Despite my obsession of learning from failures in international business, every once in a while, I must acknowledge companies that did an exceptionally good job at entering a foreign market. And today, it is IKEA’s turn to step in front of the curtain. More than a decade ago, the Swedish furniture and retail giant has […]
“Wo gehobelt wird, da fliegen Späne” is an old German proverb that would roughly translate into the English “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”. Granted, coordinating and controlling activities across geographical and cultural distances in multinational companies that have tens or hundreds of thousands of employees globally, is not an easy task. A […]
After a golden age of expansion in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, the last decade hasn’t exactly been the best for sandwich chain Subway. A few years ago, Subway had approximately 42,000 restaurants in 111 countries globally, and proudly proclaimed itself the world’s largest fast food chain. In recent years, Subway experienced challenges in […]
Without a doubt, Germans are a beer-loving people. With more than 100 liters of beer consumption per capita annually, more than 1,500 breweries, and more than 6,000 beer brands, the market is closely eyed by foreign brands, and many have tried to capture a piece of the pie (or should I say, a sip from […]
Trade wars, lawsuits, viruses – the last several weeks and months have clearly shown that even the mightiest global companies can easily been shaken by the external environment in global markets. Let’s take Amazon in India as an example. For years, the eCommerce behemoth has tried to break into the market. It created jobs, brought […]
During the summer of 2019, Italians’ didn’t show much appetite for a meal from American fast food giant McDonald’s. The reason was a failed attempt at being funny in another, neighboring market – Austria. While McDonald’s promotions in the United States often focus on price and value, it has become common in other countries to […]
In 2013, one of the most successful multinational Italian companies, privately held past maker Barilla, almost stumbled over the comments of its chairman, Guido Barilla. When interviewed on Radio24, a national radio station, he expanded on how Barilla is rooted in traditional family values and why they would therefore never show a homosexual couple in […]
Some may remember that in 2014, Red Bull, the Austria-based manufacturer of the world’s leading energy drink, had settled a more or less frivolous lawsuit in the US that alleged that the company had cheated its consumers with its slogan that the drink would “give them wings” (or, in other words, improve their athletic or […]
Adapting to different cultural environments is tricky business. In 2012, various Swedish media outlets ran an article titled “IKEA raderade kvinnorna” (engl. “IKEA erases women”). What had happened? One of the central elements in IKEA’s marketing strategy is its voluminous catalog that covers everything from comfy sofas to simple kitchen gadgets. In its attempt to […]
The German company Wacker Neuson develops, manufactures and distributes concrete technology, compaction equipment, worksite technology and compact construction equipment on a global scale. In 2015 the company launched a new excavator line with 6 to 9 metric tons operatingweight. The new line was revolutionary in that it drastically reduced weight, made design changes, and for […]
Launches of pharmaceuticals are tricky. Companies often have to face the fact that after a decade or more of expensive development, an initially promising new drug falls short of expectations in terms of sales. Bain & company estimated that about 50% of all pharmaceutical launches underperform and that more than 25% of all launches do […]
In 1997, Nike was going through a public relations nightmare. The Council on American Islamic Relations had spotted a suspicious logo, stitched on to the heel of Nike’s new sneaker, the Air Bakin’. When read from right to left, as is the practice in Arabic, the logo that was intended to look like flames bore a […]