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

This book was required reading for a course in my MBA program. Ghemawat makes a lot of good points to support his belief that the world is not quite as integrated and "globalized" as many would have us believe. If you are looking for some insightful counter-arguments to the subject material that you'll find in Thomas Friedman's writings, this is a good buy. Also the physical quality of the book was excellent; I bought it used and it looked like new. It arrived in good time and there was no damage nor missing pages.

Redefining Global Strategy (RGS) reminds us that conventional wisdom is often falls apart in the clear light of analysis and research. This is an excellent book for those looking to understand the realities of global strategy and operations. Based on extensive research and deep case study analysis, Pankaj Ghemawat delivers a book leaders need to make real decisions. Ghemawat starts with reminding us that the world has changed as commuincations, information technology and global logistics have created new opportunities for companies. He then reminds us that just because you can extend your company to Asia it does not mean that those markets are the same as yours. Ghemawat introduces and uses his CAGE framework through out the book to good effect. CAGE is a framework based on distance and expresses distance in the following ways: Cultural distance - how different are the cultures in which you are looking to devise and implement a strategy Administrative distance - the distance between standard policies, frameworks, the rule of law, business norms. We frequently brush past this type of distance but Ghemawat shows how important it is. Geographic distance - how far apart or how hard it is to do business between your corporate center and the local market. That last point is particularly important as you may have a local plant but your decision center is the place to measure this distance. Economic distance - the payment, financial and growth and development gaps that exist between countries and companies. Ghemawat uses these distances to explain the results achieved by leading companies ranging from Phillips, Coca-cola and Wal-Mart. The in depth analysis provides the real world examples needed to inform those setting global strategies. That in depth analysis also makes this a book for people looking for real insight and data that they will have to work to understand. This means if you are looking for a light read, one that will not challenge your thinking and one that is easy to agree with - this is not the book for your. In fact the research and the depth behind these ideas require some reflection and study to get the most out of the book. Redefining Global Strategy is not breezy book that you can read to gain a few buzz words or slogans for your strategy. It is the best bridge between good and practical scholarly research and application of that to business decision. Clayton Christensen once commented that there was a need for more rigor, research and analysis in business books and literature. Ghemawat delivers on all of these counts.

For those readers who are not familiar with Prof. Ghemawat works but are involved in business operation expansion via internationalization, ABSOLUTELY this is the right book for you. I go so far that recommend holding your choice of expansion until you and your management team finish reading this book. The whole content of the book is so well bind together and is so coherent that you have to just follow the steps and make a map of your plan with recommended below tools: 1. AAA Triangle ( Adaptation, Aggregation, and Arbitrage ): These describe what right mode of your expansion is; depend on type of your business and nature of competitors and market conditions. 2. CAGE ( Culture, Administration or politics, Geography, Economics) tool to analyze either the nature of countries you would like to enter or nature of industries in the country that you would like to enter. 3. Finally make a map of your plan for decision making by ranking your choices through using "ADDING ( Add volume or growth, Decrease costs, Differentiation, improving industry attractiveness, Normalizing risk and Generate knowledge) value score. This tool will clarify for you and your organization: what is/are the drivers for your company to expand. Having been involved in B2B international business over 17 years, I recommend to use first the "ADDING" tool and then move to "AAA triangle" and then analyze and priorities your choices through using "CAGE" tool. So many thanks to Prof. Ghemawat who really described and explained the SEMIGLOBALISATION and then also explain how to thrive in this world by first describing the above tools and then explicitly showing the application of these tools in business such as car industry ( Toyota), Cement Industry ( Cemex), Retail industry ( WAl Mart), Health care ( P & G), IT industry (IBM), Software services ( Cognizant), Coca-cola and several others.

This book is a delight to all of us engaging with global strategy, as scholars, teachers and practitioners. Based on a thorough and deep analysis, Ghemawat provides a much-needed counter statement to the journalistic-style thinking that has threatened to dominate the common wisdom on globalization. He forcefully illustrates the inherent tension between the forces of globalization and localization, and the complex relationships between them. In doing that, he advocates a nuanced view of the impact of globalization on business, in which its diversity and plurality are explicitly recognized. A most important argument made by Ghemawat that should not be overlooked is that differences between countries are not only an obstacle to overcome, as commonly believed; In addition, they open up important opportunities, for the companies able to take advantage of them.

Proponents and opponents of globalization have one thing in common: They believe globalization has arrived. The former cheer this change; the latter lament it. But both are wrong. Most business takes place within - not between - those anachronistic entities called "countries." If you assume "the world is flat," you'll founder. You will do far better, argues Pankaj Ghemawat, if you accept the reality of "semi-globalization" and navigate with the clever tools and in-depth case histories he provides. Ghemawat's noun-heavy prose suggests that he's been reading too many academic journals. Even so, we are well satisfied with this dense read, which provides far more nourishment than the insipid, fatty "globaloney" served by many business gurus. This book is a feast.