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D. RISKEY, Frito-Lay, Inc., P.O. Box 660634, Dallas, TX 75266

Modern business strategies are rife with talk of global brands and global products. But before we attempt to develop them, we should first ask ourselves why we should want them. For some companies, the answer is vague ... a desire for worldwide acclaim or ubiquitous recognition.

However, a more tough-minded assessment might clarify the task as an attempt to leverage economies of scale. Marketing the same brand worldwide can yield massive efficiency and effectiveness in communications platforms such as packaging graphics and advertising. Manufacturing and selling the same product everywhere has the potential for generating huge scale results from common technology, production specifications, and raw materials costs.

Achieving such global alignment in a diverse world of wildly varying cultures and economies is much easier said than done. Organizational structure and history are also important factors. In addition, the challenges of global diversity often pale in comparison with the challenge posed by organizational structure and history.

It is possible, however, to identify common product preferences across cultures. Such preferences are often surprisingly similar. It is also feasible to make minor local adjustments to basic common product designs. In this way, both global scale and local optimization can be achieved. Two case studies of snack foods are used to articulate this process for optimizing new products and aligning organization will.