Leveraging emerging markets for commercial success

Abstract

PurposeEmerging markets are becoming the catalysts for new product and service innovation. Long‐term success, however, will take far more than simply making minor adjustments to existing products, lowering prices, and developing new sales channels, according to a new report, “Laboratories of innovation: leveraging emerging markets for commercial success” by the Member Firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte).Design/methodology/approachStudy by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.FindingsThe Deloitte study shows that companies will need to acquire a new set of competencies and organizational structures to generate a continuing stream of innovative products tailored to the needs of consumers and industrial buyers in emerging markets.Practical implicationsCompanies will need to acquire a new set of competencies and organizational structures to generate a continuing stream of innovative products tailored to the needs of consumers and industrial buyers in emerging markets. They will need to allow for local autonomy, for example local R&D and local commercial operations, while taking advantage of their parent company's governance, business processes, and management expertise to offer these products at dramatically lower prices that match the lower purchasing power of most buyers in emerging markets.Originality/valueSuccessful companies are looking beyond traditional strategies to meet the needs of markets with significantly lower per capita GDP.