Publications

June 1999 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Supermercados Disco: Regional Strategy

The Disco chain of supermarkets has pursued a successful local niche strategy in Argentina to compete with intense competition from multinational chains. Now Disco considers options for expanding its regional strength. View Details

Keywords: Food; Marketing Strategy; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Argentina

09 Jul 2013
News

Competitiveness expert slams Obama tax plan

December 1997 (Revised January 1998)
Exercise

COO and Country Manager Job Selection Exercise

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

From seven candidates, students must choose two who are most qualified for the COO position at an entrepreneurial Danish multinational organization, and two who are the best choices for country manager in Vietnam for the company. View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Experience and Expertise; Multinational Firms and Management

February 2005 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Unilever in India: Hindustan Lever's Project Shakti--Marketing FMCG to the Rural Consumer

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Rohithari Rajan

With liberalization of India's economy and the opening up of markets to foreign multinationals such as Procter & Gamble, the Indian subsidiary of Unilever--Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL)--was under pressure to grow revenues and profits. HLL had a long and stellar record of... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Market Entry and Exit; Business Subsidiaries; Revenue; Profit; Market Participation; Programs; Rural Scope; Poverty; Multinational Firms and Management; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; India

2011
Casebook

Transnational Management: Text Cases and Readings in Cross Border Management

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Paul W. Beamish

Transnational Management focuses on the management challenges associated with developing strategies and managing the operations of companies whose activities stretch across national boundaries. The purpose of this book is to provide a conceptual framework showing the... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Economy; Framework; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Management; Problems and Challenges; Situation or Environment; Strategy; Competition

October 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Baxter's Asia Pacific 'Talent Edge' Initiative

By: Jordan Siegel, Mimi Xi and Christopher Poliquin

This case examines whether multinationals have a potential competitive weapon in aggressively exploiting social schisms in host labor markets and in hiring and promoting senior managers from excluded groups. View Details

Keywords: Labor; Selection and Staffing; Groups and Teams

September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

PDS: Ring-Fencing the Ranch

By: Dennis Campbell, Tarun Khanna and Kerry Herman

Pallak Seth, Group CEO of PDS Multinational Fashions, is contemplating options to bring better collaboration across his global apparel supply chain platform. PDS, a group of 50-plus subsidiary companies, each led by its own CEO and with different apparel industry... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Supply Chain Management; Performance; Partners and Partnerships; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Apparel and Accessories Industry

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

Thomke Publication:Harvard Business Review 90, no. 11 (November 2012) Abstract An abstract is unavailable at this time. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2012/11/mumbais-models-of-service-excellence/ar/1 Working PapersThe Global Agglomeration of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2022
Working Paper

Capitalism and Global Governance in Business History: A Roundtable Discussion

By: Sabine Pitteloud, Grace Ballor, Patricia Clavin, Nicolás M. Perrone, Neil Rollings and Quinn Slobodian

This working paper brings together a diverse group of scholars to discuss the historiography of capitalism, business history and global governance and lay the foundations for further research in this area. Grace Ballor and Sabine Pitteloud open the discussion with a... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Business History; Multinational Corporation; Business And Government Relations; Business And Society; Business And The Environment; International Relations; Regulation; Business Interest Association; Lobbying; Private Governance; State-business Relations; Political Risk; Neo-Liberalism; Governance; Globalized Firms and Management; Government and Politics

SSRN

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January–March 2025
Article

Transitioning from Responsible and Reactive to Deeply Responsible and Proactive International Business

By: Geoffrey G. Jones, Teresa da Silva Lopes, Pavida Pananond, Rob van Tulder, Noemi Sinkovics and Rudolf R. Sinkovics

This article aims to explore the role of multinational enterprises in addressing grand societal challenges, emphasizing the need for integrating environmental and social aspects into business models. It offers an analysis of how principles and values can guide engaged... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Model; Multinational Firms and Management

Find at Harvard

September 2003 (Revised June 2006)
Case

"American Challenge, The:" Europe's Response to American Business

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine

Examines the tensions multinationals cause by focusing on Europe's reaction to the growing U.S. multinational investment in the 20th century. Initially, Europeans rarely felt threatened by U.S. investments, however, tensions grew over time. After the Second World War,... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; United States; Europe

12 Sep 2016
News

What Brands Can Do to Monitor Factory Conditions of Suppliers

26 Sep 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Shifting Centers of Gravity: Host Country versus Headquarters Influences on MNC Subsidiary Knowledge Inheritance

Keywords: by Prithwiraj Choudhury, Mike Horia Teodorescu, and Tarun Khanna

2007
Working Paper

Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment

By: Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton

We use a new firm level data set that establishes the location, ownership, and activity of 650,000 multinational subsidiaries -- close to a comprehensive picture of global multinational activity. A number of patterns emerge from the data. Most foreign direct investment... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Foreign Direct Investment; Geographic Location; Supply and Industry; Vertical Integration

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November 1989 (Revised February 1990)
Case

John A. Clendenin

Brief description of the life history of a Xerox manager. When used with Managing Xerox's Multinational Development Center it allows for the discussion of the relationship between personal history, personal values, and career choices. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career

Video

Vimal Shah

Vimal Shah, Co-Founder and Chairman of Bidco Africa, discusses the group’s strategic approach to marketing soap products in Kenya, targeting the bottom of the pyramid market with multiple brands at different price points to compete with large multinationals such as... View Details

January 2002 (Revised October 2005)
Case

General Electric Medical Systems 2002

By: Tarun Khanna and James Weber

Discusses one of General Electric's flagship divisions--the world's leading provider of medical diagnostic imaging equipment. Provides an opportunity to examine a multinational confronting massive technological and demographic changes around the world. Genomics has... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Model; Change Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Genetics; Customer Value and Value Chain; Age; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; China; United States

08 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

The Death of the Global Manager

ears around the world is critical” Nearly 20 years later and in its sixth edition, Bartlett's case-filled textbook (which he describes as a "continuing passion") offers the opportunity to reexamine the ever-changing nature of View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

January 2011
Article

Does Intellectual Property Rights Reform Spur Industrial Development?

By: Lee G. Branstetter, Ray Fisman, C. Fritz Foley and Kamal Saggi

An extensive theoretical literature generates ambiguous predictions concerning the effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) reform on industrial development. The impact depends on whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) expand production in reforming countries... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Intellectual Property; Rights; Production; Expansion; United States