and the globalisation has accelerated the

cultural mixing.

The concept gained its importance in the business arena in late 1990s by British sociologist

Roland Robertson , who propounded the general issue of the relationship between the

particular and universal became popular which was one of the main marketing buzzwords of

the beginning of 1990s. For example in 1996, Coca Cola engaged the services of ’30

advertising agencies to bring a creative local flavour to the global message’. Robertson

describes this process of corporations producing products for the global markets by adapting

local and other particular conditions as ‘universalization’ and ‘particularization’.

There is a popular intellectual view of Tomilson(1991) which states that the concept of

global-local issue attained its popularity specifically when the entire world was swamped by

Western- American culture. The major alleged producers of ‘global culture’-such as those in

Atlanta(CNN) and Los Angeles (Hollywood) – increasingly tailor their products to a

differentiated global markets. For example , Hollywood attempts to employ mixed,

‘multinational’ casts of actors and a variety of ‘local’ settings when it is particularly

concerned to get a global audience.

On the other hand Straubharr stated that global-local identity was established with the coming

into being of media imperialism and cultural synchronization theories as the television

programming flow not only left the impression at the global level but also at regional or geo-

linguistic, national, sub-national or even local levels. Straubhaar says there is a subtle

interplay between the global and local in television form and content.

The theories which can be emerged from Global-local identity concept:

1. Imperialism.

2. Diffusion of innovation Theory.

3. Decentralization.

Imperialism Though not through military forces the great powers acquired its control in the

local market but it is true that very swiftly through business , technology and media the

world’s leading market has left a mark over the various localised culture.

Diffusion of innovation theory can be emerged which means that new ideas and technology

is spread and well accepted in the culture. Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is

communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.

Diffusion is a special type of communication concerned with the spread of messages that are

perceived as new ideas and an innovation, simply, is “an idea perceived as new by the

individual.”

Decentralization can be emerged from global-local identity. For example, decision-making

is distributed amongst various economic agents or localized within production agents

regarding any product in accordance with the culture.

Current Status

The concept is accepted or rejected depends upon the various factors of the preferences of the

locality. The relevance of the concept can be better understood in following categories :

Business

While conceptualising the category of business in respect of global-local identity following

brands can be taken into account:

McDonald’s, a globalization stereotype, has adapted its global marketing to different

regions or countries. For instance, it provides Maharaja Mac and Veggie McNuggets

in India, which is made of lamb or chicken according to the preferences of people.

McDonald has given the adage of “think global and act local” a concrete shape in

India. McDonald products are preferred not only by the young generation but by the

older generation also due to its quality servicing and pricing. MacDonald has

adjusted its pricing according to the pocket size of middle class. Today McDonald's

is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 32,000 local restaurants

serving more than 58 million people in around 130 countries each day. 70 percent of

our restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local

businessmen and businesswomen.

Pepsi believes tapping into the courageous side of the youth is what makes Mountain

Dew the fastest-growing Pepsi brand in India. The product is as global as it gets but

Pepsi delivers the brand’s global message “Darr ke aagey jeet hai” (there is triumph

beyond fear) to its primary target — the youth — with as much local flavour as

possible.

Media

The media presents another important realm in which global-local identity is made

apparent. A powerful means of making connections on an international scale, the

media is nonetheless a tool also capable of having an impact on a more local stage.

At the global level some television channels like CNN take the same content to

worldwide audiences , whereas others are creating more regionally or locally adapted

versions of the CNN programmes.

The original plan for STAR TV was to broadcast popular American shows to Asian

audience with as little effort as possible. However the plan was unsuccessful and

STAR TV had to invest on local branches to make local shows. Today in India STAR

TV is providing entertainment and news in various local channels.

Digital Platform

The concept of global-local identity can also be seen in digital platform .

Google , a perfect search engine and a global brand has adjusted its dimensions in accordance

with the localised culture of various countries. For example in India the Google search page

transforms its page in accordance with the festival celebrated in the country which shows

that it has tailored its ideas according to the nature of culture..

Facebook approached the e-market with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy, but now is facing the

realities of cultural difference. In the US – the country of origin – having lots of friends is

culturally acceptable and even encouraged. In Japan however, having more than 50 friends

indicates that you are superficial. Therefore, Facebook has lost its lead market position in

Japan due to the fact that it did not understand and encapsulate culture into its mass strategy.

‘Mixi’ is the social networking brand most Japanese people use; it doesn't tell others how

many friends you have, it doesn't have a ‘like’ button and accounts do not display public

walls. This shows that a global-local strategy may be necessary even in the digital

environment. Though it is successful in India still has to do a lot to get fit into this concept.

Though there are many brands like Pizza Hut, Dominos , Starbuks , Walmart have established its hegemony in the world market but following is an example of the growth of MacDonald and Google in India giving a brief overview of their strategy of global-local identity as a success.

Source: Media report

The fastest growing burger chain has seen the revenues from the country grow at a compounded annual growth rate of around 28.5 per cent over the past six years. In the last five years alone (FY08-FY13) its revenues have shot up over threefold to around Rs 1,300 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013, based on revenue clocked by its franchisees in the country.

It can be analyzed that due to the presence of Global-local identity concept the Google has

earned relatively fair revenues in India. Thus it shows that it is necessary to tailor your

services in order to survive in the world market.

So it can be analysed that in the present scenario the concept of global-local identity is well

accepted by the public and it is relevant in the contemporary context. People have become

more demanding and the producers of these global brands are tailoring their products in

accordance with their needs and thus catering them with full satisfaction. With this they are

able to maintain their reputation in the global market

TRENDS:

Though the Global-local identity has fairly established its peculiarity in the economy of

world market. Global-local identity can lead to a handsome profit for any industry, where

entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and technological innovation thrive under a Government

increasingly attuned to the value of the creative industries.

The society of any country is divided into two large segments of population: the growing

middle class and the huge underbelly of poverty stricken people. In India itself the middle

class constituted a portion of about 700 million of the total 1 billion population while others

put 300 million. Infact some political scientists such as Rajni Kothari argue that it was the

model of development that India imported from overseas which has led to the creation of

‘two- India’s with one cornering resources and institutions and the other India left to fend for

itself’. Therefore in coming years the brand positioning should be done in such a manner in a

localized culture that it should tailor their services in order to give the benefit to the ignored

sections of the society. For any product to be localised it should concentrate on ‘PUBLIC

SERVICE’.

CASE STUDY OF MTV , a music television

MTV Networks was established in 1981 as a US based Music TV network .It has been

expanding since 1987 when it opened MTV Europe. Currently it is owned by media

conglomerate VIACOM. Other channel Partners are Nicklodean and VH1. It generates

more than $1 billion in revenue outside US. However ,the most rapid growth of MTV is in

Asia continent. Almost 2 million people are watching MTV around the world , the majority

outside the US.

INITIAL STAGE

MTV had to overcome a lot of challenges before it became a Global hit. Initially it aired only

American programs with English speaking VJs throughout the Europe assuming that

Europeans would flock to see and hear more about American programs. But surprisingly

their tastes were mainly local except for a handful of global superstars like Madonna and

Michael Jackson. Most Europeans preferred local popular music. Similarly what was popular

in Germany might not be popular in Great Britain. Each country has its own unique and

favourite music scenes and songs. People would love to hear these more than adapt to

Foreign music. MTV clearly failed to understand this core principle and as a result MTV

suffered and started to decline. Soon there were many local copystations in Europe that

catered to individual countries Music scenes. Local copycat music stations soon took away

viewers and large portion of advertising revenue away from MTV.

STRATEGY

In 1995, MTV completely changed its strategy by adopting Global-local identity concept.

For example in Asia MTV Network has an

English-Hindi channel for India.

Mandrine feeds for China and Taiwan

Japanese feed for Japan.

Bahasa-language feed for Indonesia and so on.

They used digital and Satellite technology of transmission of localized programs which

greatly saved lot of time and effort. MTV exercised Creative Control over these different

feeds.

All the channels irrespective of the language have the same familiar frenetic look and

feel of MTV.

Local MTV stations are first started using expatriates from elsewhere in the world.

This helped MTV to do “gene Transfer of Company’s culture and operating

principles. Once it was established the network switches to local employees and

expatriates move on.

However to retain its popularity MTV has been increasing the share of local

programs.

Some of the popular local MTV programs in India include:

1. MTV Bakra – real-life comedy scenes.

2. MTV Cricket in Control- cricket inside stories

3. MTV Housefull – Hindi film stars.

TASTE OF SUCCESS

Between the years of 1996-2000 MTV rating in India scaled more than 700%.MTV

captured about 70% of its European advertising revenue. Similar trends were evident

elsewhere in the world. There phenomenal increase in MTV viewership was across the

countries. By 2004, 72 channels, 321 million household viewership in 140 countries.

CONCLUSION

MTV Networks has become a symbol of Globalization. It adopted right International

strategies and controls at the right time to regain its popularity, especially in non-english

speaking countries like Asia and Europe. The rationale behind MTV’s Global-local strategy

was to ‘get inside the heads’ of the local population and produce programming that matches

their tastes and preferences.

APPENDIX

Appadurai, A. (1988). Putting hierarchy in its place. Cultural Anthropology, 3(36), 36-49.

Featherstone, M. (1995). Undoing culture: Globalization, postmodernism and identity.

London: Sage.

Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University

Press.

Robertson, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. In

Featherstone, M., Lash, S & Robertson, R. (eds.), Global Modernities(pp. 25-44). London:

Sage.

Nederveen Pieterse, J. (1995). Globalization as hybridization. In Featherstone, M., Lash, S

& Robertson, R. (eds.), Global Modernities (pp. 45-68).London: Sage.

Chapter1 Glocalisationof Indain Television:USha M.Rodrigues

MTV slideshare

Mac Donald India.com

Studies of business of brands

TERM PAPER

WORLD APPROACHES TO COMMUNICATION

TOPIC- GLOBAL-LOCAL IDENTITY

NAME – DISHA SHARMA