Entrepreneur Vijay Eswaran is a force to be reckoned with in the business region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN). The founder and executive chairman of QI Group has a vision to vault ASEAN — the political and economic union of 10 countries — to a player on the global stage with the innovative concept of “glocalization.”
“ASEAN in itself is not a single entity but made up of diverse cultures, each with its own unique identity,” Eswaran explained in an article in the Manila Standard. “Successful businesses understand the region’s increasingly affluent customers want the best of both global offerings, as well as retaining their unique culture, and this means adapting business practices to suit different markets in the region.
“This approach, known as glocalization, holds the key to success for any business looking to benefit from the burgeoning ASEAN middle class. It is imperative for firms to really understand what it means to ‘go glocal’ in ASEAN, and that means looking beyond the big-picture changes in demographics and wealth to consider how factors such as urbanization, culture, and even a pandemic like COVID-19 are shaping the emergence of the region’s middle class.”
Today, ASEAN is well on its way to becoming a formidable force in the global market, tracking toward evolving into the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030. To this end, the World Economic Forum has identified that long-term trends demonstrate a welcoming market for international project finance. But to excel at a global scale, these nations also need to consider the impact of their growth on the local level. Vijay Eswaran explained glocalization as placing a dual emphasis of business and economic development on both global and local initiatives. With glocalization, businesses develop products and services that can be distributed on a global scale, but also adapted to appeal to consumers in more local markets.
Glocalization is an important approach within ASEAN, which, Eswaran noted, “is not a single entity but made up of diverse cultures, each with its own unique identity. Successful businesses understand the region’s increasingly affluent customers want the best of both global offerings, as well as retaining their unique culture, and this means adapting business practices to suit different markets in the region.”
He added that there’s room for economic development within ASEAN on the home front, which can help the region evolve on a global scale. For example, growing the middle class and helping it thrive can promote growth and channel funds from disposable income back into the local economy. The ASEAN middle class is projected to double to 51% by 2030, contributing a total disposable income of $300 billion.
Glocalization allows companies to address specific markets and demographics within a given region, meaning that ASEAN business initiatives on a regional scale can still find ways to resonate with customers across cultures and buyer personas. In ASEAN specifically, retaining culture and placing an emphasis on regional needs is perhaps more important than ever before, as nations come together to grow while still celebrating their national identities. Glocalization allows a product or service to be developed and then localized to conform to local legal, cultural, and consumer inclinations. By going more local, brands can expand their appeal within specific markets.
To bring products to a glocal level, brands need to develop strategies that encompass broad and specific interests simultaneously. Eswaran points to one example in the food and beverage sector. “A good example of this is BreadTalk, which from a single outlet in Singapore’s Bugis Junction became a global food and beverage player with 11 different food brands, employing more than 7,000 people in 1000 shops in ASEAN and around the world.”
ASEAN’s impact reaches far beyond the local level, but Eswaran noted that for the region to continue to experience global growth, it will need to address the economic needs on a local and community level. While inhabitants of the region share some common history as a crossroads between India, China, and Japan, their cultures are markedly unique and require specialized marketing and strategy to infiltrate properly with branded goods. Eswaran noted that local production of goods can help promote this, with a focus on the ability to go glocal as goods are cross-marketed for a wide appeal. He also shared that ASEAN stands to grow economically as a whole by placing the emphasis on intra-ASEAN trade and meeting the needs of local consumers.
The attributes that make ASEAN unique and a potential economic powerhouse are also what make it a challenging region in which to gain traction. Eswaran turned to the government as a source of stability and a means forward for economic growth: “Governments must work together with the private sector to ensure that ASEAN’s true potential across the different sectors is fully utilized by developing innovative strategies and business models to address the ever-demanding consumer base, while also overcoming the region’s challenging characteristics in a more efficient manner.”
