Harvard Business Review on Thriving in Emerging Markets

Strategies That Fit Emerging Markets

by Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu, and Jayant Sinha

CEOS AND TOP MANAGEMENT TEAMS of large corporations, particularly in North America, Europe, and Japan, acknowledge that globalization is the most critical challenge they face today. They are also keenly aware that it has become tougher during the past decade to identify internationalization strategies and to choose which countries to do business with. Still, most companies have stuck to the strategies they’ve traditionally deployed, which emphasize standardized approaches to new markets while sometimes experimenting with a few local twists. As a result, many multinational corporations are struggling to develop successful strategies in emerging markets.