Business Without Borders: A Strategic Guide to Global Marketing

Rating:
Summary: Since resources are scarce - try this one for sure ...
Review: The Guiding Principle for Going Global Online

A solid piece of work, highly recommended to anyone who must understand how to develop a successful global Internet business. De Palma comes with an ace pedigree, widely respected, coming out with "customers are three times more likely to buy from websites in their own language", an industry standard mantra.

De Palma hits key areas, highlighting best practices of the market leaders and their global websites and systems. For once, we have web-based globalization ("Marketing and Selling on the Eight Continent") analysed within a business context. If only pets.com had read this book ...

Content is extensively researched. Case studies are made; corporate budgets, marketing plans, infrastructure, etc., are dissected. Plenty of practical examples, including the names we're all familiar with for the right reasons (eBay, etc.) and the wrong reasons (boo.com et al) too.

If you're in the business of expanding your markets through the web this is the book for you. Increasingly, "E-Commerce" is less dependent on the US ($600 billion worldwide versus $850 billion in the US estimated for 2003). If you want to grow your business, look outside your own borders.

De Palma shows how a successful web business deals with "big issues": Education about global and local markets; planning for international web business; implementing technology and translating into foreign languages, organizing people and resources and, crucially, measuring the return on investment. Of course, parts of what he says applies to international business in general, so don't think this book is just for the web-literate.

The tone is pragmatism. De Palma is realistic about the planning and management of a global web business (it does NOT mean translating into every language under the sun). Much to his credit, he provides valuable information on areas that competing titles duck to avoid, e.g., international tax, contractual and legal requirements - and provides good advice for staying out of trouble.

A technical foundation is included. This isn't a book for techies, but it does educate the executive and student audience about implementing globalized web technology. Experts will contest his comments on TMX, Machine Translation and Unicode, however, the rest of the technical stuff is sound (no "did you know that they have different shaped mailboxes in England?" nonsense).

De Palma, throughout the book, underpins his thesis with the need for a Chief Globalization Officer (an executive to champion web globalization in a company). You can cringe at Grand Poo-Bah titling redolent of dot coms, but fair enough, it does underline the critical importance of bringing globalization issues to senior management attention. Basically, if you're not getting the message through to board level, your enterprise will remain a beggar at the globalization banquet.

In sum, you can take this book as The Guiding Principle for Going Global Online. Recommended to seasoned executives, students of international commerce and technology, globalization gurus and the plain interested. OK, we know business book sales are down 30% since the end of the 1990's. So, if you're going to buy one, buy this one.