In particular, Emily explores both the technological solutions powering glocalised research - such as AI based transcription - and the pragmatic business structures that lead to success. The result? A new recipe for market research. Here's a brief except that highlights how market researchers can apply a glocalised approach to multi-market studies and deliver nuanced insight with a consolidated resource.

Glocalisation in Market Research

McDonald’s and Starbucks are two large brands who have nailed the glocalisation strategy, by understanding and meeting the needs of local people. Creating an overarching, centralised business strategy, marketing approach and set of core products and services that define the brand, but then this is distributed out to local teams to adapt to local markets.

These teams created exclusive menus with customers experiencing differing services and strategies depending on the country they were in, as the final strategies put in place within each country were specifically consumer-led. In the case of McDonald’s and Starbucks, the secondary products and services available were uniquely tailored to the country they were in, allowing their local customers to dictate the food and drinks they wanted on offer, while also creating an air of exclusivity and customisability to their customer experience.

A similar process can be and has been successfully replicated for market research purposes. Using choice glocalisation techniques can unlock the potential of multi-national projects, by hiring local market researchers who know and understand their consumer respondents, giving them the research objectives and briefs needed to contribute actionable insights that work to achieve the overall business objectives, and then letting them design the right research experience for the consumers they recruit to get those insights.

Multi-Country Projects 

Implementing this type of multi-national research project is a challenge, especially for businesses who are expanding into new markets or who haven’t delegated research like this to the source country.

Even though a business may be delegating the research to a native insight expert or team, that doesn’t mean they can’t do their own surface research to understand the country, it’s customs, it’s general consumer habits and decision-making processes, etc. before they delve deeper into their own research and target audience within the country. This is the typical first step on any glocalisation plan, and the initial understanding will then be enhanced dramatically by the insights from the research project.

This understanding of their likes, cultural values and dominant ideals and behaviours will also help when choosing a native research agency to partner with. The best insight team for the job is a local team that is already immersed in their country’s culture and will understand the nuances at play – dialects and colloquialisms in the local language, the ideologies surrounding local politics, popular habits and brands, etc. – for any insight team worth their salt will automatically take that into account while designing the most impactful and engaging research experience that entices respondents to participate.

Want to read more, including Emily's recommendations for building your own multi-market research strategy? Access the full text, available on the Insight Platforms blog today.