Globalization, identity and the marketing of illusion: Brand positioning in the Glocal Beauty Industry(c)

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, globalization became the uncontested star-subject of intellectual inquiry both in academic and popular media circles. Academic disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, management and marketing formulated conceptualizations of the phenomenon within the confines of their respective borders. In this research, those boundaries are lowered to investigate the impact of brand positioning on global market penetration.; The two necessary areas of inquiry were the impact of globalization on identity generally and on consumer needs specifically and how business enterprises perceive and respond to those needs. Expanding on Bourdieu's cultural capital model, the synthetic habitat paradigm was formulated to emphasize the importance of "global" inputs in shaping consumer identity. Objects and aspirations are fundamental components of this constructed and dynamic habitat. Amasia Afeuraust, prototypical of Earthopolitans whose identity is shaped by local and global cultures alike, is profiled as the emerging "glocal" consumer.; In the business literature, firms are generally classified as global or multilocal based on the extent of standardization of their offerings. In this research, firms are classified according to their perceptions of consumer needs. The glocal company is advanced as one that approaches the world as its potential market and segments it by consumers needs rather than geographic location.; The myths surrounding the "beauty" need that the {dollar}90 billion cosmetics industry serves were reviewed historically as a subset of the umbrella concept of fashion. Fashion was argued to be a multi-faceted glocalizing factor that is adapted as it is adopted by national cultures. The historical evolution of the industry and its structural analysis indicated that marketing is the most value-adding function for cosmetics firms. Egypt was studied as a country case. Egyptian women's adornment of the headdress was interpreted as an expression of identity and thus as a ``glocal'' social rather than a particular religious phenomenon.; It was found that the emotional content in brand positioning, as illustrated in press advertisements, is positively related to market penetration. Further, marketing was found to be a firm-specific technology that plays a crucial role in determining success and extent of global market penetration.