RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Lenovo Chief Executive Officer William Amelio has said the company is not bound to any country, and the latest expansion of the PC manufacturer clearly backs that statement.
On Tuesday, Lenovo disclosed plans to locate its international “global hub” for marketing in Bangalore, India – that country’s “Silicon Valley.”
As a result, Lenovo will be creating scores of jobs in India rather than North Carolina, where it is based, or in China, where the company was born and maintains its largest presence.
Amelio made clear to people attending a conference at North Carolina State University earlier this year that he would look worldwide for the best opportunities to grow the company. And Lenovo has remained committed to that strategy. While deciding to open a distribution center in the Triad was good news for the local economy, the shedding of hundreds of former IBM workers from Lenovo’s payroll in the Triangle has hurt.
Now, Lenovo is going to put marketing resources in India.
India media touted Lenovo’s decision as “pioneering another offshore business opportunity” for multinational companies.
One Indian newspaper, the Business Standard, hailed the move as “a testimony to the city’s skills in advertising and marketing, to serve the global market.”
The Lenovo move shows that no jobs of any type in the U.S. – or China, for that matter – are safe. Companies can offshore anything, from manufacturing to marketing.
Lenovo has targeted India as a growth market, and basing operations in Bangalore can only help raise its corporate profile in the rapidly growing nation.
“We have one of the strongest marketing teams in India,” said Deepak Advani, Lenovo’s chief marketing officer, in announcing the Bangalore decision. “Probably, our Indian team is one of the best creative teams in the entire operation.
“We have experience in India on building consumer brands from scratch,” he added, according to the Business Standard. “By setting up the global hub here, we will now leverage the marketing talents available in India.”
Lenovo is working with marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather at the Bangalore operation. Ogilvy & Mather is based in New York but has a 50-member team in Bangalore to work with Lenovo.
Advani told the Business Standard that the hub would help Lenovo coordinate all its marketing efforts.
“We operate in more than 60 countries across the world,” he said. “The local teams in those countries have a tendency to go to the local agency for their marketing deliverables, including advertisement and brochures. So there is not much sharing of IP happening across different countries. Now, they will come to the hub for their marketing requirements.”
Another example of a flattened world, eh?
