“THINK GLOCAL”- It’s Not Always A Matter Being Global Or Being Local

“Practical skills might get you your first job. But understanding the context in which you are operating and the strategic and communication issues, which affect your work, will get you your second job.” (Morris and Goldsworthy 1)

All the activities that the PR industry does are primarily based on communication. The major job of a PR team of any international organization (which intends to establish itself in foreign lands) is to establish, build and maintain relationships with their international stakeholders. This brings us to the question that who are their stakeholders with whom they want to build relationships? The local people! Therefore it is not enough for a PR practitioner to have the practical skills for the job to just plan and organize campaigns and events. In order to execute a successful task (internationally) it is very important for them to do the background research to know the economic, sociological and cultural context in which they are to operate before executing a plan.
McDonalds did this very successfully. Being one of the world’s largest international fast food chains, which has restaurants in 119 countries and territories around the world, before franchising itself to India McDonalds tailored its menu according to the Indian context by offering a vegetarian menu for a vast majority of population in India (who are vegetarians.) This step taken by McDonalds bonded them with the Indian population.
This is where the notion of “ Think globally- Act Locally” comes in. While it is important for the progress of any international organization’s PR team to think and compare itself to global standards it is integral for them to act locally- because truth be told their stakeholders are the local people. And in-order to connect and establish relationships with them it is important for the PR teams to focus their practice on keeping the local context and cultures in mind.
“Therefore, it can be said that Good PR is culture and context specific but in-order to progress forward, global standards to have to be kept in mind”