World is changing too fast, text books education is outdated: Nirmalya Kumar, London Business School

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
June 17, 2013
In this interview with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Nirmalya Kumar speaks on strategies that brands in emerging market should adopt to become global consumer brand. He also shares insight on the need for a change in delivery model at B-schools.
'Brand Breakout' examines how companies from emerging markets are reaching the developed world as consumer brands

Dr Nirmalya Kumar is Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of Aditya Birla India Centre at London Business School. He is one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy and marketing; having also taught at Harvard Business School, IMD (Switzerland) and Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management).  

His recent book ‘Brand Breakout’, co-authored by Dr Jan Benedict Steenkamp, Professor of Marketing at the Kenan-Flager Business School, University of North Carolina, examines how companies from emerging markets are reaching the developed world as consumer brands.  The authors outline eight strategies that lay out a comprehensive roadmap for emerging market brands to effectively enter global markets.  The eight strategies showcase the innovative practices that have been pioneered by those emerging market firms who are starting to compete successfully against Western giants, and elaborate on capabilities that companies in both developed and developing economies should be cultivating.

In this interview with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Nirmalya Kumar speaks on strategies that brands in emerging market should adopt to become global consumer brand. He also shares insight on ‘How B-schools should change their delivering model to be relevant to the fast changing world and consumer behaviour’.

Q: What prompted you to write this book?
A: My co-author Professor Jan-Benedict Steenkamp and I met over 20 years ago in the United States. Since then, we have collaborated on many different research projects. This book originated during a casual conversation over a bottle of Bordeaux. It began with a question: why don’t we observe global brands from emerging markets? This predictably led to an argument on why this is so; with each of us trying to develop a stronger rationale for what currently exists (or “best practice” in that all observed global brands are from the developed nations). But, as always, we did not stop there. We began imagining “next practice” or what is to come. Several hypotheses were generated on how emerging market brands could go global. The outcome of that debate, with years of research intervening, is this book.

Q: What are the eight strategies that you mention in the book?
The strategies are as follows:

1. The Asian Tortoise Route: Migrating to higher quality and brand premium
2. The Business to Consumer Route: Leveraging B2B strength in B2C markets
3. The Diaspora Route: Following emigrants into the world
4. The Brand Acquisition Route: Buying global brands from Western multinationals
5. The Positive Campaign Route: Overcoming negative country of origin associations
6. The Cultural Resources Route: Positioning on positive cultural myths
7. The Natural Resources Route: Branding commodities in four steps
8. The National Champions Route: Leveraging strong support from the state

Q: While Japan & S Korea has created many global brands like Hyundai, Samsung, Canon… why are India and China lagging behind? What strategies should they adopt?
A: The eight strategies above can be adopted by them.  In 70, of the eight routes, we have examples of Chinese companies (exception being Natural resources route) with Haier, Huawei, Mandarin Oriental, Lenovo, Shanghai Vive, Herborist, and Comac respectively as examples.

Q:  What are your recommendations to MBA students at B-schools like IIMs, ISB, XLRI on how they must study and prepare for a career in Marketing, as they graduate? Is text book driven education enough in a rapidly changing global marketplace?
A: The world is changing too fast for text books and as a result, this model is outdated. Instead a collection of readings and cases that reflect the new global realities as well as the importance of social media is what’s increasingly becoming popular. Of course, reading helps most if you have a mind that attempts to organize a framework that asks under what conditions would this strategy work.

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