Tipping the balance: A decision-making model for localization in global public relations agencies

• Decision to localize depends on business strategy and cultural and geographic distance.
• Internal factors of the client organization can enable or constrain localization efforts.
• External factors influence the extent to which strategies and tactics are localized.
• One of the first studies to document the most commonly localized PR tactics.
• The weakest links in the localization process are metrics and assessment.

Global public relations scholarship has conceptualized standardization and localization as two ends of a continuum that need to be balanced to achieve organizational efficiency and public relations effectiveness. However, organizations with operations in more than one country are confronted with differences in geography, culture, politics, economy, communication, and demands for transparency that make finding an appropriate balance difficult. This study defines and documents the criteria used by global public relations agencies in consulting with MNCs to determine whether and how to localize strategies and tactics in host countries. Specifically, in-depth interviews of 25 senior-level public relations professionals at the leading global agencies were conducted to understand their views about the localization process. Responses from these interviews were used to develop a five-step decision-making model for localization. This model demonstrates the process that global agencies use to consult with MNCs about localization. The five steps encompass evaluations of the need to localize, the ability of MNCs to localize, the extent to which MNCs should localize, the tactics that could be localized, and the metrics to evaluate the success of localization efforts.