Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing [Hardcover]

Donald A. DePalma (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Features examples of global initiatives by well-known companies such as AOL, Bertelsmann, Coca-Cola, and United Airlines.

• Written by two leading consultants with an in-the-field perspective.
• Explains how to utilize technology to globalize a business.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Expertly weighs the challenges and benefits of 'going global'. Provides insights and analysis to craft a rewarding international strategy. -- Mary J. Cronin, Professor of Management, Boston College

Fresh, actionable advice. This book reveals the strategies that will win the next economic war on the 'Eighth Continent'. -- George F. Colony, Chairman and CEO Forrester Research, Inc.

Outstanding contribution to managing in the global era. Practical information to become an effective player in the global marketplace. -- Abbas J. Ali, Professor and Director School of Interantional Management, 2002 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"If I'm selling to you, I speak your language. If I'm buying, dann m?ssen Sie Deutsch sprechen."
-Willy Brandt

Before the Web, only giants such as Ford, McDonald's, Volkswagen, and Sony had the resources and infrastructure to serve and market to a global community. Now, thanks to the power of the Internet to transcend space, time, and borders, virtually any company can market its products or services anywhere in the world. However, as global Web-marketing expert Don DePalma explains in this groundbreaking guide, just having a Web site isn't enough-in order to make your company a global player, you've got to think globally and interact locally. In Business Without Borders, he shows you how.

A top international consultant specializing in globalization, DePalma has consulted e-business leaders on the online strategies of some of the most visible e-business successes. In Business Without Borders, he draws upon his experiences and those of practitioners at Travelocity, Ducati, Lands' End, Procter & Gamble, and others to describe global e-business best practices. He also analyzes several online failures to explain why it takes more than a lot of high-tech bells and whistles to successfully compete online in foreign markets.

Business Without Borders is the definitive how-to guide for marketing professionals ready to take the leap into global Web marketing. The emphasis throughout is on the nuts-and-bolts issues marketers and their support staff must master in order to launch a successful global initiative-from selling ideas to a budgetary committee or board of directors; deciding on which countries or cultures to enter; finding and working with translation and localization specialists; to measuring the ROI of global Web marketing efforts, it covers all the practical bases clearly, succinctly, and thoroughly. Business Without Borders also features a chapter devoted to educating developers and tech-support staff in foreign character sites, currencies, date formats, and other technical details that can compromise even the best-laid globalization plans.

The Internet has given birth to an "Eighth Continent"-a vast virtual landscape without borders, and populated by nearly a billion consumers. Read Business Without Borders and learn how to seize the untold business opportunities awaiting there.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471204692
• ISBN-13: 978-0471204695
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,320,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don DePalma has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of technology, language services, and market research. He co-founded Interbase Software, served as vice president of corporate strategy at translation technology supplier Idiom Technologies, and was one of the first analysts at Forrester Research, where he consulted to senior management at Global 2000 companies.

While at Forrester, Don launched the firm's coverage of various sectors, including content management, application development for strategic internet systems, digital marketing technologies and customer relationship management, ethnic marketing, knowledge management, and business globalization. His book, Business without Borders, is widely used at university and business training courses.

As the company's original founder, Don continues to lead Common Sense Advisory's research into the best practices, technology, and professional services that support business globalization. He lectures, writes, and is frequently quoted on the topics of online marketing, content management, multicultural marketing, localization, return on investment, and website globalization. He focuses on shaping the strategies of many of the world's largest technology firms and the industry's most influential language services providers.

Don holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Brown University with specializations in generative grammar, computational linguistics, and the historical phonology of Slavic languages. He has also studied at Moscow State University and Moscow Linguistic University in Russia, Univerzita Karlova in the Czech Republic, and ELISA in Costa Rica. As a linguist, Don studied a range of Indo-European languages and has visited 40 countries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just "Marketing", July 18, 2002

By 

Val Ziegler (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing (Hardcover)

DePalma's book is much more than the sub-title "A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing" implies. It really addresses the strategic and tactical changes a company must go through internally in order to reap benefits from the world-wide marketplace. The first big "thread" that is important to me in the book is that globalizing a company is a process that needs to be worked through - you can't just mandate it into existence. You can't go into the process with the right answers ahead of time - they have to be discovered by going through the process. The second is that the effort requires corporate commitment: it requires a comprehensive and unified view, high-level corporate buy-in and support, and a person accountable for making it all happen. His concept of the Chief Globalization Officer (CGO) is precisely the answer most companies need. I highly recommend the book to globalization neophytes and experts alike.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Business without borders, August 23, 2002

By 

"wstoeller" (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing (Hardcover)

I finely finished reading Don's book and I think it is excellent. Much said is also directly applicable to software localization and global product planning in general. I have not seen any other books addressing these aspect of globalization!
I am a 10 year localization veteran and I teach localization at the Localization Institute and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trekkies Beware -- The Eighth Continent Rules, July 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing (Hardcover)

Don does a good job of introducing the budding globalist to the Eighth Continent, i.e. to doing business on the global web. The book will do well as a college text book. Don's style is incisive and entertaining and he lards the book with illuminating examples.