AdAsia 2011: In conversation with Pankaj Ghemawat

We had the opportunity of talking to Pankaj Ghemawat, right after the launch of his book 'World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It.' at AdAsia 2011 on 1 November.

Ghemawat's book deals with the "myth of globalisation" and that the world isn't as flat as was previously espoused. His reasoning (as on his Harvard Business Review blog): "Because economic data simply don't support the view that we live in a flat, connected world, even if we are technologically connected with everyone, everywhere, all of the time."

Based on this, and Ghemawat's background as a a professor in global strategy, we asked him questions related to the myth of globalisation, with special reference to India, which Indian companies or brands he considers truly global, whether companies should follow global strategies or single-country strategies, and what he terms the "the techno craze of new media". 

To one question on how Indian-owned advertising agencies can go global, he said, "I think they clearly have to respect local realities. I think the high watermark of this was Saatchi in the 1980s around Coke's global branding campaign, for thinking that you could really do things at a global level. So, even where foreign companies dominate the local market, clearly they have to give a local accent to their work. In some cateogories, the need for this accent has gone up, rather than down, over time."