Deadly Sins of International Business Blog

On June 5th Australian-British mining giant RioTinto canceled a deal struck in February with state-owned Chinese Aluminum Corporation, also known as Chinalco. The deal would have raised Chinalco’s stake in RioTinto to more than 18 %. Based on fears of growing Chinese influence in the region, the deal had drawn public and political opposition in Australia. To this blog it is a good example how multinationals’ ability to extend their global reach are often limited by nationalistic reactions.

I admit, that this is old news, at least in Japan or among those in the inner circle of the mobile phone industry. However, this blog would not be complete without a mention of Nokia’s pullout from Japan. After trying hard, in late 2008 Nokia was looking at a market share of only 0.3 % in the Japanese market – a market position simply not sustainable. Japan is a very sophisticated mobile phone market that requires great efforts in localization, thus not offering the scale a company such as Nokia needs. But then again, isn’t it surprising (and a little bit embarrassing) that a company of the likes of Nokia can’t break into the Japanese market?

With the automotive industry in turmoil, it’s natural that the cards are being reshuffled. However, based on the mega-merger of the past decade between Daimler and Chrysler which ended in a mega-break up, what makes Fiat of Italy think that they would be able to integrate better with the American-based culture of Chrysler. They better start thinking about the compatibility of their corporate cultures quickly before I have more bad news to report in this blog….