Synonym?
Many people always use the word “Global” and “International” interchangeably, as they view these two words as synonyms to one another in definition. However, further analysis on the meaning of these words discerns the apparent differences. While their differences may seem trivial to many; it is crucial to FingerTec.
Both “Global” and “International” terms are interwoven and inseparable in FingerTec’s marketing and support system. “Global” amplifies “once and for all”; it is obvious in our online platform, marketing materials, products design, software application, System Development Kit (SDK), multilingual platform, packaging and etc, all to serve the world as one with single activity.
Extension of Globalization: Localization
The globalization strategy spun into localization when we start to term it with different regional markets. The localization strategy is an extension of our very core globalization system which if multilingual, it is definitely originated from English; if features added, we would compile them under one software or hardware platform as selectable options for users.
Inter-National: Nation-to-nation
What about “International”? I detach the word by adding a hyphenation in between to become “inter-national” for easier comprehension. Yes, it is all about “between two countries”. Nation-to-nation, border-to-border, it has a lot of differences when goods and money change hand due to different government policies.
Some countries require Certificate of Origin (CO) for goods importation; some requires an independent organization such as BIVAC to inspect goods prior to release of cargo; some requires a formal sales contract for every shipment to prevent under declaration of goods value. And for payment transactions, some countries disallow Telegraphic Transfer; some only accepts Letter of Credit and some prefers Euros than US Dollar for international trade.
Cope with the Varying
How well a company can handle the varying transactions and logistics issues in ensuring smooth, prompt and cost effective product delivery determines the successfulness of the company in its overseas business dealings.
In summary, “Global” is a strategy to achieve “once and for all” that applies to one world, and to reduce job duplications; in contrast, “International” is a strategy to adapt to the varying factors of bilateral trade effectively.
Simplicity vs Complexity
It is bizarre for the two words that carry almost the same meaning can lead to the opposite ways in marketing strategies. In short, “global” moves towards “simplicity”, and “international” heads towards “complexity”.
The only route to reduce complexity is to reduce tangibility of your products. Selling or providing intangible services or products such as the ones provided by Google, you're free from all the hassle in transportation and border control, which you can forget about “International”, and concentrate more on “Global”.
Envy of Google making a huge profit by offering online services? Such service might seem far-fetched for FingerTec, in your opinion, but we're closer than you think. Stay tuned for FingerTec’s next development.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
