Glocalization of Business Activities: a “Glocal Strategy” Approach’, Detergent-Now-With-Oud-Fragrance.Html

Papers Developing a glocalisation strategy: experiences from Henkel’s product launches in the Middle East and Europe

Received (in revised form): 25th September, 2014

SVEND HOLLENSEN is the author of globally published textbooks such as ‘Marketing Management’, 3rd edn (Pearson, 2014) and ‘Global Marketing’ 6th edn (Pearson, 2014). His work has also been published in numerous internationally recognised journals. He has a PhD from Copenhagen Business School, and his research interests are within relationship marketing, globalisation, global branding and the internationalisation of companies.

CHRISTIAN SCHIMMELPFENNIG is Director of Executive Education at the University of Liechtenstein. He has a PhD from the University of St Gallen and his research interests lie in the area of advertising and branding strategies. Svend Hollensen Abstract The glocalisation strategy strives to achieve the slogan, ‘think globally but act locally’, through dynamic interdependence between headquarters and subsidiaries and/or local intermediaries around the world. Companies following such a strategy coordinate their efforts, ensuring local fl exibility while exploiting the benefi ts of global integration. The challenge is to balance local knowledge with global reach. In the case of Persil Abaya Shampoo (for the Middle East market) and Persil Black Gel (for the European market), Henkel chose a strategy that successfully benefi ted from the ‘economies of scope’ in the purchasing department as well as in production and packaging. But by using an adapted product communication, plus individualised packaging designs, product positioning and marketing communications for the Christian Schimmelpfennig two regions, Henkel honoured the cultural heterogeneity of its target markets and used Persil Abayas’ particular signifi cance in the Arab world to its advantage. The results document that it has been possible for Henkel’s Persil to gain competitive advantages in terms of higher market shares, with the ‘glocalisation strategy’ in the (Middle East) liquid detergent market.

Keywords glocalisation, global marketing, internationalisation, standardisation, adaptation

Svend Hollensen, Department of Border Region Studies, Alsion 2, DK – 6400 Sønderborg, Denmark INTRODUCTION and therefore go easy on the marketing

E-mail: [email protected] With the implementation of new prod- budget, local marketing strategies promise ucts, many chief marketing ofﬁ cers must a greater success due to a better match- Christian Schimmelpfennig, Fürst-Franz-Josef-Strasse, 9490 decide whether to pursue a global or a ing of the product to customer needs. A Vaduz, Liechtenstein local marketing strategy. While global strat- so-called ‘glocal’ marketing plan combines E-mail: christian.schimmelpfen- [email protected] egies use so-called ‘economies of scope’ the advantages of both ways and therefore

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represents a promising marketing strategy ● to analyse development in the liquid to introduce a product to the market. detergent market in order to document Basically, effi cient global marketing whether the glocalisation strategy was means identifying and satisfying global successful for Persil in the Middle East. customer needs more precisely than one’s competitors. Thus, a lot of marketing experts fi nd themselves stuck in the fol- GLOCAL MARKETING STRATEGIES lowing dilemma: due to a high cost pres- Within the fi eld of international market- sure in an increasing global market, it is ing, the debate over the extent of stan- necessary to generate cost benefi ts while dardisation or adaptation has occupied a using a global product portfolio combined signifi cant part of past research.1,2 with a global communications strategy. At Supporters of standardisation view the same time, marketing experts realise markets as increasingly homogeneous and the economic and cultural disparity of global in scope and scale and believe that clustered target markets. Consequently, the key to survival and growth is a mul- the challenge for marketing is to fi nd a tinational’s ability to standardise goods balance between a culturally adequate and services. For example, Levitt argues range of products and its commerciali- that the standardisation of the marketing sation in order to meet heterogeneous mix and the creation of a single strategy customer needs as well as the use of econ- for the entire global market offers econo- omies of scope during product develop- mies of scale in production and marketing ment and communication. Therefore, the and moreover is consistent with what he marketing has to meet the challenge of describes as the ‘mobile consumer’.3 designing the product along with its mar- On the other hand, proponents of keting as consistently as necessary while adaptation such as Kashani argue that being as individual as possible. A ‘glocal’ there are diffi culties in using a standardised strategy aligned with the contrary strate- approach and therefore they support mar- gies ‘global’ and ‘local’ seems to provide a ket tailoring and adaptation to fi t the promising way out in a lot of cases. unique characteristics (eg cultural issues) The purpose of this paper is: of different international markets.4 Following this discussion, when a com- ● to explain and discuss the concept of pany decides to begin marketing products glocalisation from a company perspec- abroad, a fundamental decision is whether tive, especially the Henkel (Persil) per- to use a standardised marketing mix with spective; a single marketing strategy in all countries, ● to develop a theoretical framework for or to adjust the marketing mix to fi t the developing a company’s glocalisation unique dimensions of each potentially strategy and refer to recent empirical unique local market. The expanded mar- results regarding glocalisation from the keting mix of seven ‘Ps’ (product, price, literature; place, promotion, people, physical evi- ● to introduce the case of Henkel’s dence, process) is often appropriate, in glocalisation strategy within Persil’s order to relate to companies that belong black liquid detergent, especially illus- to the service sector and/or have strong trated by the penetration of the Middle service elements. East market in comparison with the The decision as to whether to stan- European market; dardise or adapt should not be considered

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as an either/or decision. Certain academics This glocalisation strategy strives to suggest that the standardisation of certain achieve the slogan, ‘think globally but act marketing mix elements (eg product) and locally’, through dynamic interdependence adapting others (eg promotion) to different between headquarters and subsidiaries. market conditions may be necessary.1,2 Organisations following such a strategy Developed by the sociologist coordinate their efforts, ensuring local fl exi- Robertson,5,6 glocalisation is a theoretical bility while exploiting the benefi ts of global concept that combines the two words ‘glo- integration and effi ciencies, as well as ensur- balisation’ and ‘localisation’. Glocalisation ing worldwide diffusion of innovation. refers to the interface between a global Principally, the value chain function and a local marketing strategy by combin- should be carried out where there is the ing dynamics of cultural homogenisation highest competence (and the most cost and heterogenisation. Whereas globalisa- effectiveness), and this is not necessarily at tion, in and of itself, stresses the omnipres- the headquarters. ence of corporate or cultural processes The two extremes in global market- worldwide, glocalisation stresses particu- ing, globalisation and localisation, can be larism of a global idea, product or service. combined into the glocalisation frame- Glocalisation is not merely another take work, as shown in Figure 1. The glocal on niche marketing, now global. Rather, strategy approach recognises that there has glocalisation also adds accuracy to the to be a balance and overlap between the present globalisation approach among standardisation versus the adaptation. This scholars and practitioners. focus of balance between globalisation and Glocalisation theory fuses relation- localisation is crucial in the development ships, balance and harmony between of a company’s glocal marketing strategy.7 cultural homogenisation and heterogeni- Consequently, successful global mar- sation, standardisation and adaptation, keting is increasingly dependent on the homogenisation and tailoring, conver- managers’ ability to: gence and divergence, and universalism and particularism. Glocalisation is impor- ● develop a global marketing strategy, tant because it questions the very model based on similarities and differences of Western cultural imperialism. From this between markets; vantage point, globalisation strengthens ● turn the heterogeneity of the target the consciousness of the world that per- markets into a competitive advantage; vades both the local and the global. This ● exploit the knowledge of the head- opposes the argument that globalisation quarters (home organisation) through is a fully homogeneous process. On the worldwide diffusion (learning) and contrary, while globalisation gears towards adaptations; some degree of cultural homogenisation, ● transfer knowledge and ‘best practices’ glocalisation simultaneously permits peo- from any of its markets and use them in ple to identify more strongly with their other international markets. local culture. Glocalisation emphasises that relocat- While implementing a glocal marketing ing a theme, product or service elsewhere strategy in the Middle East and Europe, has a higher chance of success when it the Henkel group considered these four is accommodated to the local culture in factors of success (see also the case of which it is introduced. Henkel’s Persil).

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Figure 1 The overlap of globalisation + localisation = glocalisation Source: Based on Hollensen, S. (2014) ‘Global Marketing’, 6th edn, Pearson Education, Harlow, p. 22.

RECENT EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON the standardised advertising approach, GLOCALISATION STRATEGY whereas North American MNCs tend In what follows, this paper will go through to standardise less, and Asian MNCs are the most recent empirical research on the the least likely to standardise their inter- company’s use of the glocalisation strategy. national advertising.8 What accounts for Jiang and Wei8 examined the adver- these region-based differences? From the tising strategies of multinational corpo- global marketing strategy perspective, rations (MNCs), selected from North MNCs are more likely to follow a strategy America, Europe and Asia, which adver- if the environment from which they orig- tise in two culturally different markets — inate is conducive to that strategy. As EU the USA and China. markets further integrate, the integration Jiang and Wei8 demonstrate that MNCs will lead to a higher level of standardisa- are found to be more likely to adopt the tion of advertising across borders. Asian glocal advertising strategy in culturally dis- MNCs are less likely to pursue advertis- tinct markets, in which creative strategy is ing standardisation in the era of globalisa- standardised and execution is localised and tion as compared with their counterparts differentiated across borders. The popularity in other continents. Major markets in Asia, of the glocal strategy makes sense because such as China, India and Japan, remain dis- it follows the contingency perspective — tinctively different markets with no inte- the best advertising strategy depends on the gration compared with the EU countries. cultural context in which the most effec- Finally, and most importantly, Jiang and tive advertising combines the standardisa- Wei provide empirical support for the tion and differentiation approaches. argument that global marketing practitio- According to Jiang and Wei, EU-based ners have experienced a ‘paradigm shift’, MNCs are the most likely to pursue from globalisation to glocalisation, where

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products and message development no so their margins are a lot greater — it is longer rely on maximising economies of therefore in their interests to promote scale to be effective, but are focused on them. developing a strategy where local con- The Middle East accounts for only sumers’ specifi c needs and local conditions 7 per cent of the worldwide detergent are being taking into account.8 ingredient volumes, but posted the fast- According to Chung et al.,9 in large est growth between 2005 and 2010 with companies (like Henkel) the use of the a 10 per cent annual growth. The Saudi glocal strategy leads to higher market Arabian laundry detergents market cur- shares than the use of localised strategies. rently stands at US$166m, while that of These authors show that, if the cultural the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stands distance is high, the company’s standardi- at US$45m. While these markets are rela- sation of the product and the adaptation tively small on a global scale, they are by of the promotion lead to overall higher far the largest of the Gulf nations. In addi- market shares. tion, both are currently registering strong growth in the category.10 Generally in the detergent market, CASE STUDY both in Europe and in the Middle East, A glocal marketing strategy made by Procter & Gamble (with Tide and Ariel) Henkel in the detergent market: Persil stands in the fi rst position regarding mar- Abaya Shampoo (Middle East) and ket share, Unilever (with OMO) is second Persil Black Gel (Europe) and Henkel is third. Before going into the specifi c Henkel While powder detergents are currently (Persil) case, the paper will present a short most popular in the UAE, accounting for overview of the detergent market in 85 per cent of all detergent sales, the liq- Europe and the Middle East. uid detergent trend is beginning to take off, with standard liquid detergents growing by 17 per cent in 2008. Likewise in The market for detergents in Europe Saudi Arabia, powder detergents account and the Middle East for the majority (71 per cent) of laundry For powder detergent, Western Europe detergent sales, with liquid detergents still held 12 per cent of global volume remaining a negligible category. In both sales in 2010, but demand has been falling markets, however, the demand for liquid as consumers switch to the more conve- detergents is steadily growing, although nient liquid detergent products. The pow- from a small base, and a wider variety of der detergent category is coming under products are hitting the shelves. Recent increasing pressure from liquid detergents. launches include Procter & Gamble’s Ariel Liquid detergents are particularly popular Shampoo.10,11 in North America and Western Europe. In Europe, liquid detergents account for 40 per cent of the detergents category by Henkel and Persil value. The Henkel Company was founded in While there are convenience benefi ts Aachen in 1876 by Fritz Henkel under for the consumer in using liquid deter- the name ‘Waschmittelfabrik Henkel & gents, the key benefi ts are for the manu- Cie’ and started to produce one sin- facturer. They are cheaper to produce and gle product: a washing powder named

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‘Universalwaschmittel’ (universal washing onwards housewives, laundry staff and sales detergent).12,13 Nowadays, Henkel is the representatives were trained in the correct leading company in washing and cleaning washing procedures as well as the right supplies, cosmetics and adhesion, gener- handling of laundry detergents. In 1932 ating sales of €16.4bn and net profi ts of Henkel even produced a feature-length €1.6bn in 2013.14,15 In 2013, Henkel rein- movie, ‘Wäsche, Waschen, Wohlergehen’ forced its position in the emerging markets, (Laundry, Washing, Wellbeing), that was where 50 per cent of its sales are generated watched by 30 million people in the run- and 55 per cent of its total workforce of up to the Second World War, and was fol- 46,850 is employed. Therefore Henkel is lowed by a cartoon in 1948. When on 3rd also a member of the Fortune 500. Most November, 1956 the fi rst commercial was consumers are well acquainted with the shown on German television, it was Persil brand names Pril, Weißer Riese, Perwoll, again that extended its marketing activities Spee, Somat, Schwarzkopf, Schauma, Taft, skilfully to this new advertising medium. Pritt and Pattex. In the following decades, Persil con- The brand ‘Persil’ was established in sistently grabbed attention through 1907. Kick-off was the advertisement for product innovations and catchy market- the fi rst ‘needs-no-presoaking detergent’ ing campaigns. Today, Persil is one of the in the world, appearing on 6th June in best-known German brands and holds a a Düsseldorf newspaper. At this time, the lion’s share of 1.3 billion washer loads per launch of Persil, the name of which is year. But Persil is not only well known in the abbreviation of its two main ingredi- Germany: the detergent is on the market ents, PERborate and SILicate, was a true in 60 different countries, but due to trade- product innovation. It revolutionised the mark rights under different brand names time-consuming and strenuous wash- such as ‘Le Chat’ in France or ‘Dixan’ in ing procedure of its time. Laborious rub- Italy. bing, swinging and tumbling of laundry For decades, Persil has also been avail- was a thing of the past with this innova- able in the Middle East. Starting in tive detergent: ‘Let the laundry rest in the Lebanon, the detergent quickly found its liquid for a few hours or even overnight. way to Egypt and shortly to other mar- Sporadic agitation is preferable’, were the kets on this continent. For a long time, the package instructions. brand basically used its German ‘country The marketing concepts for the Persil of origin’ effect to approach these coun- brand were also ground-breaking at the tries by emphasising ‘Made in Germany’ time: starting with men dressed all in in their communications strategy. Persil white, carrying white umbrellas through concentrates on German technology in the streets of Berlin in 1908 attracting its sales promotion. Obviously, this works attention long before the terms ‘promo- well. tion’ and ‘walk-acts’ found their way into In 2007, however, Persil hit the bull’s- marketing jargon; leading on to the ‘Persil eye with the introduction of a brand-new woman’, dressed in white,16 who marked detergent by using a glocal marketing German publicity from 1922 onwards; and strategy. A liquid laundry detergent offer- reaching to skywriting planes that wrote ing cleaning power and anti-fade protec- the brand name in the sky in the 1930s. tion for black clothes was launched in The so-called ‘Persil schools’ became the Middle East under the product name equally legendary, where from 1928 of ‘Persil Abaya’ and two years later in

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Figure 2 Persil Black Gel for the Portuguese market

Western Europe under the name ‘Persil Black Gel’ (see Figure 2). ‘Abaya’ stands for the traditional black Arabian gar- ment worn by most Arabic women. But in Western countries as well, black clothes have gained constant popularity over the last few years. The new formula for black is therefore an excellent addition for both the Arabic and Western European product range. Both products are based on the same Figure 3 Persil Abaya Shampoo for the Gulf States chemical components, but they are tai- lored to different cultural regions by using create a media buzz by initiating a tele- various fragrances. The packaging and vision show named ‘Arwa3 Abaya’, where product presentation also accommodate an amateur designer presents new Abaya differentiated customer expectations. styles. This completely new approach While promoting the product in enabled Arabic women to present their Western Europe, Henkel mainly uses tele- enthusiasm for Abaya fashion to a broad vision commercials and print advertise- public on national television. The suc- ments, along with social media activities cess almost doomed the company when such as a Facebook game. competitors introduced a similar cam- In the Gulf states, however, Persil Abaya paign. Hence, after two successful seasons Shampoo (see Figure 3) was introduced to Henkel looked for a strategy to reposition the market through a mix of commercials its product and thereby differentiate itself and a viral marketing campaign. An inter- from its competitors. The locals responsi- active website was developed, along with a ble for marketing knew that no other mar- Facebook page that generated over 56,000 ket is so susceptible to luxury goods as the ‘likes’. Moreover, Henkel also strove to Middle East and identiﬁ ed the preferred

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fashion brands of Arabic women. This led to a new television format and brand partnerships with Swarovski, Armani and Hanayen — a high-end Abaya wholesale chain. The latter integrates the typical elements of reality television shows and thus utilises its huge popularity among Arabic women. These newly published ‘Arwa3 Abaya’ shows contain design chal- lenges which are presented by infl uential celebrities, and the evaluation of these designs by the famous members of a jury. Thereby, top designers invite candidates to Swarovski stores and Hanayen studios, where they get advice on how to enhance their designs. The big fi nale takes place in Armani’s exclusive Privé Hotel Dubai. The show is complemented with inter- active elements and provides the possi- bility of communicating with candidates through a specifi cally created social media platform. And the results? Market surveys showed that more than 50 per cent of the female audience attribute their purchase Figure 4 Persil Black Gel for the German-speaking markets intentions to the show. Moreover, the data concerning customer loyalty and brand awareness of Persil Abaya Shampoo rose this new and technologically sophisticated signifi cantly. After the third season, prod- washing gel. uct sales went up over 80 per cent com- Persil Black Gel or Persil Abaya pared with the previous year.17 Shampoo is an excellent example of what Not only the marketing, but also the can be attained by combining global product name accommodates cultural and technology and local market exper- regional distinctions. Persil Black Gel is tise, confi rmed Ashraf El Afi fi , Regional simple and catchy as well as internationally President and Corporate Senior President understandable and usable. Therefore, the for Laundry & Home Care in MEA. To product was introduced to all the European discuss cultural distinctions and share markets and also to the German-speaking experiences and expertise regarding the DACH-region (Germany, Austria and development of regional products, he gets Switzerland) under this name (see Figure together with his colleagues in the corpo- 4). In the Gulf states, however, shampoos rate headquarters in Düsseldorf on a regu- are used for the cleaning of the traditional lar basis. On these occasions, he also meets Arabic garments in order to avoid the fad- with Dr Dagmar Preis-Amberger, Head ing of precious Abayas by using aggres- of Laundry Production, to discuss the cul- sive washing detergents. The name ‘Abaya tural and local similarities and differences Shampoo’ supports this acquired product and their impacts on the production of use and refl ects the gentle effectiveness of Persil Black Gel.

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In the German Henkel (Persil) head- washing detergent but a washing powder, quarters they are able to use the expertise which can also be used for hand-washing of their colleagues in the Gulf states when clothes. Eighty per cent of the Tide cus- it comes to the centralised production of tomers in Morocco still wash by hand Persil Black. Their knowledge is indis- using a wash board, even though washing pensable for the whole process — from machines have become increasingly more central production (in Germany) to local popular. With this in mind, an updated ver- marketing in the Gulf states. The success- sion of a commercial from 1969 is shown ful introduction of global innovations in on Moroccan television, where a happy, various markets is due to the expertise traditional woman repeats the same phrase of the different regions and this is one of over and over again: ‘I only buy TIDE!’ Henkel’s unique assets. Obviously, this product and the matching Henkel shows how glocal marketing marketing strategy were developed for this works. It is no wonder that Persil was speciﬁ c market and would not work else- honoured as the best local implementa- where. In 2007, however, Persil introduced tion of a global brand at the 23rd M&M its Abaya Shampoo in Egypt (as they did Awards in London.18 in the other Gulf states) and have already In contrast to Henkel, Procter & obtained a market share of more than 25 Gamble pursues a different strategy with per cent of the liquid detergent market. its brand ‘Tide’ in Morocco, where the It remains to be seen whether Henkel product claims a market share of 50 per Persil Abaya Shampoo will become estab- cent. In fact, Moroccans use the word lished in Morocco as well. It will be a ‘Tide’ in a generic manner to describe tough challenge for Henkel to establish a detergent. In contrast to Persil Abaya Persil as a brand in Morocco, however, as it Shampoo, however, Tide is not a liquid has a current total market share (in 2013) of the overall detergent market of less than 1 per cent. This would require intensive educational and awareness training in order to revolutionise Moroccan washing habits and lead the country to take a further step towards an emerging market.19,20

Persil is further strengthening its position in the Middle East liquid detergent market In December 2009, ‘Persil Liquid Detergent for White Thobes’ was launched across the Middle East (Figure 5). Prior to the launch of the specialist detergent, most Arabian consumers mixed powder detergent with bleach to wash their robes. Henkel’s launch is unique in that it is the ﬁ rst in the region to speciﬁ cally target the needs of Arab men, although given the Figure 5 Persil Liquid Detergent for White Thobes prevailing culture in the launch countries,

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the product will actually be used by wives CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS or maids rather than husbands. Persil Starting from the model above (see Figure White liquid detergent, however, is mar- 1) from 100 per cent global to 100 per keted as ensuring thobes ‘remain bright cent local, it is essential for every com- white wash after wash’. The product was pany’s marketing to develop an individual introduced in two sizes, one and two litres. strategy in order to balance economies In 2013, Persil Liquid Detergent for of scope and a higher chance of market White Thobes (with Oud Fragrances) was success through stronger localisation. The voted ‘Product of the Year’ in the Gulf ideal strategy depends on the particular region. Ninety per cent of the consumers range of products and services, as well who had tried the product would like to as on the cultural sensibility of the tar- re-purchase it.21,22 get markets. If the latter is rather low, we recommend applying a global marketing strategy to benefi t extensively from econ- Results of the Persil glocal marketing omies of scope during product develop- strategy in the Middle East and Europe ment, production, commercialisation and In 2008, 25 per cent of women in the Gulf communication. If the cultural sensibility region recognised Persil ‘as an expert in is rather high, however, we suggest using Abaya care’. This fi gure increased to 37 an individual marketing strategy in order per cent in 2010. to tailor products, as well as positioning The sales volume of Persil Abaya and communication to the needs and increased 24 per cent in 2009 and a fur- expectations of culturally strong diverging ther 33 per cent in 2010. The Persil mar- markets and therefore increasing market ket share of liquid detergent in the Gulf success through localisation. region increased from 25 per cent in 2008 Ideally, the advantages between the poles to 40 per cent in 2010. This provided Persil of a global versus a local marketing strategy with the fi rst place in the liquid detergent may be combined by using a glocal approach. market in 2010.23 In the present case of Persil Black Gel and The launch of Persil for White Thobes Persil Abaya Shampoo, Henkel chose a suc- added a further two percentage points cessful strategy to benefi t from the econo- to the brand’s market share of the liquid mies of scope in the purchasing department, detergent market in the Gulf region.11 as well as in production and packaging. But In Europe, the launch of Persil Black by using an adapted product composition, resulted in increasing sales of the black plus individualised packaging designs, prod- liquid detergent (increased ‘scale of econ- uct positioning and marketing activities, omies’), but in terms of market share it Henkel honoured the cultural heterogene- only resulted in a small increase in the ity of its target market and used Abayas’ par- European liquid detergent market (less ticular signifi cance in the Arab world to its than 1 per cent); however, it created some advantage. When Persil had established a sig- media buzz that Persil had actually used nifi cant foothold in the women’s black Abaya the same product as in the Middle East. market, it further expanded its Middle East By using a glocal marketing strategy, market share in the liquid detergent market the resulting increase of Persil’s market by launching the Persil liquid detergent for shares in the liquid detergent market are men’s white thobes. by line with the empirical results shown The results document that it has by both Jiang and Wei8 and Chung et al.9 been possible for Henkel’s Persil to gain

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competitive advantage, in terms of higher (12) Henkel (2006) ‘100 years of Persil’, Press release, market shares, with the glocalisation strat- available at: http://www.henkel.com/about- henkel/2006-18539-100-years-of-persil-11029. egy in the (Middle East) liquid detergent htm. market. (13) Seidel, H. (2007) ‘Markenklassiker Persil wird 100 Jahre alt’, Die Welt, 3rd June, available at: http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article916899/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Markenklassiker-Persil-wird-100-Jahre-alt.htm. (14) Henkel (2011) ‘Innovative brands — successful Special thanks are due to Dipl.-Kffr. in local markets’, Henkel Annual Report, Susanne Röpke, Hamburg, who helped available at: http://annualreport2011.henkel. with writing this paper. com/fi leadmin/GB2011/PDF_EN/Henkel_ AR11_the_company_excellence_is_our_ passion.pdf. References and notes (15) Henkel (2013) ‘Annual Report 2013’, (1) Theodosiou, M. and Leonidou, L. C. (2003) available at: http://www.henkel.com/com/ ‘Standardization versus adaptation of content_data/340610_2014.02.20_FY_2013_ international marketing strategy: An integrative annualreport_en.pdf. assessment of the empirical research’, International (16) Weber, S. (2008) ‘Die Rückkehr der “Weissen Business Review, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 141–171. Dame”’, Süddeutsche.de, available at: http://www. (2) Vrontis, D., Thrassou, A. and Lamprianou, I. sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/jahre-persil-die- (2009) ‘International marketing adaptation rueckkehr-der-weissen-dame-1.848768. versus standardisation of multinational (17) See http://www.creamglobal.com/case- companies’, International Marketing Review, Vol. studies/17798/30508/persil-abaya-mission- 26, No. 4/5, pp. 477–500. innovation-effect. (3) Levitt, T. (1983) ‘The globalisation of markets’, (18) See http://www.godubai.com/citylife/press_ Harvard Business Review, Vol. 61, No. 3, pp. release_page.asp?pr=66976. 93–102. (19) Amjahid, M. (2012) ‘Konsumgüter: Marokko (4) Kashani, K. (1989) ‘Beware the pitfalls of global kauft Tide, Ägypten Persil’, Der Spiegel, marketing’, Harvard Business Review, September/ available at: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/ October, pp. 91–98. unternehmen/konsumgueter-marokko-kauft- (5) Robertson, R. (1992) ‘Globalization: Social tide-aegypten-persil-a-805929.html. Theory and Global Culture’, Sage, London. (20) Euromonitor (2014) ‘Laundry care in Morocco’, (6) Robertson, R. (1994) ‘Globalisation or May, Euromonitor, London. glocalisation?’, Journal of International (21) PRLog (2012) ‘Persil liquid detergent now Communication, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 33–52. with oud fragrance’, 20th May, available at: (7) Svensson, G. (2001) ‘Glocalization of business http://www.prlog.org/11879511-persil-liquid- activities: A “glocal strategy” approach’, detergent-now-with-oud-fragrance.html. Management Decision, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 6–18. (22) Dubib.com (2013) ‘Persil liquid detergent (8) Jiang, J. and Wei, R. (2012) ‘Infl uences of culture for white clothes with oud fragrance voted and market convergence on the international as “product of year” in the GCC’, Dubib.com advertising strategies of multinational corporations News Desk, 17th March, available at: http:// in North America, Europe and Asia’, International fecampaign.dubib.com/news/46366_persil- Marketing Review, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 597–622. liquid-detergent-for-white-clothes-with-oud- (9) Chung, H. F. L., Cheng, C. L. and Huang, P. H. fragrance-voted-as-product-of-year-in-the-gcc. (2012) ‘A contingency approach to international (23) See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= marketing strategy and decision-making NllybMnrips; however, it should be remembered structure among exporting fi rms’, International that Procter & Gamble (with Tide and Ariel Marketing Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 54–87. brands) is still the Gulf region’s clear market (10) Euromonitor (2010) ‘Henkel launches new leader in the overall detergent market, with 35– colour-specifi c laundry detergent for the middle 40 per cent market share, followed by Unilever East’, Article, 21st January, Euromonitor, London. (OMO) with approximately 15–20 per cent (11) Euromonitor (2012) ‘Persil senses a Middle market share. Henkel is third with approximately Eastern scent trend’, 12th June, Euromonitor, 10 per cent market share of the overall detergent London. market.

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