Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter

How should executives take their business across borders successfully? Traditionally, too many companies have tried to decide between a "one strategy fits all" approach and customizing their strategy to every individual local market. But neither of these strategic approaches is sustainable. In formulating their global strategy, executives repeatedly fail to address the reality of a world that has many types of distance - not merely geographic distance, but also deep cultural, administrative, and economic gaps - that apply uniquely to each market. This book presents the tools that executives need to recognize these differences, and construct a comprehensive and sustainable global strategy that builds on them. It shows how to create value when crossing borders by effectively combining elements of aggregation, adaptation, and arbitrage to improve competitive position and pursue global opportunities profitably. Ghemawat makes the stakes clear by providing powerful in depth examples of businesses across the world that have found (and failed to find) the right strategic mix to sustain international growth. Immediately applicable to any business that must compete across borders, this promises to be the definitive book on global strategy for decades to come.