Publications

November 2005
Case

Inventec Corporation

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ingrid Vargas

Inventec Corp., with $4.5 billion in annual revenues, was one of Taiwan's leading original design manufacturers (ODMs). Inventec designed and manufactured electronic products such as computers, servers, MP3 players, PDAs, and cellular telephones for client companies... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; China; India

April 1998 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Jan Eriksson at Novartis Indonesia (A)

By: Carin-Isabel Knoop and Anthony St. George

Jan Eriksson is the country manager of the Novartis AG joint venture in Indonesia. At the time of the case, Novartis is the world's largest pharmaceutical company. The case describes the steps Eriksson took to merge the Indonesian operations of Novartis' parents,... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Joint Ventures; Financial Crisis; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indonesia

26 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 26

incremental progress, for motivating workers. Additional research showed that managers underestimate the importance of facilitating progress as a motivational tool. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2010/01/the-hbr-list-breakthrough-ideas-for-2010/ar/1 Regional Trade... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Dec 2010
Op-Ed

Tax US Companies to Spur Spending

"repatriation taxes" that occur under the US system of worldwide taxation. Simply put, multinational firms currently have an incentive to keep money abroad. A temporary holiday of the repatriation tax coupled with the tax on... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

01 Jun 2001
News

Group Therapy: The Role of Business Groups in Emerging Economies

priority of policymakers in emerging markets cannot be achieved rapidly nor by government decree. After all, it took the United States a century to achieve its present level of development. Finally, agencies and multinational companies... View Details

Keywords: Peter K. Jacobs; Market Research, Photo, Translation, Veterinary and Other Services; Professional Services

1990
Chapter

New Challenges for Japanese Multinationals: Is Organizational Adaptation Their Achilles Heel?

By: C. A. Bartlett and H. Yoshihara

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Japan

May 1994 (Revised July 1994)
Case

International Sourcing in Athletic Footwear: NIKE and Reebok

Nike and Reebok, the two largest athletic footwear companies, look to contractors in Asia to manufacture their shoes. Sourcing from Asia offers advantages of low cost and flexibility, but raises questions about human rights and corporate responsibility. How Nike and... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Apparel and Accessories Industry

07 Apr 2003
What Do You Think?

Should Global Business Initiatives Be Devalued?

should be devalued. On the one hand, one might argue that such discussions are an overreaction to current events, that nations have become so interdependent and multinational business organizations so vital to the world's economy that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 2

yours to provide unique customer solutions. Purchase this book: http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?R=1721-HBK-ENG&conversationId=355532&E=3159 Merchants to Multinationals Author:Geoffrey Jones Publication:Tokyo:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Rhone-Poulenc (A) and (B) Condensed

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, has achieved a major position in the United States as the result of an ambitious series of acquisitions. As it expanded in the United States from 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc management sought to take a "hands-off" approach... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Chemical Industry; France; United States

Find at Harvard

September 1993
Case

Rhone-Poulenc (B)

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, has achieved a major position in the United States as the result of an ambitious series of acquisitions. As it expanded in the United States from 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc management sought to take a "hands-off" approach... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Chemical Industry; France; United States

25 Feb 2020
News

The Influence of Geography on Work and Innovation

Illustration by VectorStock As a doctoral student at HBS, Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury identified a little-studied phenomenon in innovation: Managers from emerging markets who migrated to the United States for jobs at multinational... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Feb 1998
News

Stephen Covey's Successful Habits

survive. Another force is unsatisfactory personal relationships. I asked a CEO of a major multinational why he had his 35,000 employees trained in the 7 Habits. He said, "My wife had told me I didn't listen to our daughter." After he... View Details

July 2020
Article

Intra-firm Geographic Mobility: Value Creation Mechanisms and Future Research Directions

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

This paper argues that intra-firm geographic mobility is an understudied mechanism that can help mitigate coordination failures in a geographically distributed organization. The paper presents an organizing framework on how intra-firm geographic mobility creates value... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Employees; Geographic Location; Value Creation

Read Now

November 2008
Teaching Note

Royal DSM N.V.: Information Technology Enabling Business Transformation (TN)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Deborah Soule

Teaching Note for [807167]. View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Information Technology; Transformation; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

2006
Chapter

The Comovement of Returns and Investment within International Firms

By: Mihir A. Desai and C. Fritz Foley

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Investment Return; Foreign Direct Investment