Flexible Packaging
By Molly Strzelecki
November 1, 2008

The following is an excerpt. To read the full article, click here.

The world just isn’t the same place it used to be. E-mail makes it so much easier to reach out and connect with people. Cell phones allow you to talk to anyone anywhere at anytime. New technology emerges faster than you can even say new technology, and all of this makes the world a much smaller place. Apparently, Walt Disney was right: It is a small world after all.

Yet at the same time, for being a much smaller place, the world is still expansive, ripe with an array of opportunities for people to start new, develop ideas and expand to corners they never thought they’d see. In business, expanding to such a global scale can be an intimidating idea but also an exciting one. It can be fraught with risk but also overwhelming with profit. And to be on par with others in your industry, globalizing your company has to, at minimum, be on your radar.

The unique needs and requirements of various cultures will without a doubt impact the globalization process. But that’s not to say that overcoming cultural differences is impossible. One way to ensure an expanding company is staying within cultural bounds while simultaneously achieving its globalization goal is to work with organizations such as the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), which can aid companies in better understanding the territory in an expansion project.

“Localization companies can help with market research and also with investigating the cultural implications of all text, graphics, brandings and logos on product packaging,” explains Michael Sank, GALA board member and vice president of TransPerfect / Translations.com. “Localization companies can provide insight into different markets for their clients.”