Publications

February 2014 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Komatsu in China

By: Krishna Palepu, Akiko Kanno and Nobuo Sato

Komatsu built a very successful business in China over the last two decades. But it is now facing rising competition from lower cost domestic Chinese companies which are themselves trying to become global players. Facing the same situation, Caterpillar is implementing... View Details

Keywords: Leading A Global Business; Building A Business In Emerging Markets; Emerging Markets; Construction Industry; China; Japan

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

activity, and foreign direct investment from multiple sources, including corporate earnings calls. Less business in China, but trade remains global One major takeaway from the analysis: The share of Chinese... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

May 1999 (Revised November 2000)
Case

AES Global Values

By: Lynn S. Paine

Members of the development team for the AES Corp.'s power plant project in India must decide what plant technology to specify in their application for techno-economic clearance from the government of India's Central Electric Authority. Their choice is between more... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Technology Adoption; Energy Industry; India; United States

January 1993 (Revised November 1995)
Case

AXA: The Global Insurance Company

Claude Bebear, the CEO of AXA, the tenth-largest insurer in Europe, has just completed an acquisition of the Equitable, the seventh-largest insurer in the United States. As part of his strategy to make AXA the first truly global insurance company, Bebear is considering... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Insurance Industry; Asia; North America; Europe

Find at Harvard

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Researchers Contribute Globalization of Markets Papers

Twenty years has provided time to judge the success or failure of Theodore Levitt's predictions of a global economy populated by standardized products and marketing approaches. For the colloquium, a number of Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Working Knowledge editors

January 2009
Article

From Regional Star to Global Leader

By: Nitin Nohria

Yang Jianguo was recently promoted from country manager for China to global head of product development at a staid French perfume maker. He was chosen for his technical smarts and his knowledge of emerging markets—a critical avenue for growth, given that sales in the... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Emerging Markets; Product Development; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; China; Paris

Find at Harvard

February 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Keith Chi-ho Wong and Tracy Manty

With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry and to develop into a broad business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Hangzhou; United States

June 2012 (Revised August 2014)
Supplement

Foreign Direct Investment and South Africa (B)

By: Eric Werker and Ian McKown Cornell

Incoming and outgoing foreign direct investment in an environment of politics, geography, globalization, and history. Updates the 2006 case to 2012. The subsequent six years only reinforce the message of the original case. Since the end of apartheid, South Africa had... View Details

Keywords: Global Business; Developing Countries; Business Government Relations; Economic Growth; Foreign Direct Investment; Globalized Markets and Industries; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; South Africa

Research Summary

Business Ethics

By: Joshua D. Margolis

Joshua Margolis is interested in how individuals can exercise leadership in the face of competing ethical and economic responsibilities, and how organizations can enable them to do that. In particular, how can managers and companies simultaneously advance... View Details

October 1994
Case

Bankers Trust: Global Investment Bank

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

In October 1992, Eugene Shanks, president of Bankers Trust New York Corp., and Brian Walsh, head of the Global Investment Bank (GIB) business unit, are considering a proposal for a large and complex financing involving the North Sea Oil Co. (NSOC). The financing... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Value Creation; Business History; Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Financial Markets; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry; Energy Industry

June 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

SABIS—A Global Educational Venture From Lebanon

Carl Bistany is struggling with how the global educational management company, SABIS, can grow 100-fold in the coming twelve years. Founded in 1886 in Lebanon, SABIS is the world's largest and only global education management organization (EMO), with schools in the US,... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Education; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; Lebanon

16 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Has COVID-19 Broken the Global Value Chain?

detailed discussion of risk and global capital flows, see the paper Elusive Safety: The New Geography of Capital Flows and Risk. About the Author Sean Silverthorne is Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2017
Teaching Note

Global Collaboration Simulation: Tip of the Iceberg

By: Tsedal Neeley

This Teaching Note reproduces the communication dynamics that occur during global collaborations, in which diverse work teams interact in the commonly used English business language or lingua franca. View Details

Keywords: Communication; Cooperation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

December 1999 (Revised October 2003)
Case

BRL Hardy: Globalizing an Australian Wine Company

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Two new product launch decisions face Christopher Carson, managing director of BRL Hardy, Europe. Responsible for the European operations of a major Australian wine company, Carson has begun to globalize his strategy beyond selling the parent company's wines. After a... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Joint Ventures; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Style; Food and Beverage Industry

March 2004 (Revised November 2012)
Teaching Note

P&G Japan: The SK-II Globalization Project (TN)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Traces changes in P&G's international strategy and structure, culminating in Organization 2005, a reorganization that places strategic emphasis on product innovation rather than geographic expansion and shifts power from local subsidiary to global business management.... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Trade; Globalization; Global Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Business or Company Management; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Hong Kong; Japan; Taiwan; Europe

March 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Teaching Note

ISS A/S: The Buyout

By: Lucy White and Carsten Bienz

Provides the opportunity to value a leveraged buyout; and to examine the nature and extent of a company's responsibilities to its bondholders. Here, the context is a "going private" transaction in Europe, where the financing plan called for the addition to the... View Details

Keywords: LBO; Private Equity; Contracts; Global Business; International Business; Finance; Ethics; Law; Service Industry; Europe

February 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

ISS A/S: The Buyout

By: Clayton Rose, Carsten Bienz and Lucy White

Provides the opportunity to value a leveraged buy-out; and to examine the nature and extent of a company's responsibilities to its bondholders. Here, the context is a "going private" transaction in Europe, where the financing plan called for the addition to the... View Details

Keywords: LBO; Private Equity; Contracts; Global Business; International Business; Finance; Ethics; Law; Service Industry; Europe

June 2023
Teaching Note

NIO: A Chinese EV Company’s Global Strategy

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 322-106. Through this case, students will discuss the impacts of government policy on promoting a new industry, how a company with Chinese roots becomes a truly global company, and the paths forward for Chinese businesses in the face of... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Policy; China