Articles

Many growing, established, and multinational consumer goods companies look to expand their operations in emerging markets. Of course, trade promotion management and optimization is a part of the conversation when it comes to expanding into new regions and how it could be successfully applied to emerging market growth strategies, naturally considering UpClear’s experience with BluePlanner rolling out across multiple emerging markets simultaneously.

The two concepts to keep in mind and never neglect when deploying a TPM solution for emerging markets are adaptability and proximity. 

Due to each country’s different brands, distribution networks, and cultures, we have had to exercise adaptability and adjust our software. A team needs to be constantly involved with monitoring the shifting landscape, adapting pricing structures and becoming part of the change necessary to provide an appropriate solution.

Adaptability leads directly to the need for proximity, proximity between the vendor of the TPM platform and the client company, and then proximity between corporate and local management. At the basic level, it doesn’t mean we’ll just configure the entire solution at HQ because we think we know best. On-site meetings with experienced implementers are key, not “meetings” at HQ with regional managers on the phone. This is a simple but profound inversion of the standard approach that drastically improves the likelihood of the solution’s success. The final piece of the proximity puzzle is local buy-in and expertise. TPM implementation cannot be seen as an “HQ project” by the very localized account managers. These managers need to provide their buy-in and local expertise to ensure the long term viability of the solution. Avoiding long rollouts is key.

Global CIOs and Sales Managers are looking for a system that is ultra-configurable to accommodate each subsidiary’s local conditions, easily deployable to different countries, and developed and maintained with solid technical integrity for maximum efficiency. BluePlanner from UpClear is a proven and reliable solution for subsidiaries of multinational companies looking for a standardized solution throughout their network.