What do Apple, BASF and McDonald’s have in common? Apparently nothing. They are three companies from three fundamentally different industries, each with different business models, and yet they have something in common. They all have a global presence and engage in global arbitrage. And now they are all suffering from an area that has been […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Fast food is tricky business in China. China loves to eat, but there already is an abundance of excellent affordable street food, and competition between foreign fast food brands is intense. Yum Brands-owned Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) stands out among many others in that it has been immensely successful in the Chinese market. With more […]
In August 2017, German supermarket Edeka made a bold statement. For one day, the supermarket chain took all non-German products off the shelves. Instead of their favorite Italian pasta, Spanish tomatoes, Israeli oranges, Greek olives, Portuguese sardines, French cheeses, Japanese soy sauce, or Turkish grapes, Edeka’s customers found signs with statements such as “Things are […]
Last month, Bloomberg published a “Vulnerability Ranking” for 18 emerging markets ranging from Turkey to Taiwan. The ranking assesses these markets along four criteria – Current Account Balance, External Debt, Government Effectiveness, and Inflation. To no one’s surprise, Turkey and Argentina lead the pack in their vulnerability, while countries such as Saudi Arabia, China, Thailand, […]
Almost unnoticed to the global media, Swedish furniture giant IKEA opened its first store in India this month. With the 400,000 sq ft store, the global multinational is hoping to open the path to expansion in a market of 1.3 billion consumers that includes a growing and affluent middle class. More stores are planned for […]
When San Francisco-based US fashion retailer The Gap launched its “City T-shirt” series, it probably had high hopes that the China edition would please a vast consumer base across China. Attention did indeed come quickly, but not necessarily the kind that The Gap was hoping for. Within hours, Chinese social media users had posted photos […]
In his latest book, Pankaj Ghemawat, celebrity professor at NYU and at IESE, describes – among many other things – how Coca Cola’s early international expansion followed a completely decentralized approach. As long as no major damage was done, everything was allowed and according to Professor Ghemawat, only two rules existed, “You can’t change the formula, […]
Meet Nayar. Nayar (name changed) is the proud owner of a retail store. His store has no loyalty cards and no shopping carts, no cash registers and no employees. Nayar has a lot of customers, though. His store is located under a stairwell in a house at a busy intersection in Calcutta, India. Nothing special […]
One summer night in 1996, Howard Schultz, founder and now Executive Chairman of Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffeeshop giant, had dinner with the company’s newly acquired Japanese partner. It was the night before the opening of the first ever Starbucks in Tokyo. In fact, it was the first Starbucks opening outside of North America altogether! The […]