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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
When discussing the issue of standardization vs. adaptation of the marketing mix with students, I am often asked for convincing examples and illustrations of the differences between those strategies. One example that I personally like as a candy lover are wafers. As a category, they exist in most markets globally, and there is an abundance […]
Only a couple of weeks ago, German supermarket chain Lidl opened its first stores in the United States (in North Carolina). With this, the company that has based its reputation on value and low prices has not only expanded into a new country market, it has also joined the ranks of many other international retailers […]
In 2012, media such as Forbes reported on a landmark deal between the world’s largest maker of spirits, British company Diageo, and India’s “King of Good Times”, Vijay Mallya. For over $3 billion (and a few other incentives including sponsorships for Mr. Mallya’s formula one racing team), Diageo acquired a 55% stake in Mallya’s United […]
Yes, granted, this is not the freshest and a lot may have happened since, but as I am constantly on the lookout for content that fits my interests, here it is: a segment on “Oreos in China” from CNBC’s “Made in China: The People’s Republic of Profit,” a one-hour original special reported by CNBC’s Melissa Lee […]
The mere fact that Wal-Mart has 430 stores in China might make this look like a success story. However, the reality is that for the longest time, China has presented significant challenges to the world’s largest retailer. Since the opening of its first store in Shenzhen in 1996, Wal-Mart struggled to gain a foothold in […]
This month at an event in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, 23 Samsung executives kneeled on stage in front of a room full of Chinese distributors. They had the best intentions of apologizing to their trusted Chinese partners for the recent Galaxy Note 7 disaster. However, immediately after the event the Chinese social media space blew up. It […]