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How to build global brands is focus of book

Logos of several global brands

Why do some brands succeed globally while others never make it across their own borders?

That question inspired the new book “Global Brand Strategy: World-Wise Marketing in the Age of Branding” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) by Jan-Benedict Steenkamp, a global marketing professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Steenkamp provides actionable strategies and tools for managers that are based on studying global brands on six continents, 25 years of academic research, field research, consulting and interviews with corporate executives around the world.

“Very few books provide the roadmap for building global brands and fewer still provide analytical depth and practical tools,” says Steenkamp. “My goal is to enable managers to navigate effectively and profitably in the global marketplace, whether they are launching, guiding or reviving global brands.”

He shows companies that have delivered the biggest increases in brand value over recent years operate as one brand everywhere on the planet. “We find them in almost all industries, among large and small companies,” he says. “Importantly,” he adds, “global brands remain the linchpin of companies also in today’s era where protectionism is on the rise because the advantages of global brands are far broader than outsourcing.”
Steenkamp provides a “Global Brand Value Chain” with key steps for developing strategy, structures and processes, and measuring performance, such as brand equity and shareholder value. He discusses the important role of corporate social responsibility and how the rise of digital marketing means “brands are one keystroke away from being global.”

He has tested the material when teaching in all of UNC Kenan-Flagler’s MBA programs over several years.

Among the corporate and academic endorsements for the book was one from Domino’s International President Richard Allison (BSBA ’89, MBA 95): “Steenkamp presents useful insights and a thoughtful framework that outlines the ways that global brands can create value. ‘Global Brand Strategy’ should prove to be a very useful read for any executive aspiring to build a great and lasting global brand.”

Steenkamp is the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Professor and Chairman of Marketing at UNC Kenan-Flagler. An expert on global strategy and branding, he also wrote “Brand Breakout: How Emerging Market Brands Will Go Global” and “Private Label Strategy: How to Meet the Store Brand Challenge.”

3.2.2017