Local offices are a product quality argument, not a growth strategy.

principle — attributed to Colja Dams

Dams opened in Beijing in 2004, six years into his leadership and before he had formally succeeded his father. The bet was that the global economy was fragmenting into three durable zones: North America, Europe, and Asia. A brand sending product launches to three continents needs genuine local expertise in all three, actual offices with actual teams who know the room, not a headquarters with a list of foreign contacts. Shanghai followed in 2009, Shenzhen in 2026. He frames the nineteen offices not as expansion for its own sake but as the thing that makes an event work in Shanghai, Stuttgart, and Sao Paulo on the same calendar.

For agencies weighing partner networks against owned offices, and for brands evaluating agency claims of global reach. The distinction to press on is whether the local team has authority or just a logo on the website.

globalization, three-zone-world, local-expertise, expansion