The INSEAD-Wharton Alliance on Globalizing: Strategies for Building Successful Global Businesses.

In rolling out new products across global markets, companies are increasingly using a big-bang approach of simultaneous launches in different parts of the world, instead of a sequential approach gradually progressing from the home country into the world. With a richer set of options for global market entry, the authors consider choices about where to enter and what strategies to use in rolling out new products. They discuss three ways to segment global markets - grouping countries based on country factors, grouping individual consumers into segments that may cut across borders and grouping countries based on diffusion patterns of innovations. The third approach is particularly relevant for their subsequent discussion of strategies for product roll-outs. The authors discuss two strategies for such roll-outs: the sequencing "waterfall" and the simultaneous "sprinkler" strategies. In addition to the targeting and sequencing decisions, the authors examine four other strategic decisions taken at the time of launch that affect the diffusion of new products: pre-announcements, market entry commitment, distribution and product standardization.