Globalization: Global Strategy

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Video: Harvard Business School at the Kumbh Mela

In this video report, Senior Lecturer John Macomber visits the Kumbh Mela in India to discover what such an undertaking can teach us about real estate, urbanization, sustainability, and infrastructure. Open for comment; 8 Comments posted.

What Wall Street Doesn’t Understand About International Trade

Firms that correlate their international trading activity with the local ethnic community significantly outperform those that don't, according to new research by Lauren H. Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy, and Umit G. Gurun. Open for comment; 4 Comments posted.

Nitin Nohria: Why US Competitiveness Matters

Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria discusses the multidimensional quality of the American competitiveness problem, and why it matters to all. Read More

The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms

Running a financial organization, never easy to begin with, has quickly become one of the most difficult leadership challenges that an executive can undertake, requiring mastery of talent management, change management, and ethics. An interview with Professor Boris Groysberg, who teaches a new HBS Executive Education program on the subject with Professor Paul M. Healy. Open for comment; 13 Comments posted.

Ethnic Innovation and US Multinational Firm Activity

C. Fritz Foley and William R. Kerr

What effects do immigrant scientists and engineers have on the global activities of the firms that employ them? To what extent do these high-skilled immigrants help US multinationals capitalize on foreign opportunities? Professors Foley and Kerr analyze key data concerning US patents, direct investment abroad, research and development, and the ownership structure of firms. They show that immigration enhances the competitiveness of US multinationals. Taken together, the results have implications for immigration policies. Many debates about immigration focus on the potentially deleterious impact of low wage immigrants on the domestic workforce. However, Foley and Kerr point out that immigrants who are skilled enough to engage in innovative activity generate benefits for firms that are seeking to do business abroad. Read More

Protecting against the Pirates of Bollywood

Hollywood's earnings in India have largely been disappointing. Professor Lakshmi Iyer believes the problem has more to do with intellectual pirates than the cinematic kind. Open for comment; 12 Comments posted.

Immigrant Innovators: Job Stealers or Job Creators?

The H-1B visa program, which enables US employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers for three years, is "a lightning rod for a very heated debate," says Harvard Business School professor William Kerr. His latest research addresses the question of whether the program is good for innovation, and whether it impacts jobs for Americans. Open for comment; 36 Comments posted.

KFC’s Explosive Growth in China

In China, Yum! Brands is opening a KFC store every day. But this is not the KFC you know in America. A recent case study written by professor David Bell and Agribusiness Program director Mary Shelman reveals how the chicken giant adapted its famous fast-food formula for the local market. Open for comment; 22 Comments posted.

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

The recent natural disaster in Japan brought to light the fragile nature of the global supply chain. Professor Willy Shih discusses how companies should be thinking about their supply-chain strategy now. Open for comment; 16 Comments posted.

Why Manufacturing Matters

After decades of outsourcing, America's ability to innovate and create high-tech products essential for future prosperity is on the decline, argue professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih. Is it too late to get it back? From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Open for comment; 43 Comments posted.

Sharpening Your Skills: Doing Business in Emerging Markets

Going global is one thing, targeting emerging economies quite another. In this collection from our archives, HBS faculty discuss strategy development, government relations, exploiting local opportunities, and risk management when dealing in emerging economies. Read More

Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets

Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu

How can multinationals, entrepreneurs, and investors identify and respond to new challenges and opportunities around the world? In this Q&A, HBS professors and strategy experts Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu offer a practical framework for succeeding in emerging markets. Plus: Book excerpt with action items. Read More

Looking Behind Google’s Stand in China

John A. Quelch

Google's threat to pull out of China is either a blow for Internet freedom or cover for a failed business strategy, depending on with whom you talk. Professor John A. Quelch looks behind the headlines in a new case. Read More

Where is Home for the Global Firm?

Mihir A. Desai

Global markets are changing the relationship between firms and nation-states in important ways, says HBS professor Mihir A. Desai. His new working paper, "The Decentering of the Global Firm," offers a practical framework for business leaders to think strategically about where to locate their company's financial and legal homes, and managerial talent. Q&A with Desai. Read More

The Decentering of the Global Firm

Mihir A. Desai

Firms such as Caterpillar are typically considered American companies by virtue of history while Honda, for example, is regarded as a Japanese company. However, the archetypal multinational firm with a particular national identity and a corporate headquarters fixed in one country is becoming obsolete as firms continue to maximize the opportunities created by global markets. The defining characteristics of what makes a firm belong to a country—where it is incorporated, where it is listed, the nationality of its investor base, the location of its headquarters functions—are no longer bound to one country. Why are these changes taking place, and what are their consequences? This paper places the increasing mobility of corporate identities within the broader setting of transformations to the "shape" of global firms over the last half century. Read More

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

Many students say legendary Harvard Business School marketing professor Ted Levitt changed their lives inside his classroom and out. "Ted Levitt was the most influential and imaginative professor in marketing history," HBS professor and senior associate dean John Quelch eulogized on the occasion of Levitt's death in 2006. Colleagues and students remember a life and times. From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Read More

How Many U.S. Jobs Are ‘Offshorable’?

Some 900 Harvard Business School students were asked to recreate a study assessing the potential "offshorability" of more than 800 occupations in the United States. Their findings: It might be a larger number than we thought. Read More

A Replication Study of Alan Blinder’s “How Many U.S. Jobs Might Be Offshorable?”

Troy Smith and Jan W. Rivkin

The movement of business activity from developed economies to developing economies—commonly called offshoring—has become the focus of heated debates. Behind these debates lies a pivotal question of scale: How much business activity and how many jobs are at stake? Official statistics are nearly silent, and private-sector researchers vary widely in their estimates of the number of U.S. jobs that have moved offshore, will move offshore, or could move offshore. In an effort to address this gap in prior literature, Princeton economist Alan Blinder released an innovative working paper in 2007 in which he personally reviewed more than 800 occupations in the United States, assessed the "offshorability" of each, and used the evaluations to estimate the total number of U.S. jobs that might be offshorable. Here, HBS research associate Troy Smith and Professor Jan W. Rivkin describe an online exercise that allowed 152 teams of HBS MBA students, collectively, to recreate Blinder's study and to develop insights about the future of offshoring. Read More

What is the Future of State Capitalism?

In state capitalism, is the operative word "capitalism"? State capitalism is neither to be applauded nor feared, judging from the tone of responses to May's column. Jim Heskett sums up. Online forum now closed. Closed for comment; 43 Comments posted.

Best Practices of Global Innovators

Alan D. MacCormack

Corporate R&D labs used to be the key for companies to create competitive advantage. But in the 21st century, innovation is moving out of the lab and across the globe. That's why Harvard Business School professor Alan MacCormack and his research collaborators believe that a real source of competitive advantage is skill in managing innovation partnerships. Read More

Why Global Brands Work

Japanese automakers create single products and brands for worldwide consumption, while Ford customizes products for local markets. You know who won. Why do global brands work? What makes them work? Professor John Quelch provides some answers. Read More

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

Pankaj Ghemawat

With apologies to Thomas Friedman, managers who believe the hype of a flat world do so at their own risk, says HBS professor Pankaj Ghemawat. National borders still matter a lot for business strategists. While identifying similarities from one place to the next is essential, effective cross-border strategies will take careful stock of differences as well. A Q&A and book excerpt follow. Read More

Innovation through Global Collaboration: A New Source of Competitive Advantage

Alan MacCormack, Theodore Forbath, Peter Brooks, and Patrick Kalaher

Collaboration is becoming a new and important source of competitive advantage. No longer is the creation and pursuit of new ideas the bastion of large, central R&D departments within vertically integrated organizations. Instead, innovations are increasingly brought to the market by networks of firms, selected according to their comparative advantages, and operating in a coordinated manner. This paper reports on a study of the strategies and practices used by firms that achieve greater success in terms of business value in their collaborative innovation efforts. Read More

Handicapping the Best Countries for Business

Richard H.K. Vietor

India? South Africa? Russia? Which are the best countries for a firm to invest in? In a new book, Professor Richard Vietor looks at the economic, political, and structural strengths and weaknesses of ten countries and tells readers how to analyze the development of these areas in the future. Read our Q&A and book excerpt. Read More

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

Louis T. Wells

After a string of forced nationalizations of private enterprises in the 1960s and 1970s, the pendulum swung back and companies were again encouraged by host countries to build and run major infrastructure projects such as power and water. But a set of new property protections has done little to manage the risk in many of these politically unstable environments. Professor Louis T. Wells, coauthor of a new book on making foreign investment safe, discusses the current landscape. Read More

Tata-Corus: India’s New Steel Giant

By acquiring Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus, India's Tata Steel is now one of the world's top five steel makers. Professor Tarun Khanna says the fact that the deal is the largest out of India and generated by the private sector makes this a notable event. But now comes the hard part—making the merger work. Can Tata avoid mistakes made by Chinese companies? From The Economic Times/India Times. Read More

Investor Protection: The Czech Experience

Mihir A. Desai

When TV Nova launched as the first private television channel in post-communist Czechoslovakia, few anticipated the business drama behind the scenes. HBS professor Mihir Desai explains what managers can learn from one unlucky investor's experience. Read More

Meeting China’s Need for Management Education

On a recent trip to China, Steven C. Wheelwright noted an increasing interest in entrepreneurship, globalization, and competitiveness. Most of all, the Chinese have an increasing thirst for management education. Read More

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

Mihir A. Desai

Relatively few multinational companies truly understand or take advantage of international finance. Professor Mihir A. Desai tackles the subject in a new book, International Finance: A Casebook. Here’s a Q&A. Read More

The China Dilemma for U.S. Firms: Comply, Resist, or Leave?

If you were an advisor to the senior managements of these companies doing business in China, what would you propose that they do? Closed for comment; 34 Comments posted.

The Regional Slice of Your Global Strategy

A regional understanding should be part of your overall global strategy, says Professor Pankaj Ghemawat. One key: Recognize that regions don’t stop at national borders. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review. Read More

Identify Emerging Market Opportunities

Yes, you understand your company needs to compete in emerging markets. But which country is the best fit for you? A Harvard Business Review excerpt by Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu, and Jayant Sinha. Read More

The Competition of Countries

Richard H.K. Vietor

To be successful in a global world, countries need to build on comparative advantages, says HBS professor Richard H. K. Vietor. But exploiting natural resources isn't the only answer. Read More

Lessons from a Nasty Trade Dispute

Rawi E. Abdelal and Laura Alfaro

Even if the World Trade Organization rules in favor of your country’s government, it may not mean the end of a business dispute. HBS professors Rawi Abdelal and Laura Alfaro explain why. Read More

Globalization: The Strategy of Differences

Should your global strategy optimize scale or exploit differences? HBS professor Pankaj Ghemawat suggests a mix-and-match strategy in this excerpt from Harvard Business Review. Read More

Historical Perspective: Levitt Shaped the Debate

Theodore Levitt’s work was outrageous—and outrageously smart. HBS professors Richard S. Tedlow and Rawi Abdelal put "The Globalization of Markets" in perspective. Read More

Peeling Back the Global Brand

The global brand is a hard nut to crack. In a session devoted to these seemingly all-powerful brands, professors and practitioners exposed the fault lines. Read More

Should Global Business Initiatives Be Devalued?

Are executives who ask this question overreacting to current events? Or, if the current geopolitical events are merely symptoms of a greater and longer struggle, should we begin to think about devaluing, discounting, or postponing global initiatives in favor of more predictable business investments "closer to home"? Closed for comment; 11 Comments posted.

How Business Strategy Tamed the “Invisible Hand”

Theories of competition and strategic planning are essential ingredients in running a global business. In this excerpt from Business History Review, HBS professor Pankaj Ghemawat outlines their development. Read More

How to Look at Globalization Now

Pankaj Ghemawat

How should smart companies position themselves in the global economy? By training a historical lens on the process of globalization and thinking about strategies that can take advantage of its current, intermediate state—what HBS professor Pankaj Ghemawat calls "quasiglobalization." Read More

Facing the New World Order

HBS professor Michael Porter, and Jeffrey Sachs, director of Harvard's Center for International Development, discuss the ramifications — especially after September 11—of the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report 2001-2002. Is this a time of retrenchment, or opportunity? Read More

Go Global—or No? Can You Make the Case?

Ever wanted to judge a Harvard Business Review case study? Here's your chance. Help DataClear decide whether or not to go global. Authored by Harvard Business School associate professor Walter Kuemmerle. Read More

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

Why do some firms in emerging economies quickly rise above the rest? What are their competitive secrets? New research by HBS professor Rogelio Oliva and his colleague Fernando F. Suarez suggests a few answers. Read More

The Dubious Logic of Global Megamergers

Many of today's huge—and pricey—cross-border mergers are based on a mistaken assumption, write Pankaj Ghemawat and Fariborz Ghadar in the Harvard Business Review. In the face of globalization, they say, companies may have better alternatives than the pursuit of the big deal. Read More

From Emerging Economies to the Global Market: The Case of Embraer

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Global Brands: Connecting With Consumers Across Boundaries

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The Right Way to Restructure Conglomerates in Emerging Markets

Western financial institutions, consultants and academic advisors alike have often urged the breakup of the large, diversified business groups that dominate the private sector in many emerging economies. But a rush to dismantle these groups would be a mistake, say HBS Professors Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu. Read More

Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad

Planning R&D facilities in the new global economy calls for a complex decision making process, based in part on whether a particular site is intended to tap local knowledge or to support a company's manufacturing and marketing abroad. HBS Professor Walter Kuemmerle offers a look at two contrasting foreign-based R&D decisions in this excerpt from his article in World View: Global Strategies for the New Economy (HBS Press). Read More

Companies, Cultures and the Transformation to the Transnational

Often overlooked in the move into the international arena, a comapny's heritage can have a major impact on how it adapts to the new environment. In this excerpt from the second edition of their pioneering book Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution, HBS Professor Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal examine one aspect of that heritage: the influence on a company of its nation's history, infrastructure and culture. Read More

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

Michael E. Porter

Clusters—critical masses, in one place, of unusual competitive success in particular fields—is one of the key concepts of HBS Professor Michael Porter's seminal book The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Porter's ongoing research into clusters confirms that, even in an age of increasing globalization, these local centers of knowledge, relationships and motivation are a vital source of competitive advantage for advanced and emerging countries alike. Porter talks about competition in the global economy and other topics in this recent interview. Read More