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the GCC markets. The second degree—adapting the message—is
the most common route. This option involves using the Arabic lan-
guage and some customized themes or taglines for the region,
while leaving the underlying product unchanged. The next degree
is adapting the portfolio: selling the same products in the Gulf that
you sell elsewhere, but changing the mix to emphasize elements
that have greatest appeal to buyers in GCC countries. The fourth
degree of the framework, which involves the greatest effort but can
at times yield the greatest reward, is to create products and services
specifically for the GCC market.
Higher degrees of adaptation are not always better: the right
level of customization depends entirely on your firm’s customer base,
product characteristics, and business economics. Each degree on the
scale has its benefits and drawbacks and suits companies that face a
particular set of circumstances. Thinking through the various options
at the company’s headquarters is important for enabling your firm to
oversee its marketing strategy in the GCC for optimal effectiveness.

NONCUSTOMIZATION: MERITS AND
DRAWBACKS
One axiom to global marketing, long acknowledged by academics
and executives alike, is that standardization is the key to success.
The argument for standardization is closely tied to the competitive
advantage enjoyed by global corporations: the advantages of scale
and of possessing cross-market expertise. What makes a global firm
successful, the theory goes, is that it has found a way to make the
same message resonate across the world. This message is the
essence of the brand and changing it from country to country
would reduce the value of the firm and the global appeal of the
message. Furthermore, global marketing messages benefit from
economies of scale: creating an ad, crafting a logo, and developing
a tagline in your home language are fixed costs that should be
extended to include as wide a base of customers as possible.
Therefore, some argue, the default approach to a new market
should be to apply to it everything that is used globally, and in the
same way, and only to modify this if absolutely necessary.
In a well-supported argument, Harvard Business School pro-
fessor Theodore Levitt asserted that “global companies must forget