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sports direct

#139 British Sports Direct down for the count in Austria?

March 19, 2018

There’s trouble in Austria’s market for sports equipment. Traditionally, the market has been dominated by a handful of domestic companies such as Gigasport, Hervis, and – one of the most established among them – the Intersport group. Within Intersport, which is less of a centrally owned and controlled company and more of a loosely controlled […]

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18 comments
gaopeng

#138 Groupon in China. No longer in the company of distinguished friends.

March 7, 2018

In February 2018, Chinese company Meituan became the world’s fourth most valuable startup. Meituan, now valued at $30 billion, originally started as a group purchasing platform, similar to Groupon, which had its stab at the Chinese market. Yes, Groupon. Let’s turn the clock back for a moment. In mid 2011, American publication Forbes asked, “Can […]

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8 comments
Danone-Chine

#137 Au revoir and zaijian, Danone!

February 14, 2018

In 1996, French dairy and water giant Danone entered the Chinese market. Recognizing that in order to succeed in the Chinese market, one had to have a good understanding of consumer behavior, access to suppliers, as well as outstanding network relationships – the famed “guanxi” – with government agencies and distribution channel partners, Danone decided […]

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4 comments
Nayar of Calcutta

#136 Perfetti Van Melle’s Top Salesman in India

February 5, 2018

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 […]

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8 comments
HM-Logo

#135 H&M blunders in South Africa

January 22, 2018

In January 2018, Swedish global fashion retailer H&M had closed several of its stores temporarily. The move was necessary to protect its employees, prevent damage to its stores, and stop further protests. What had happened? For a short while, H&M’s online store carried hoodies with a variety of slogans. One of the images showed a black child […]

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11 comments
kaufland-logo-353033943B-seeklogo.com

#134 Kaufland enters Aussieland

January 18, 2018

Late in 2017, German chain Kaufland, part of the German-based Schwartz Group that also owns retailer Lidl, entered the Australian AUS$ 90 billion market for groceries. It brought its brand of huge, warehouse style stores that usually have 15,000 to 20,000 square meters and a range of up to 60,000 different products to Aidelaide first and […]

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2 comments
Starbucks_Logo_Hi-res

#133 Starbucks in Japan – Sometimes (but not very often), instinct works!

January 12, 2018

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 […]

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9 comments
carrefour

#132 Carrefour. Who knew that global retail is that difficult?

January 9, 2018

For the longest time, French-based retail giant Carrefour made a good poster child for internationalization. With a presence in twice as many countries as British competitor Tesco, its expansion into foreign markets has been broader in scope and faster in speed than any other global retailer’s. Carrefour was one of the first grocers who saw […]

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6 comments
uberriderlogo-e1454443856991

#131 Uber and Out?

December 23, 2017

In a previous blogpost, I have written about global ride hailing company Uber’s woes in overseas markets such as China or Colombia. Just recently – on December 20th (2017), to be more specific – the European Court of Justice delivered a nice lump of coal to Uber for Christmas. The European Union’s highest court ruled […]

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6 comments
Five Most Profitable cropped

#130 The Global Top Five

December 22, 2017

The educator in me has great fun having students or audiences at speaking events guess interesting factoids from the world of international business, especially if the exercise creates a great teachable moment. For instance, based on the 2017 edition of the Fortune Global 500 list, I often ask students what they think the world’s most profitable […]

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1 comment
3625

#129 Say “Cheese”

December 20, 2017

Founded in 1978 by David Overton and with more than 200 restaurants, 2 billion US$ in revenues and about 40,000 employees, the Cheesecake Factory is one of the United States’ top restaurant chains in the casual dining category. For most of its history, the Cheesecake Factory was focused on the US market, and only started […]

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14 comments
AES

#128 AES in Georgia. When things get REALLY bad in international markets

December 10, 2017

Looking for interesting documentaries to watch, I recently came across Power Trip, and it was fascinating. Yes, you will have experienced better film-making and more interesting storytelling, but for someone interested in international business, the documentary is an intriguing  reminder how tough things can be in foreign markets. The movie tells the story of AES, […]

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