People who follow foreign companies in China are well aware of the challenges that Danone has had in that market over the last few years. We’ll never quite know why Danone’s joint venture relationship went sour (not good for a company dealing in dairy products…) but it may not be completely unfair to assume that […]
Ever since Thomas L. Friedman, Pulitzer Prize winning author, published “The World is Flat“, we have been listening to the mantra of the world becoming a completely level playing field for companies for many years now. Other authors such as Pankaj Ghemawat continue to remind us that we’re still quite far from a borderless world, […]
Over the past few years I have often been asked what the main differences in the workplace culture between my native Austria and the United States are. I still don’t have the perfect reply, but here are some observations. First and foremost, Austrians have a dislike for authority, particularly in the workplace. Austrians are well educated, they […]
As the English edition of the Chinese newspaper Renminbao (People’s Daily) reports, fourth quarter sales at Yum! Brands, the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Pizza Hut have significantly declined. What has happened in the Middle Kingdom that not only has a huge love for chicken dishes, but also for foreign brands, a […]
Yes, the British are leaving the United States – again. After a $1.6 billion investment, British supermarket giant Tesco announced that it may be selling it’s US “Fresh and Easy” chain. Clearly, corporate PR speak for “we are pulling out of the United States altogether”. What has happened to Tesco, which successfully operates more than […]
This week, the two houses of the Indian parliament have decided to finally and fully pave the road for foreign direct investment in the country’s retail sector. Long awaited, and heavily disputed, this measure opens the sector to foreign retailers who have been waiting at the doorsteps of one of the largest consumer markets in […]
Yes, we’ve all heard the story about the Chevrolet Nova (not true as I have reported on this blog earlier), the Mitsubishi Pajero, the Mitsubishi Colt and other car models. However, behind those obvious and funny stories of branding blunders, there’s also some cultural richness and subtlety to explore. Have you ever thought about the […]
Not too long before US-based DIY giant Home Depot announced it’s almost complete withdrawal from China, similar news emerged about Europe’s largest home improvement retailer, Kingfisher PLC. Kingfisher, founded in 1969, which owns the B&Q and Castorama brands, operates close to 1,000 stores in eight countries including Britain, Ireland, France, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Russia and […]
Late last week, US-based home improvement giant Home Depot announced that it would take a $ 160 million after-tax charge and close seven of its big-box home improvement stores. Home Depot entered China with high hopes in 2006 when it acquired 12 stores across China. Over the years it had reduced the number of stores to […]
If you have ever taken an international marketing or international business class, it is not unlikely that you’ve heard how Chevrolet blundered in Latin America because of poor translation. Chances are, if you are an instructor who teaches these classes, you will have told this story to your students. For those of you, who don’t […]
Approximately 2500 years ago, Confucius supposedly said, “When words loose their meaning, people loose their freedom”. What stuck from my early training as a sinologist tells me that this quote has often been misinterpreted and misused. A less common interpretation is that it is important that people who are engaged in discourse must first agree […]
Development aid, social entrepreneurs and micro-finance – all seem to run into similar problems of getting their products and services to their target groups in emerging markets, post-conflict zones, or developing nations. With the kind permission of the author, Tielman Nieuwoudt of the Supply Chain Lab, the following is a re-post of an article that […]