Despite Asia's stride into the value economy, a considerable percentage of Asia's population still lives in poverty with little education and with inferior infrastructure and support systems. This is what has been popularly referred to as the bottom of the pyramid in Professor C.K. Prahalad's seminal research on the topic.

This segment still lacks the purchasing power to go for global premium brands and affordability becomes the most important decision criteria. For example, Hindustan Lever, Unilever's Indian subsidiary, introduced shampoo sachets at very low prices that addressed the needs of this segment and it proved quite successful. Similar case stories from South America have been documented by INSEAD business school.

In a nut shell, this huge value segment presents a great untapped potential for global brands as they seek to expand further. Global brands need to adopt their offerings and plan appropriate brand extensions to suit this huge market segment effectively.

A McKinsey study shows that 90% of Asia's value creators derive more than 80% of their revenues by focusing their businesses in one industry sector. Moreover, these companies focus on intangibles like fostering human capital, exploiting network effects and creating synergies based on brands and reputation rather than investing in physical assets. Additionally, interests in diversified areas poses a great challenge as creating and managing a consistent brand personality becomes much more difficult.

The Reliance group of India is a typical example for such a diversified conglomerate with businesses in petrochemicals, financial advisory, telecommunications, and oil explorations. Though the Reliance brand is doing very well in the Indian market till now, it needs to focus on a more directed corporate branding approach. Many conglomerates from Japan and Korea face similar challenges as they aspire to build and sustain their brands and brand equity across the world.

To brand different businesses across a wide array of sectors will prove to be a resource drainer in the longer run. Especially, small and medium level firms that aspire to build strong brands but have a resource constraint will find it very difficult to carry out successful branding if businesses are highly diversified. Instead, the CEO and executive team should focus on the core of their business, and make sure the brand takes center-stage in the boardroom and becomes the most prominent driver of business strategy.

The right pricing can be an effective way to increase profits. A strong brand allows for better premiums as illustrated in this example: For the average income statement of a Standards & Poor 1500 company, a price increase of 1 percent, if volume remained stable, would generate an 8 percent increase in operating profits. An impact almost 50 percent greater than that of a 1 percent decrease in variable costs like materials and direct labour, and more than three times greater than the impact of a 1 percent increase in volume.

Pricing and its many opportunities is one of the most ignored marketing parameters. Rarely does marketers raise prices. The function tends to worry about the effect on consumer and distribution responses despite the effects on the bottom-line which outweighs the potential responses. Price is also a guiding factor on quality perception, positioning and brand image, so potential price increases can in many instances help enhance brands and their equity.

Asian companies need to move up the value chain to increase shareholder value over the next 10 to 15 years through effective, CEO-led brand building. Pricing can play an important role in this process and support the chances for survival in the global market place.

For many Western companies, a large part of their intangible assets are related to the value of their brands. An examination of the market capitalization of companies on Western stock exchanges demonstrates that a large proportion of the company value is derived from powerful brands and the profit streams they provide.

On the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, intangible assets are known to account for between 50-75% of the market capitalization of the listed companies, where the majority is accounted for by their brands. The market-to-book ratios for Fortune 500 companies are approximately 3.5 which indicate that more than 70% of the market values of the Fortune 500 companies are comprised of intangible assets.

Similarly, the market-to-book ratio for UK's largest companies averages three. Compare that with companies on any Asian stock exchange where the intangible financial value derived from brands is insignificant or lacking.

A 2004 report from Goldman Sachs notes that the Chinese represents the third largest customer base for the luxury goods industry. The Chinese accounted for an estimated 12 percent of the global luxury goods sales in 2004 with 2 percent deriving from local spending in China and 10 percent from overseas Chinese travelers including Hong Kong.

By 2010, the Chinese luxury consumers could account for 23 percent of industry sales, and by 2015, with an estimated 29 percent of sales, they could become as important as their Japanese counterparts. The Japanese currently accounts for approximately 41 percent of global sales.

Many global luxury goods firms are attracted by the rapid expanding Chinese customer base and invest significantly in opening multiple stores and spend heavily on marketing in China. For example, Giorgio Armani plans to open 20-30 new stores in China by 2008.