On a recent trip to Thailand, I took a morning stroll down to the beach. There was a lady selling two sets of flip-flops. One, a cheap local product, cost the equivalent of about ￡3. The other, made by Havaianas, cost about ￡25.
As the price difference suggests, Havaianas is a highly successful global brand. Sold in more than 80 countries, it is also the first global consumer brand to come out of Brazil. As the world’s centre of economic gravity continues to shift towards emerging markets it will not be the last.
Until recently, global brands generally came from the US, western Europe or Japan. Now a new breed of emerging-market company is challenging more developed rivals with both value and premium products. They are especially competitive in technology and fashion, where consumer tastes and lifestyles change quickly.