In 2009, Hjörtur Smárason walked into a McDonald’s restaurant in Iceland and ordered what turned out to be the last hamburger and fries ever served in the country. The global fast food giant that maintains almost 40,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries had failed and decided to leave the island state in the middle […]
Caterpillar, a leading American manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, has been in China since the 1980s when it launched technology transfer agreements with Chinese manufacturers. Later, it opened manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and corporate offices in more than a dozen cities around the country, employing a local workforce of about 20,000. One would think […]
In 2009, American toy company Mattel opened a gigantic, 36,000 square-foot “House of Barbie” in Shanghai, China. The company had invested over $30 million in the House of Barbie in celebration of the American iconic doll’s 50th anniversary. The six-story building housed the world’s largest collection of Barbie dolls, and also featured a fashion runway, a […]
As several news outlets, including the New York Times and the German Bild Zeitung have reported, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has recently made a horrible mistake in Germany. On November 9, KFC sent a push notification through its app promoting the addition of cheese to its menu of fried chicken in remembrance of Kristallnacht: “Gedenktag […]
Global media had a lot of fun with what happened in the summer of 2022: The US-based pizza giant Domino’s announced that it would say arrivederci to Italy after seven years in the country. Domino’s, which has operations in approximately 90 international markets and about 12,000 stores worldwide had always had eyes on Italy. In 2015, it […]
Bad translations have long been the humor well that keeps on giving in International Business. Just think of German car maker Audi’s relatively recent rollout of the E-tron (French for excrement) brand for their electric cars. Nike is certainly no stranger to translation issues as it has blundered among Arabic speakers and devout muslims as […]
When Netflix launched in India in 2016, the future seemed bright. With 200 million households having TV sets, India was and is a large market with a strong movie culture. It seemed to be ripe for Netflix’s combination of global hits and local productions. As it did in other markets, Netflix launched by serving a […]
As recently reported, Lavazza, the iconic Italian coffee company has big plans for China. In 2020, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still raging in other countries, it opened its flagship store in Shanghai’s fashionable Jing’An district, and expanded to some twenty locations in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou in 2021. Lavazza is clearly capitalizing on […]
Today, coffee and donut chain Dunkin’ Donuts (DD), part of Inspire Brands that also owns Baskin Robbins, Arby’s, Sonic and others, has more than 3,200 restaurants in approximately 40 countries. It took a long time to develop such an impressive global presence, and success didn’t come easy. DD’s internationalization began 1964. Shortly after he had […]
A few weeks ago, the news came down hard, but not unexpected – Ford would close its manufacturing operation in Brazil. To add insult to injury, the news came in the year in which the Detroit, US-based manufacturer was supposed to celebrate its 100th anniversary in the land of samba, feijoada, and cachaca. In 1921, […]
A warning at the beginning: This post includes language that some may find offensive. And it might hold some surprises. The first surprise may be that Amazon only recently – during the second half of 2020 – opened a national site in Sweden. In fact, the first one in Europe’s Nordic countries. The second surprise […]
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 […]