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BEST OF HBR 1998
Too often, companies try to impose Western models of commerce on developing countries. They’d do better— and learn more—if they tailored their operations to the unique conditions of emerging markets. The End of Corporate
Imperialism
by C.K. Prahalad and Kenneth Lieberthal
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Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:
1 Article Summary
The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work
2 The End of Corporate Imperialism
12 Further Reading
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
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BEST OF HBR 1998
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The End of Corporate Imperialism
The Idea in Brief
The Idea in Practice
Hundreds of millions of people in China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil are eager to enter the marketplace. Yet multinational companies (MNCs) typically pitch their products to emerging markets’ tiny segment of affluent buyers—who most resemble Westerners.
Why? They think of developing countries simply as new places to sell their old products. Thanks to this imperialist mind-set,
MNCs miss out on much larger markets further down the socioeconomic pyramid— which local rivals snap up.
To compete innovatively in emerging markets, consider these questions:
How to seize this opportunity? Don’t assume you can export your current business model around the world. Coca-Cola initially lost market share to Pepsi in India by using its traditional advertising strategies instead of tailoring campaigns to local markets. Reconfigure your resources. Look to emerging markets for technical