Well worth the time and money!globalization beyond personalization Having spent too many years of my professional career on personalization, I picked up this book to find out the personalization angle in e-business globalization. The author didnot disappoint me as the book succintly describes globalization as full-context personalization. However, the book is much more than this viewpoint. Mr. DePalma makes the business case for e-business globalization, and gives concrete steps for planning, implementing and measuring a globalization strategy. I liked both the content and its presentation. First, the author has a knack for getting to the gist of an issue such as 3 P's of global marketing. Second, the presentation is very precise with the right amount of details such as the elements required for correct language representation from scripts to encoding methods. Third, the material is action oriented as the example for when to use machine translation vs. human translation. Well done!
He personalizes what could easily become a dry subject by regularly invoking a fictitious model protagonist named "Mira Vozreniya" - meaning "world view" in Russian (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) - to guide the reader through the intricate and complicated process of taking products global. His approach is hands-on, with many summarizing charts, tips, data points, and tools for would-be globalizers. And he spends significant time on the 8th Continent and web-related issues, in the process dispelling many a myth about the instant globality of a web presence. The book is filled with real-life examples of what to do and what not to do to be successful globally.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is, or soon will be, involved in the massive undertaking that is globalization in a corporate environment. There is a great deal to digest in DePalma's book (dare I say, too much?), but if companies implement even a fraction of what he lays out, they will do well for themselves.
