e-business globalization usually means to design and develop an e-business application in a way that a Single Executable source code can render all user interfaces in different languages. Such an application usually requires that language-related textual content and globalization-feature-related logic be separated from locale-neutral business logic. The textual content should be organized into localization packs and stored according to corresponding locales.
Additional programming is required to handle globalization-feature-related logic. For detailed design and development guide of globalized e-business applications, please refer to IBM Redbook “e-business Globalization Solution Design Guide: Getting Started”.
In this way, the single executable source codes can retrieve relevant textual content from the corresponding localization packs at run time according to the current user locale, and then integrated them into the user interface which then speaks the current user’s own language and thus understandable to this user.
Compared to making non-globalized application to support multiple languages, the benefits of globalized applications are manifold, and some of the most appreciated ones are:
- They are easier to develop, maintain, and test. One only needs to take care of the single executable source code.
- They are easier to add new business logic. One only needs to add new business logic to the single executable source code, and the new features or functions will be displayed in the UI of all the supported locales.
- They are easier to add new language support. One only needs to add new localization pack under the directory named with the new locale. Additional considerations on the globalization features may also need to be taken into account.
Market Customization
Market Customization here means that an e-business application targeting for global market should take into account the different market needs and characteristics in different locales.
For example, in different markets a company may have different organization structure and business partners, may boast different strengths, and may want to promote different products and services. Therefore the UI of an e-business application can have slightly different layout, content, and links.
Globalization market customization in this document focuses on the content/layout customization of globalized e-business applications to fit the needs of markets in different locales.
Taking IBM Web site index page, for example, we can see that the index page for the market of the United States and that for the market of China, although structurally identical, have subtle differences that are important to catch attention of different customers.
Figure 1. Index page of IBM Web site for the market of the United States. Click on the image to display full-size.
Figure 2. Index page IBM Web site for the market of China. Click on the image to display full-size.
We can see from the above example that the general layouts the two index pages are similar to each other, but they also have the following differences:
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The promotion information is different. In the English index page, the rebate price of eServer is highlighted to catch local users’ attention; while in the Chinese index page, the new price of IBM desktop server for business use is highlighted.
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Some navigation links are different. In the English index page, there is an “Investors” link which links to a Web page containing the introduction of the investor relations of IBM. In the Chinese index page, the “Investors” link is not there, but an additional link, “China Research Lab”, is in the navigation bar, and this link goes to a Web page introducing the function and strength of China Research Laboratory, which may be to the interest of Chinese users.
What is Globalization Market Customization
It is obvious that there can be dilemma between globalization and market customization.
Globalization focuses on the commonness among the UI for different locales, while market customization cares more for the individuality of each market in different locales.
Globalization market customization can be said to be a solution that aims to catch two birds with one stone, that is, an application should be developed in a globalized way while at the same time flexible enough to be customizable for different markets. This means that there should still be one single executable core business logic (although the business logic may differ slightly based on different locales, we should try to re-use most of the business logic for all locales) for an application, but the application can also dynamically adapt its Web content layout to meet the different business requirements of different locales.
