Técnicas de caracterización electroquímica

Global marketplace means the worldwide arena for places to compete. Local development of a place means attempts to manage and shape its change, at the sub-national level. (The author’s working definition).54

Global marketplace and Local development are explained together, indicating that the two perspectives of place development work, global and local, are closely linked. “Global marketplace” suggests that like corporations places also have to compete on very international playing field. “Local development” indicates the importance for a place to take care of its local development, “its own backyard”, in order to survive in the competition. Strong local development activity, together with a global perspective and international approach, form a strong foundation for place development.

The global marketplace is a challenge for all places and no region can survive on its own. Networking in several forms will be increasingly important. In this work, both the public and private sector need to work together (PPPs), and also internal and external links are needed. Local and global dimensions need to be worked out together in place development (See Borja & Castells 1997). The local economic base of a place should be built strong, and the present companies and residents of a place satisfied. The global challenge brings more competition, but creates also new possibilities such as new potential markets for its own niche. A place can learn to benefit from its local geographical advantages by focusing on being the best in its location for the selected clusters and fields of industries.

The competitive environment is different in each country. Additionally, important differences in taste, lifestyle, consumer attitudes and purchasing power create new sub-markets (also Murphy 1992: 137). Many local brands have, therefore, advantages which result from local 53 _{The area of cooperation between the communities in the Lahti City-region comprises five communities: Lahti,}

Hollola, Nastola, Orimattila and Asikkala. Voluntary cooperation has been practiced for over ten years (source: www.lahti.fi/doc/seutuyhteistyo.html, checked 12 March 2002 ).

market position, regional cultural awareness and differences (also Sousa 2000: 6-7; Kapferer 1992). Local brands are also often unique and have much potential goodwill, but also they need to be continuously developed. It is necessary to identify differences in consumer behaviour and adjust the branding and marketing programmes to create the necessary customer value. The local marketing effort further connects with customers, and helps to understand the market needs so as to further improve the offering (see Aaker 1996: 129). Staying close to the customers is important in all businesses (also Loden 1992: 29, 80).

In place marketing, a place should take care of its local development by economic development programmes, and simultaneously think in global terms in its targeting and positioning. Local attractions make a place unique provided that these can be turned into customer benefits on a broader scale. In the place selection process, the stages of the place buying develop from large patterns to more specific options, resulting in the local image and profile of the place getting increasing value. In the earlier stages, a specific place does not necessarily need to be well known internationally, as a famous “centre” place can communicate “place excellence”.

Global competition acts as a driving force for international brands by an enlarged marketplace. Global brands are mostly very profitable and often create an image of a low-cost producer through the image of the advantage of scale, which helps to further increase the market share. International brands are widely distributed, leading again to greater brand strength. Global marketing can further signal credibility, resources and technological advancement, as well as the marketer’s commitment to the brand. It is sound advice to globalise the elements that make or save money and localise those that need positioning. However, not many organisations use the fully global marketing concept and global objectives are often mixed with local or regional programmes.

Even small places can find their own market niche where they can claim superiority over other places. Very famous places obviously attract more of a certain type of resources than small, lesser-known places. In the strategy work, a place must, therefore, understand its real competition position, in order not to undertake unrealistic goals. Almost every location has something special that can be worked up into an interesting offering, find the right customers and market segments, and create customer added value for them.

The strategic position must be correctly fixed before a place “goes international” and the global competition can be met. Local place development is necessary to brush up the competitivity, and help find specific market possibilities, where the local place players can beat the outside big place players. Foreign businesses regard the whole globe as the base for their activity, and search for suitable locations for their headquarters. Firms often use special location consultants who negotiate attraction packages with potential places.